Southern Utah (13-15, 8-9 Summit League) fell in overtime to Oakland 76-68 Wednesday, before collapsing in an ESPN BracketBuster matchup to UC-Riverside 57-52 on Saturday.

The losses guaranteed the T-Birds wouldn't pick up their first above .500 season under SUU Head Coach Roger Reid's tenure.

However, the T-Birds have one final test before heading into the Summit League tournament next week, as SUU hosts regular season conference champion Oral Roberts Saturday night SUU's regular season finale.

"It's just a great opportunity to play the No. 1 team heading into the Summit League tournament," Reid said. "They've had our number for many, many years. Let's just put it that way."

SUU enters the week as the current No. 6 seed for the Summit League tournament next week, but that seeding could change with the final week of the regular season taking place.

But unlike the rest of the conference teams, the T-Birds only have one game to worry about during the week. However, the game won't be an easy task for SUU.

The Golden Eagles (25-5, 16-1 Summit League) have had their way with SUU for nearly a decade and ORU is 29-8 all-time against the T-Birds. In fact, the Golden Eagles have won the past 19 meetings between the two and SUU hasn't won a game against ORU since Jan. 9, 2003.

However, the T-Birds were moments away from snapping the streak in December, before ORU center Damen Bell-Holter completed a 3-point play with 24 seconds left to help the Golden Eagles take the lead, and ORU finished the game on a 16-2 run to win 61-55.

"We definitely want to take this one," guard Ray Jones said. "They snuck away with one at their place and we really should've won, unfortunately we didn't. So when they come back here, we can't take them lightly at all."

Although Saturday's matchup will play a factor in the final Summit League conference matchups, the game will also have sentimental value.

It will mark the end of a 15-year era — as it will be SUU's final home game as a member of the Summit League — and will be final home game for Jones, as well as forwards Matt Massey and Ramell Taylor.

The trio of seniors have accounted for roughly 47 percent of SUU's scoring production this season.

"I don't know the word for it — it's just going to be surreal," Jones said. "I've only been here two years, now, and I've built a lot of relationships with fans, with players and everything. Just knowing I won't be playing in front of this crowd again — the people have supported me since I've gotten here. It's definitely going to be hard, but hopefully we'll end on a win and we can give them something to remember."

After redshirting his first season in 2008, Massey has been one of the T-Birds' top players for three seasons, and said it's a moment he's been realizing would happen all season.

"It's really hit me the last couple of weeks," Massey said. "It's something you don't realize during your junior year, but in your senior year, you don't want this to end. It's going to be tough, but I'm still looking forward to that Summit League tournament."

Despite playing 16 conference games ago, Massey said the loss in December is still a fresh wound in the minds of the T-Bird players, who he said would like to avenge that loss.

"It's a revenge game," Massey said. "We had those guys beaten and we absolutely deserved it. They got away with one."

The Golden Eagles have emerged as one of the top teams in mid-major basketball, climbing up to No. 11 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 this week and even receiving a first-place vote.

ORU also defeated Akron 67-61 on a BracketBuster game broadcast on ESPN 2, and are led by forward Dominique Morrison, who averages 20 points per contest.

But, the two teams haven't seen each other in nearly three months, which can is a long time between matchups.

However, Jones said the SUU coaching staff has been preparing the team well, looking at video to see any offensive or defensive adjustments ORU has made between now and the first matchup on Dec. 3.

"Our coaches do a good job with getting the game plan ready and preparing us for their sets and what they do," Jones said. "They still have the same personnel, so personnel doesn't usually ever change that much — the player is always going to play the way he does."

Tipoff against the Golden Eagles is slated for 7:30 p.m. inside the Centrum Arena.

"It's a big game for momentum going into the tournament," Massey said. "We just have to come out and set a tone, get out all these other games we've played out of our minds — just really played hard. It's senior night; it's our last game in front of these fans. We want to come out and play well."