The Final Regular Season Contest

VS

Seattle University (16-14) at Utah Valley University (12-16, 5-7 Great West)

McKay Center (Orem, UT)

Saturday March 6, 2010 1:00 pm

RADIO: 710 ESPN Seattle   INTERNET AUDIO: seattleufan.com

Series- SU- 1-0

Last Meeting- Seattle pulled out a narrow 66-63 win at Key Arena on January 16^th. Gavin Gilmore contributed a career high 12 points while Chris Gweth hit a couple of clutch jumpers down the stretch to help Seattle claim the win. Gweth pushed his career point total over 1,000, leading 4 SU players in double-figures. Charles Garcia had a season low 2 points while sitting the last 15 minutes of the contest. Jourdain Scoubes paced Utah Valley with 16 points and 8 boards.

Scouting Utah Valley:

The former Junior College is entering its seventh season in participation of Division I basketball. Remarkably, Utah Valley has never suffered a losing season despite the dramatic step in competition. The Wolverines have thrived under the leadership of former Utah coach Dick Hunsaker. He has won 20 games twice with Utah Valley and is fresh off of a 17-11 mark a year ago. The streak is in jeopardy as Wolverines are 4 games below .500. They beat NJIT on Thursday night to snap a 4 game losing streak. Utah Valley does have an outside shot to get back to the .500 mark by beating Seattle then winning the inaugural Great West Conference Tournament. The Wolverines are stuck in the middle of the pack, but boast the added advantage of hosting the tournament. Utah Valley is 11-2 on their home floor this season. They are 0-12 on the road. The winner of the Great West tourney clinches a birth to the Collegeinsiders.com Tournament later this month. There is a chance Utah Valley could meet Seattle for a third time this year.

The Ones to Watch:

Jordan Swarbrick- 6’6 SR G- 13 ppg  5 rbd

The leading scorer for the Wolverines is knocking down 40% of his threes. He is nearly 82% from the free-throw line. The scrappy leader wants the ball. He can knock down the jumper and take it to the rack. His sister plays volleyball at the University of Washington. He had been slowed by a sprained knee when they last met Seattle, but he is back to full health at this point.  He scored 14 points off the bench the last time these teams met.

Jourdain Scoubes- 6’7 SR F- 8 ppg 5.5 rbds

He really hurt Seattle at the Key earlier this year with 16 big points. He hit 4 of 10 from downtown and chipped in 8 rebounds. His percentages over the course of the year are not great- 33% FG and 31% 3.

Keys to the Game:

1-      Pace- Seattle has been outstanding pushing the pace during their recent stretch and they will need to continue that.

2-     Charles Garcia- Revenge on the mind. He only scored 2 points in his worst game of the season the last time these teams hooked up.

3-      Stop Utah Valley from 3- They knocked down 11-23 from downtown last time and need the 3 to beat SU.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 5th, 2010 at 3:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.