ST. GEORGE — Two rivalry games in two Southern Utah cities for the second time this season. That’s what Thursday night will mean for college basketball fans in St. George and Cedar City.
It’s the second go-round of Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s basketball games. Last time out Jan. 18, the host teams both won — the Utah Tech women 78-71 and the SUU men 75-65. The venues will be the same but the teams will trade places this time around.
Game time for the women is 6:30 p.m. at America First Event Center in Cedar City. The men tip off at 7 p.m. at Burns Arena in St. George, and that game will be broadcast by the Voice of the Trailblazer Rod Zundel on The Fan Sports Network, 99.5FM.
The Trailblazer women are sitting at 13-9 overall and 7-4 in the WAC, while the Thunderbirds are struggling at 6-14 and 4-7. Utah Tech also is in the midst of a travel frenzy, playing seven out of nine games on the road. The Trailblazers also are 5-5 on the road this season and have won five of their last eight away from the Burns Arena overall, including a two-game Texas road sweep last weekend.
In fact, Utah Tech is the only team in the WAC with three players listed in the conference’s top-10 in both scoring (2. Breaunna Gillen 16.21 ppg; T3. Maddie Warren16.18; 8. Macie Warren 14.6 ppg) and field goal percentage (3. Macie. Warren .489; 6. Gillen .477; 8. Madddie Warren .447).
The SUU men (9-13, 4-7), meanwhile, come into Thursday’s night game winners of three of their last four, including a 79-59 home romp over UTRGV last Saturday in Cedar City. The T-Birds feature four players averaging double figures, led by junior guard Dominique Ford, who is fourth in the WAC in scoring at 16.4 points per game.
Utah Tech (8-14, 4-7) will look to stay perfect vs. SUU at home, as the two Blazer wins in the series have come inside the Burns Arena, both of which were seven-point victories in 2021 and 2023.
Utah Tech found the going tough last weekend and could not overcome a sluggish start in dropping an 87-66 WAC conference home decision to UT Arlington last Saturday afternoon inside the Burns Arena.
The Blazers managed to trim an early double-digit deficit to five near the midway point of the first half, but UTA would use a pair of scoring runs to end the first half and begin the second half to thwart any chance of a come-from-behind win for the home team.