SOUTHERN UTAH THUNDERBIRDS
SUU Advances To The Basketball Classic Semifinals With Win Over UTEP
SALT LAKE CITY – The Southern Utah men’s basketball team advanced to the semifinals of The Basketball Classic with a road win over the UTEP Miners.
The Miners hosted the Thunderbirds in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, March 22.
SUU defeated UTEP, 82-69.
Moving on to the next!#StormTheSky pic.twitter.com/bM6WMSfagw
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) March 23, 2022
The T-Birds controlled the contest for most of the night and captured a double-digit victory on the Miners’ home court.
After the teams traded leads during the opening minutes of action, SUU took a 19-18 lead with 9:17 left in the first half. The Thunderbirds owned the lead for the remainder of the game.
THREE. THREE-POINTERS. IN UNDER ONE MINUTE from @_dremarin4 😵💫🤯 pic.twitter.com/Iq5NQsOQ03
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) March 23, 2022
Southern Utah outscored UTEP by 11 points in the first half and owned a 40-29 advantage at the halftime break.
During the final 20 minutes of action, the T-Birds outscored the Miners by two points and held onto their multi-possession lead throughout the second half.
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) March 23, 2022
The Thunderbirds finished the game shooting a blazing 58.2 percent overall and 43.5 percent from beyond the arc.
Five T-Birds reached double figures in scoring, including four starters. Nick Fleming led Southern Utah with 18 points off the bench.
1️⃣8️⃣ and counting for @__Flemlife 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/1PQTfj5ZyR
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) March 23, 2022
SUU limited UTEP to 37.5 percent shooting from the field, including 32.1 percent from downtown.
With the win over the Miners, the Thunderbirds improved to a 22-11 record this season.
Southern Utah’s next game will be at home against the Portland Pilots on Thursday, March 24.
About The Basketball Classic
This is the first postseason with The Basketball Classic. It was created in 2022 as the successor to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. The Basketball Classic will have 32 NCAA Division I teams participate that were not selected to play in the NCAA Tournament or the NIT. The tourney uses the old NIT model, and matchups will be set after each round.
The Basketball Classic was founded by CollegeInsider.com to replace the postseason tournament, which was discontinued after the 2020 and 2021 tournaments were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
