THIS WEEK IN SEAWOLF BASKETBALL...
Thursday, Jan. 29 – 6 pm AST – Carver Gymnasium – Bellingham, WA
Alaska Anchorage (10-9, 6-3 GNAC)
at Western Washington (10-9, 3-6 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Jan. 31 – 6 pm AST – SFU West Gymnasium – Burnaby, BC
Alaska Anchorage at Simon Fraser (7-10, 2-7 GNAC [1/29 vs UAF])
TV: None
RADIO: Both games on FM-93.7 KAFC
FREE LIVE VIDEO: Thursday at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/uaa/
Saturday at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87onIFVbBTc
LIVE STATS: Both games at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/uaa/
SOCIAL MEDIA: Get periodic updates for Seawolf games by following the @UAAMBB Twitter feed or like UAA’s main Facebook (Alaska Anchorage Seawolves) or Instagram (AlaskaAnchorage) pages.
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2014-15 stats)
G—Brian McGill, 6-2, Jr. (15.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 5.4 apg, .521 FG, .390 3FG, .771 FT)
G—Travis Thompson, 6-1, Sr. (15.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.9 apg, .427 FG, .421 3FG, .811 FT)
G—Derrick Fain, 6-4, Sr. (6.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.1 apg, .909 FT)
F—Travis Parrish, 6-3, So. (2.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.0 apg, .579 FG)
C—Kalidou Diouf, 6-9, Fr. (10.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.1 apg, 0.9 bpg, .633 FG, .783 FT)
or Brad Mears, 6-10, Sr. (2.3 ppg, 1.4 rpg, .419 FG, 8.9 mpg)
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Western Washington has had seven of its nine GNAC games decided by four points or less, including Saturday’s 90-87 loss to Western Oregon that snapped the Vikings’ 14-game home winning streak ... currently in possession of the sixth and final GNAC Tournament slot, the Vikings are led by 6-0 Jr. G Jaamon Echols (18.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.4 apg, .383 3FG) and 5-10 Jr. G Ricardo Maxwell (17.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 4.4 apg, .519 FG) ... Simon Fraser snapped a 7-game losing skid and held a Div. II opponent under the century mark for the first time this year in Saturday’s 97-87 home win over Saint Martin’s ... the high-scoring Clan feature five players who average double figures, including 6-0 Sr. G Sango Niang (23.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 11.1 apg, 2.4 spg, .839 FT) and 6-5 Jr. G/F Roderick Evans-Taylor (14.7 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.0 spg, .459 FG).
THE SERIES vs WWU: WWU leads 16-12 (9-4 in Bellingham)
Last Meeting: UAA 62-60 (1/3/15 at UAA)
Streak: UAA 1
Notes: UAA snapped a series-best 8-game WWU streak earlier this month in Anchorage ... the Vikings won 99-76 last season in Bellingham … UAA has lost five straight at Carver Gym since an 88-77 overtime win on Feb. 21, 2009 … WWU leads 17-10 in GNAC meetings (since 2001-02) … first and only non-GNAC meeting came when both teams were Pac West foes, with UAA winning 89-77 at home, Jan. 20, 2000.
THE SERIES vs SFU: UAA leads 12-0 (5-0 in Burnaby)
Last Meeting: UAA 108-86 (1/1/15 at UAA)
Notes: UAA has won all nine meetings since SFU joined the GNAC in 2010-11, posting six double-digit victories ... the Seawolves used a last-second basket from Travis Thompson to pull out a 65-64 victory in Burnaby last season … teams met twice in UAA’s first year of Div. II membership in 1977-78, with UAA winning twice at home … teams also met when SFU was a provisional NCAA member in 1999-00 and both teams were in the Pac West Conference.
TEAM COMPARISONS UAA WWU SFU
UAA Road/Opp. Home 3-3 9-1 6-3
Points per Game 76.6 81.3 113.1
Points Allowed/Game 70.5 72.6 106.9
Rebounding Diff. +4.7 +6.0 -8.2
Assists per Game 17.3 15.7 18.9
Turnovers per Game 12.7 12.5 14.9
Steals per Game 6.0 6.0 14.1
Blocks per Game 2.3 5.9 3.2
FG% .465 .465 .471
3-pt FG% .353 .348 .330
FT% .746 .635 .720
FIRST HALF ENDS WITH SPLIT: UAA completed the first half of the GNAC campaign with a home split Jan. 22 & 24, losing 77-68 to Central Washington and defeating Northwest Nazarene 67-57 at the Alaska Airlines Center ... in the first game, Jr. G Dom Hunter scored 21 points (6-16 FG, 7-9 FT) and Sr. G Travis Thompson had 14 points (3-7 FG, 6-6 FT), but the Seawolves could never make up early 9-0 and 18-4 deficits despite pulling within two points twice in the second half ... Sr. G Boomer Blossom had 8 points (3-4 FG) and 4 assists off the bench to keep the Seawolves close ... on Saturday, Thompson tallied 21 points (4-11 3FG, 9-10 FT) and Hunter added 13 points and 4 assists to grind out a defensive-mind victory over the Crusaders ... Jr. G Brian McGill returned with 11 points (4-4 FT) and 4 assists after missing the CWU game with a sprained ankle, and Sr. C Brad Mears gave the Seawolves a boost with 6 points (3-5 FG) and 6 rebounds in his first start of the season ... UAA allowed NNU to shoot just 36.2 percent from the field to register a season-low point total against Div. II competition.
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves rank in the top 40 nationally in four categories – assists per game (17th, 17.3), assist/turnover ratio (27th, 1.37) and FT% (38th, .746) ... in the GNAC stats, the Seawolves lead in A/T ratio and are 2nd in assists per game, FT%, rebounds allowed per game (30.6) and 3FGs made per game (8.5) ... UAA held its opponents to a tournament-low .196 3FG% in the GCI Great Alaska Shootout, while tying for the second-most steals (15) ... the Seawolves held Northwest Indian to 12 rebounds on Nov. 22, breaking the previous record of 15 allowed (vs. NW Nazarene, 1/22/04) ... UAA has reached the 100-point mark at least once in each of the last five seasons ... the 19 three-pointers in the Dec. 16 win over Portland Bible tied for the 4th-most in program history ... UAA is aiming for the program’s 10th straight winning season and the program’s 32nd in 38 years … the Seawolves have also earned a plus-.500 league record for 26 of 32 years of conference membership.
THE THOMPSON TICKER: Sr. G Travis Thompson kept moving up both the UAA and GNAC career charts with another big week against Central Washington and Simon Fraser, rising to No. 4 on UAA’s all-time scoring list (1,481 pts) and No. 2 all-time in the league with 269 three-pointers made ... with six 20-plus performances this year, Thompson is now within reach of Carl Arts (1,544, 2004-08) for No. 3 on the Seawolf list; he would need to average 18.5 points over the next 10 games to catch Hansi Gnad (1,666,1983-87) for No. 2 ... the Seawolves’ career record-holder in 3FGs (269) now ranks in the top 10 in 13 different stats categories at UAA, including scoring, FTs made (4th, 296), FT% (4th, .858), 3FG% (8th, .437), victories (7th, 74), steals (8th, 114), assists (9th, 297), games played (7th, 112) and games started (10th, 74) ... on the all-time GNAC lists, Thompson now trails only Saint Martin’s Jake Linton (292, 2005-09) in 3FGs made, along with ranks of 18th in scoring and 8th in FT% ... in this year’s GNAC stats, he ranks 2nd in 3FGs per game (2.9, 33rd nationally), along with ranks of 6th in scoring, 2nd in minutes per game (32.7), 7th in FT% (.813), 8th in steals per game (1.6), 10th in 3FG% (.421) and 15th in assists per game (2.9), despite being the focus of opposing defenses ... the former Dimond High School star earned GCI Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament Team honors for the second straight season after leading the 8-team, all-Div. I GCI Great Alaska Shootout in scoring with 19.7 ppg in November ... Thompson’s 28 points in the finale vs. Rice was the second-most in this year’s tourney and pushed him into No. 4 on the Shootout’s all-time scoring list with 157 points, trailing only Peter Bullock (213), Ed Kirk (169) and Jason Kaiser (160) ... his 13 three-pointers were also tied for 6th-most in tourney history and set a new mark for a Seawolf ... Thompson was a unanimous selection for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year in voting by the league’s head coaches ... a First Team All-GNAC pick last year and a Second Teamer in 2011-12, he was also picked a Div. II Bulletin ‘Super 16’ Preseason All-American this fall.
McGILL THE THRILL: Jr. PG Brian McGill captured his second career GNAC Player of the Week award for his performance in UAA’s earlier victories over Simon Fraser and Western Washington ... McGill’s 28 points against SFU were the second-most of his career against a D-II opponent, and he scored UAA’s last four points against the Vikings, making the game-winning shot over two defenders with 6.5 seconds left ... he currently holds down GNAC top-15 ranks in six different categories, including 3rd in assists (5.4 apg), 7th in scoring (15.4 ppg), 8th in minutes per game (30.3), and 12th in FT% (.771) … after just 48 games, McGill already ranks 10th on UAA’s career list with 27 assists, while his 5.7 assists per game rank ... the Clackamas, Ore., native tied for third in the GCI Great Alaska Shootout with 5.3 assists per game, along with a tie for fifth in rebounds at 6.3 rpg ... this season McGill is a Preseason All-GNAC selection and was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Ron Logsdon Classic in California ... he garnered All-GNAC Second Team honors in 2013-14.
MORE PLAYER NOTES: After 18 games played, redshirt Fr. C Kalidou Diouf ranks in the top 10 on seven UAA freshman lists, including No. 1 on FG% (.633), No. 3 in scoring average (10.8 ppg) and No. 4 in rebounding average (5.5 rpg) ... the 6-9, 270-pound German has racked up several impressive shooting performances, including 7 of 7 at Western Oregon, 13 of 14 against Northwest Indian, 6 of 9 against defending West Region champion Chico State, and 9 of 11 against Simon Fraser ... he also pulled down a UAA season-high 15 rebounds against SFU, securing his second career double-double and the most boards for a Seawolf since former All-American Taylor Rohde had 15 at Central Washington on Dec. 30, 2010 ... Diouf holds GNAC ranks of 13th in rebounding, 2nd in FG% and 6th in blocks (0.9 bpg) ... Fr. F Sjur Berg has recently shown the rebounding prowess that earned him a reputation as one of Europe’s top juniors, averaging 6.6 rebounds per game over the last nine contests ... the Norwegian had career-highs of 5 offensive, 8 defensive and 13 total boards against Western Washington, including the carom that led to the game-winning basket ... Berg’s .625 FG% is second on the team behind Diouf, and his 5.7 rpg leads UAA and ranks 9th in the GNAC (tops among freshmen) ... Jr. F Christian Leckband has provided a big lift off the bench recently, tying his career-high and scoring double figures for the third time this year with 16 points (6-9 FG, 2-3 3FG) against WWU ... the Nome native is also enjoying the most productive rebounding stretch of his career, averaging 5.4 rpg over the last seven games ... Leckband is 20th in the GNAC from long range with a .375 3FG% ... Jr. G Dom Hunter has made a major impact since missing 10 games with a toe injury suffered on Nov. 21, averaging 14.4 ppg in the last five contests ... the Eastern Arizona transfer had a career-high 22 points at MSU Billings and 21 against Central Washington to join Brian McGill as the only Seawolvse with back-to-back 20-plus outings this year ... he is also averaging 3.3 assists over the last three games.
THE OSBORNE FILE: Eleventh-year head coach Rusty Osborne (202-115) has led the Seawolves to nine straight winning seasons, five NCAA Tournaments and a trip to the 2008 NCAA D-II Semifinals in his tenure at the helm … with UAA’s victory over Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 10, he became the first UAA basketball coach to reach 200 career victories … Osborne captured his first career GNAC and NABC West District coach-of-the-year awards in 2008 after becoming the second coach to lead UAA to three consecutive NCAA berths (2006-08), and in 2011-12 his Seawolves posted a 24-10 record to equal the 2nd-most victories in program history; Osborne’s 2007-08 club holds that record with a 29-6 mark … before taking over the head job in 2004-05, the Texas native previously served 13 seasons (1991-04) as a UAA assistant, including 11 years as the top assistant … the Seawolves have won over 60 percent of their games with Osborne on the staff, claiming four conference titles and eight trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament. Osborne is assisted by Cameron Turner (4th season) and graduate assistant Tim Mollerstrom (3rd season).
SEAWOLVES TABBED 2ND: The Seawolves were picked to finish second in the 2014 Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason coaches’ poll, released Oct. 14. Here is a look at the poll:
2014-15 Great Northwest Athletic Conference
Preseason Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Poll
Rk Team (1st-place votes) 2013-14 Records Pts
1. Western Washington (7) 20-8 (13-5, 2nd) 78
2. Alaska Anchorage (1) 17-13 (10-8, 4th-T) 69
3. Seattle Pacific (2) 26-6 (15-3, 1st) 68
4. Western Oregon 18-12 (10-8, 4th-T) 60
5. Montana State Billings 12-15 (8-10, 6th-T) 41
6. Central Washington 12-14 (8-10, 6th-T) 39
7. Alaska Fairbanks 18-10 (12-6, 3rd) 38
8. Northwest Nazarene 7-19 (5-13, 9th) 21
9. Simon Fraser 10-16 (3-15, 10th) 18
Saint Martin’s 9-17 (6-12, 8th) 18
(Note: Each coach ranked other nine teams. First-place votes in parentheses. Points awarded on 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.).
2014-15 SEAWOLF INDIVIDUAL HONORS
Kalidou Diouf
Seawolf Jamboree All-Tournament Team, 12/13
Brian McGill
Preseason All-GNAC Team
Ron Logsdon Classic All-Tournament Team, 11/15
GNAC Player of the Week, 12/29-1/4
Travis Thompson
Div. II Bulletin ‘Super 16’ All-American
Preseason GNAC Player of the Year
Preseason All-GNAC Team
GCI Great Alaska Shootout Player of the Game (vs Rice), 11/29
GCI Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament Team, 11/29
Seawolf Jamboree All-Tournament Team, 12/13
Nate Sagan
Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations
University of Alaska Anchorage
3211 Providence Dr.
Anchorage, AK 99508
(907) 786-1295 / nate@uaa.alaska.edu
GoSeawolves.com
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