College Basketball Tonight

Southern Utah at Gonzaga Gonzaga (1-1) plays host to Southern Utah (1-2) in a non-conference game at 7 p.m. at the Martin Centre. GU is coming off an 86-66 win over Central Washington, while SUU fell 82-76 to Arizona State.

At a glance: Gonzaga encountered surprising difficulty against Central Washington, trailing by a point at halftime.

Southern Utah will be a far more stern challenge. “This is a very good team,” GU coach Dan Fitzgerald said of the Thunderbirds. “They really should have beat Arizona State.” ASU hit four free throws in the final 26 seconds to put that one away.

Most formidable of the Thunderbirds is 6-foot-4 forward Jon Gaines, who scored 25 against ASU and has hit 79 percent of his 3-pointers (11 for 14).

The Bulldogs found all five starters in double figures against CWU, making it the first time that’s happened since the 1990-91 season.

SUU led the nation in 3-point percentage and is hitting slightly under 42 percent right now. That is normally a strength of the Bulldogs, too, but they’ve netted only 6 of 26 3-pointers this season (23.1 percent).

No T-Bird starter stands taller than 6-foot-5.

Bulldogs forward Jon Kinloch remains questionable because of the ankle sprain that sidelined him against Central Washington.

Gonzaga: Paul Rogers, 19 ppg; Scott Snider, 7.5 rpg; Kyle Dixon, 4.5 apg. Southern Utah: Jon Gaines, 19.7 ppg; Russ Caton, 5.7 rpg; Reggie Ingram, 3.7 apg.

Radio: KJRB (790 AM) with Dick Wright 15 minutes before tip-off.

, DataTimes