THIS WEEK IN SEAWOLF BASKETBALL...
Thursday, Jan. 22 – 7:30 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, AK
Central Washington (10-4, 5-2 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (9-8, 5-2 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Jan. 24 – 7:30 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, AK
Northwest Nazarene (7-10, 5-2 GNAC [1/22 @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
ON TV: Thursday’s CWU-UAA game will air tape-delayed at 11 p.m. statewide on GCI cable (Ch. 1 in Anchorage), while Saturday’s NNU-UAA game will air at 4 p.m. Sunday.
RADIO: Both games on FM-93.7 KAFC
FREE LIVE VIDEO: Both games at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/uaa/
LIVE STATS: 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. (15.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 5.5 apg, .527 FG, .400 3FG, .758 FT)
G—Travis Thompson, 6-1, Sr. (15.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.0 apg, .441 FG, .431 3FG)
G—Kevin Bowman, 6-1, Jr. (6.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.4 apg, .328 3FG)
F—Travis Parrish, 6-3, So. (3.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 1.1 apg, .568 FG)
C—Kalidou Diouf, 6-9, Fr. (11.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.1 apg, 0.7 bpg, .649 FG, .850 FT)
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Central Washington has won two straight and eight of its last 10, including home wins over Seattle Pacific (73-67) on Dec 6 and Western Washington (74-71) last week ... the Wildcats are led by 5-11 Sr. G Dom Williams (18.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.9 apg, .443 3FG) and 6-8 Jr. F Joseph Stroud (11.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.0 bpg, .725 FG) ... Northwest Nazarene heads to Fairbanks on Thursday having won three straight and five of its last six outings ... the Crusaders have played their last nine games within single digits ... the Nampa, Idaho, squad is led by 6-4 Jr. G Erik Kinney (14.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 1.6 spg, .807 FT) and 6-7 Sr. F/C Kevin Rima (12.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, .581 FG).
THE SERIES vs CWU: UAA leads 17-15 overall, 9-5 at UAA
Last Meeting: UAA 96-89 (2/13/14 at CWU)
Streak: UAA 1
Notes: Teams have split the last two regular-season series ... last year’s games were decided by eerily similar scores of 96-89 (UAA victory in Ellensburg) and 95-88 (CWU win in Anchorage) ... UAA leads 15-11 in GNAC regular-season meetings since the league formed in 2001-02 … first meeting occurred Feb. 1, 1979, although teams did not play again until Feb. 2000.
THE SERIES vs NNU: UAA leads 17-10 overall, 10-4 at UAA
Last Meeting: UAA 76-64 (2/15/14 at NNU)
Streak: UAA 3
Notes: UAA has won seven of the last eight meetings, with NNU’s 61-60 win in Nampa last year being the lone loss … UAA leads 16-10 in GNAC meetings … first meeting as D-II opponents was Feb. 3, 2001.
TEAM COMPARISONS UAA CWU NNU
UAA Home/Opp. Road 6-4 1-2 3-4
Points per Game 77.7 78.5 70.4
Points Allowed/Game 70.9 71.5 74.2
Rebounding Diff. +5.2 -3.1 +1.5
Assists per Game 17.8 17.1 12.8
Turnovers per Game 12.8 13.2 16.7
Steals per Game 6.2 8.7 6.8
Blocks per Game 2.4 5.2 3.5
FG% .476 .465 .471
3-pt FG% .367 .364 .365
FT% .734 .688 .738
ROAD SWING WRAP-UP: UAA finished 2-1 on its recent three-game road swing with a split last week at traditional rivals Seattle Pacific (L, 73-51) and Montana State Billings (W, 70-62) to stay in a three-way tie for third place in the GNAC standings ... in the first game, Sr. G Travis Thompson had 17 points (6-12 FG, 4-4 FT) and Jr. G Brian McGill scored 10 points, but very little else went right as UAA lost for the 11th straight time at Brougham Pavilion ... SPU shot 62 percent from the field and limited UAA to 21 percent (4-19) from long range, along with a 30-19 rebounding advantage ... on Saturday, the Seawolves erased an early 6-point deficit and roared back to take control in the final 5 minutes at MSU Billings ... Jr. G Dom Hunter exploded for a career-high 22 points (8-13 FG, 3-7 3FG) and dished a team-high 4 assists, while Thompson added 14 points (8-8 FT) and 3 assists ... UAA’s bench outscored its counterparts 41-12 behind the efforts of Hunter, Fr. F Sjur Berg (8 pts, 3-3 FG, 9 rebs) and Jr. F Christian Leckband (8 pts, 2-3 3FG, 5 rebs), while the Seawolves’ 7 turnovers were a season-low against a D-II foe.
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves rank in the top 50 nationally in four categories – assists per game (15th, 17.8), assist/turnover ratio (24th, 1.39), 3FGs per game (44th, 8.6) and rebound margin (48th, +5.2) ... in the GNAC stats, the Seawolves lead in A/T ratio and are 2nd in assists per game, 3FGs made per game and rebound margin (+6.9) ... 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 moved up to 4th place in the GNAC scoring race (15.6 ppg) with 31 more points last week, scoring double figures for the eighth and ninth straight games ... with five 20-plus performances this year, Thompson stands 6th in UAA history with 1,446 points, putting him within striking distance of Seawolf Hall of Famers Jesse Jackson (1,471 pts, 1985-87) and Jim Hajdukovich (1,472, 1995-99) ... the Seawolves’ career record-holder in three-pointers (263) now ranks in the top 10 in 13 different stats categories at UAA, including scoring, FTs made (5th, 281), FT% (8th, .854), 3FG% (7th, .439), victories (7th, 73), steals (8th, 112), assists (9th, 293), games played (9th, 110) and games started (10th, 72) ... on the all-time GNAC lists, Thompson is just three 3FGs behind Western Washington’s Grant Dykstra (266, 2002-06) for No. 2, and he moved into the top 20 in scoring with his 14 points at MSUB ... in this year’s GNAC stats, he leads the way in 3FGs per game (2.9), along with ranks of 4th in scoring, 2nd in minutes per game (32.4), 8th in steals per game (1.6), 10th in 3FG% (.431) and 11th in assists per game (3.0), 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 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 2nd in assists (5.5 apg), 3rd in scoring (15.6 ppg), 6th in minutes per game (30.8), and 10th in FT% (.758) … after just 47 games, McGill already ranks 10th on UAA’s career list with 270 assists, while his 5.7 assists per game rank only behind former All-American Luke Cooper (7.3 apg, 2004-08) on UAA’s career list ... 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: Redshirt Fr. C Kalidou Diouf ranks 15th nationally (No. 1 among freshmen) in FG% at .649 ... the 6-9, 270-pound German shot 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 16th in rebounding (5.4 rpg), 2nd in FG% and 7th in blocks (0.8 bpg) ... Fr. F Sjur Berg has recently shown the rebounding prowess that earned him a reputation as one of Europe’s top juniors, averaging 7.4 rebounds per game over the last seven 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 .600 FG% is second on the team behind Diouf, and his 6.0 rpg leads UAA and ranks 8th 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 5.2 rpg over the last five games ... Leckband is 13th in the GNAC from long range with at .415 3FG% and ranks 18th on UAA’s career 3FG% list at .393.
THE OSBORNE FILE: Eleventh-year head coach Rusty Osborne (201-114) 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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