RUNNIN' WITH THE UTES: Coming off back-to-back home victories over Fresno State and Weber State, Seattle University hits the road again for the first of six straight games away from Seattle. The team faces Utah from the Mountain West Conference at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, an arena that has seen many historic games including the Indiana State-Michigan State duel in the 1979 NCAA title game that featured Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. This starts a busy holiday week for the Redhawks with three games in five days.
THE WEBER STATE GAME: Five players reached double figures in scoring as Seattle University went on a 14-2 run midway through the second half and held on for a 91-87 victory over Big Sky favorite Weber State Sunday afternoon at KeyArena. After SeattleU opened a 12-point lead seven minutes into the second half on a three-pointer by Ricky Berry, Weber State went on an 8-2 run over the next two and a half minutes to cut the Redhawk lead in half. Aaron Broussard started the run with a three-pointer, followed by a steal and assist from Mike Boxley that led to a layup by Cervante Burrell and a three-pointer by Boxley. Down 84-66 with 6:43 remaining in the second half, Weber State started its own comeback, led by Damian Lillard, who scored nine points over the next three minutes. Kyle Bullinger's three-pointer with 28 seconds left pulled the Wildcats within three, but SeattleU's defense prevented Weber State from scoring any more points, as a three-point attempt by Lillard with eight seconds left was off the mark and the visitors could not get another shot off. Charles Garcia earned his second straight double-double, leading all players with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Broussard finished with 17 points, five rebounds, and two steals, and Burrell went 7-for-9 from the field on his way to 15 points, three rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
SCOUTING UTAH: The Utes come into Tuesday's game with a 2-1 record, overcoming a season-opening loss to Idaho (94-87) with a close win over Utah State (68-67) and a convincing victory over Southern (88-48), all at home. As a team, Utah is shooting 47.3 percent from the field, including 32.9 percent from the three-point line, and 74.1 percent from the free throw line. Carlon Brown leads the team in scoring with 14.7 points per game, with Marshall Henderson scoring 13.3 points per game and Jason Washburn contributing 12.0 points per contest. Kim Tillie has 8.3 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game, while Luka Drca is averaging 8.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game.
SERIES HISTORY: This is the ninth meeting all-time between Seattle University and Utah, with Utah winning six of the previous eight meetings. The first meeting was the third place game of the 1955 NCAA West Regional in Corvallis, Ore., with Utah winning, 108-85. The next season, the two teams again met in the NCAA Tournament, this time in the regional semifinal, with Utah again coming out on top, 81-72. After Utah won again during the 1965-66 season (116-103), SeattleU broke through with victories during the 1967-68 season (79-77) and the 1968-69 campaign (93-74). Utah has won the last three meetings, which took place during the 1972-73 season (86-66), the 1973-74 season (100-85), and the 1985-86 season (107-72), the last time these two teams met.