Tarleton State faces Southern Utah after Smith's 24-point game

Tarleton State Texans (21-7, 14-3 WAC) at Southern Utah Thunderbirds (9-19, 4-13 WAC)

Cedar City, Utah; Saturday, 8:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Tarleton State visits the Southern Utah Thunderbirds after Jakorie Smith scored 24 points in Tarleton State's 85-74 win over the Utah Tech Trailblazers.

The Thunderbirds have gone 6-7 in home games. Southern Utah is 5-7 in games decided by 10 points or more.

The Texans are 14-3 in conference matchups. Tarleton State ranks ninth in the WAC with 33.8 rebounds per game led by Kiandre Gaddy averaging 7.0.

Southern Utah is shooting 44.2% from the field this season, 0.8 percentage points higher than the 43.4% Tarleton State allows to opponents. Tarleton State's 45.2% shooting percentage from the field this season is 2.2 percentage points lower than Southern Utah has allowed to its opponents (47.4%).

TOP PERFORMERS: Dominique Ford is scoring 16.5 points per game and averaging 4.0 rebounds for the Thunderbirds. Zion Young is averaging 1.3 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Southern Utah.

Smith is averaging 16 points and 1.8 steals for the Texans. Devon Barnes is averaging 16.7 points and 1.7 steals over the last 10 games for Tarleton State.

LAST 10 GAMES: Thunderbirds: 3-7, averaging 73.1 points, 33.7 rebounds, 11.3 assists, 6.5 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 45.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.9 points per game.

Texans: 9-1, averaging 78.5 points, 32.1 rebounds, 13.6 assists, 9.8 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 46.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.7 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.