2016–17 Southern Utah Thunderbirds men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Southern Utah Thunderbirds basketball team represented Southern Utah University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Thunderbirds were led by first-year head coach Todd Simon and played their home games at the Centrum Arena in Cedar City, Utah as members of the Big Sky Conference. They finished the season 6–27, 3–15 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for 11th. As the No. 11 seed in the Big Sky tournament, they defeated Montana State in the first round before losing to Weber State in the quarterfinals.

2016–17 Southern Utah Thunderbirds men's basketball
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	6–27 (3–15 Big Sky)
Head coach	Todd Simon (1st season)
Assistant coaches	John Wardenburg Andy Johnson Drew Allen
Home arena	Centrum Arena
Seasons ← 2015–16 2017–18 →

2016–17 Big Sky men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
North Dakota †	14	–	4		.778			22	–	10		.688
Eastern Washington	13	–	5		.722			22	–	12		.647
Idaho	12	–	6		.667			19	–	14		.576
Weber State	12	–	6		.667			20	–	14		.588
Montana	11	–	7		.611			16	–	16		.500
Montana State	11	–	7		.611			16	–	16		.500
Sacramento State	9	–	9		.500			13	–	18		.419
Portland State	7	–	11		.389			15	–	16		.484
Northern Colorado*	7	–	11		.389			11	–	18		.379
Northern Arizona	6	–	12		.333			9	–	23		.281
Southern Utah	3	–	15		.167			6	–	27		.182
Idaho State	3	–	15		.167			5	–	26		.161
† Conference tournament winner

Previous season

The Thunderbirds finished the season 5–24, 3–15 in Big Sky play to finish in a tie for 11th place. They lost in the first round of the Big Sky tournament to North Dakota. On March 9, 2016, head coach Nick Robinson was fired.^[1][2] On March 22, the school hired Todd Simon as head coach.^[3]

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Travon Langston	3	G	6'3"	190	Senior	Las Vegas, NV	Graduated
Trey Kennedy	4	G	6'3"	195	Junior	Las Vegas, NV	Transferred to Midwestern State
Daniel Melifonwu	12	F	6'9"	220	Freshman	San Diego, CA	Transferred to Connors State College
Christian Thompson	25	G/F	6'7"	180	Senior	Phoenix, AZ	Graduated
Casey Oliverson	32	F	6'8"	225	Senior	Logan, UT	Graduated
A. J. Hess	35	G/F	6'6"	210	Senior	Carefree, AZ	Graduated

Incoming Transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Jadon Cohee	12	G	6'4"	182	Junior	Langley, BC	Transferred from Seattle. Under NCAA transfer rules, Cohee will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility.
Christian Musoko	34	F	6'8"	235	Junior	Kinshasa, Congo	Junior college transferred from Salt Lake CC
Elliott Smith		F	6'6"	185	Junior	Oakley, CA	Junior college transferred from Harcum College
Hamdi Karoui		F	6'7"	220	Junior	Paris, France	Junior college transferred from College of Eastern Utah

2016 incoming recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Kaijae Yee-Stephens SG	Santa Cruz, CA	Santa Cruz High School	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Oct 13, 2015
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Taylor Miller SG	Las Vegas, NV	Palo Verde High School	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Maizen Fausett SG	Saratoga Springs, UT	Westlake High School	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	N/A
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Jacob Calloway SG	Juneau, AK	Thunder Mountain High School	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	195 lb (88 kg)
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Decardo Day PG	Jackson, MS	Callaway High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	May 10, 2016
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Ivan Madunic PF	Split, Croatia		6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Apr 21, 2016
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved August 27, 2015.

Roster

2016–17 Southern Utah Thunderbirds men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 2 Randy Onwausor 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 210 lb (95 kg) RS Jr Inglewood HS Texas Tech Inglewood, CA G 3 Decardo Day 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Fr Callaway HS Jackson, MS G 4 Neema Namdar (W) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Fr Alta HS Sandy, UT G 5 John Marshall 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Westwind Prep Phoenix, AZ F 10 Jacob Calloway 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Fr On Point Academy Juneau, AK F 11 Will Joyce 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Sr Newark East Side New Mexico Military Institute Newark, NJ G 12 Jadon Cohee (I)  6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Walnut Grove Secondary Seattle Langley, BC G 13 Race Parsons 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr South Sevier HS Monroe, UT G 14 James McGee (W) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) RS Jr Mater Dei HS San Clemente, CA F 22 Ivan Madunic 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Fr None Split, Croatia G 24 Adonis Saltes 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Valley HS Pine Ridge, SD G 33 Matthew Johnson (W) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) So Coronado HS Las Vegas, NV F/C 34 Christian Musoko 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Jr Layton Christian HS Salt Lake CC Kinshasa, Congo F 35 Brayden Holker 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) RS Fr Westlake HS Saratoga Springs, UT F 44 Joel Swallow (W) 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) So Millard HS Howell, UT	Head coach Todd Simon (UNLV) Assistant coach(es) John Wardenburg (BYU) Andy Johnson (UNLV) Patrice Days (New Orleans) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
10/29/2016* 6:30 pm		Master's	W 110–86		Centrum Arena (400) Cedar City, UT
11/04/2016* 6:30 pm		La Verne	W 103–89		Centrum Arena (600) Cedar City, UT
Non-conference regular season
11/11/2016* 6:00 pm		at Valparaiso Men Who Speak Up Main Event	L 65–79	0–1	Athletics–Recreation Center (3,560) Valparaiso, IN
11/14/2016* 6:00 pm		at Saint Louis Men Who Speak Up Main Event	L 76–88	0–2	Chaifetz Arena (4,725) St. Louis, MO
11/18/2016* 6:30 pm		Bethesda	W 108–92	1–2	Centrum Arena (600) Cedar City, UT
11/21/2016* 4:00 pm		vs. Coastal Carolina Men Who Speak Up Main Event Middleweight	L 68–83	1–3	MGM Grand Garden Arena  Paradise, NV
11/23/2016* 1:30 pm		vs. Ball State Men Who Speak Up Main Event Middleweight	L 83–94	1–4	MGM Grand Garden Arena  Paradise, NV
11/26/2016* 4:30 pm		Life Pacific	W 101–56	2–4	Centrum Arena (350) Cedar City, UT
11/30/2016* 7:00 pm		UNLV	L 81–89	2–5	Centrum Arena (4,249) Cedar City, UT
12/03/2016* 1:00 pm		at Oakland	L 68–78	2–6	Athletics Center O'rena (2,984) Rochester Hills, MI
12/08/2016* 8:00 pm		at Loyola Marymount	L 68–75	2–7	Gersten Pavilion (1,561) Los Angeles, CA
12/10/2016* 7:00 pm		at Cal State Fullerton	L 62–75	2–8	Titan Gym (520) Fullerton, CA
12/17/2016* 4:00 pm		IUPUI	L 81–101	2–9	Centrum Arena (1,012) Cedar City, UT
12/19/2016* 8:00 pm		at Seattle	L 75–89	2–10	KeyArena (1,235) Seattle, WA
12/21/2016* 8:00 pm		at San Jose State	L 82–92	2–11	Event Center (1,289) San Jose, CA
Big Sky regular season
12/31/2016 12:00 pm		at Northern Arizona	W 93–80	3–11 (1–0)	Walkup Skydome (581) Flagstaff, AZ
01/05/2017 7:00 pm		at Northern Colorado	T 76–76	4–11 (2–0)	Bank of Colorado Arena (833) Greeley, CO
01/07/2017 2:00 pm		at North Dakota	L 65–95	4–12 (2–1)	Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (1,749) Grand Forks, ND
01/12/2017 6:30 pm		Sacramento State	L 83–88	4–13 (2–2)	Centrum Arena (1,668) Cedar City, UT
01/14/2017 6:30 pm		Portland State	L 77–88	4–14 (2–3)	Centrum Arena (2,658) Cedar City, UT
01/19/2017 7:00 pm		at Idaho	L 67–79	4–15 (2–4)	Cowan Spectrum (889) Moscow, ID
01/21/2017 2:00 pm		at Eastern Washington	L 68–83	4–16 (2–5)	Reese Court (1,621) Cheney, WA
01/26/2017 6:30 pm		North Dakota	L 89–91	4–17 (2–6)	Centrum Arena (2,069) Cedar City, UT
01/28/2017 4:00 pm		Northern Colorado	L 71–89	4–18 (2–7)	Centrum Arena (1,802) Cedar City, UT
02/02/2017 7:00 pm		at Weber State	W 74–70	4–19 (2–8)	Dee Events Center (6,436) Ogden, UT
02/04/2017 7:05 pm		at Idaho State	L 68–94	4–20 (2–9)	Holt Arena (1,721) Pocatello, ID
02/09/2017 6:30 pm		Montana	L 55–70	4–21 (2–10)	Centrum Arena (1,923) Cedar City, UT
02/11/2017 2:00 pm		Montana State	L 78–83	4–22 (2–11)	Centrum Arena (1,761) Cedar City, UT
02/18/2017 2:00 pm		Northern Arizona	W 84–68	5–22 (3–11)	Centrum Arena (1,738) Cedar City, UT
02/23/2017 8:00 pm		at Portland State	L 86–93	5–23 (3–12)	Peter Stott Center (592) Portland, OR
02/25/2017 8:00 pm		at Sacramento State	L 76–86	5–24 (3–13)	Hornets Nest (902) Sacramento, CA
03/02/2017 6:30 pm		Eastern Washington	L 75–91	5–25 (3–14)	Centrum Arena (2,159) Cedar City, UT
03/04/2017 4:00 pm		Idaho	L 75–84	5–26 (3–15)	Centrum Arena (2,010) Cedar City, UT
Big Sky tournament
03/07/2017 8:05 pm	(11)	vs. (6) Montana State First Round	W 109–105 3OT	6–26	Reno Events Center (1,507) Reno, NV
03/09/2017 8:05 pm	(11)	vs. (3) Weber State Quarterfinals	L 70–90	6–27	Reno Events Center (1,903) Reno, NV
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain Time.

References

1. "SUU Coach Robinson Relieved of Head Coaching Duties - Southern Utah Thunderbirds Athletics". www.suutbirds.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016.
2. "Southern Utah University fires basketball coach Nick Robinson". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
3. "Southern Utah hires UNLV interim coach Todd Simon". LasVegasSun.com. March 22, 2016. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2017.