THIS WEEK IN SEAWOLF BASKETBALL...
Thursday, Feb. 19 – 6:30 pm AST – Nicholson Pavilion – Ellensburg, WA
Alaska Anchorage (14-10, 10-4 GNAC) at Central Washington (14-7, 9-5 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Feb. 21 – 5 pm AST – Johnson Sports Center – Nampa, ID
Alaska Anchorage at Northwest Nazarene (10-14, 8-6 GNAC [2/19 vs UAF])
TV: None
RADIO: Live on FM-93.7 KAFC
FREE LIVE VIDEO & 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. (15.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 5.3 apg, .523 FG, .420 3FG, .798 FT)
G—Travis Thompson, 6-1, Sr. (16.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.4 spg, .444 3FG, .809 FT)
G—Derrick Fain, 6-4, Sr. (8.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.4 apg, .384 3FG, .889 FT)
F—Travis Parrish, 6-3, So. (3.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.4 apg, .577 FG)
C—Brad Mears, 6-10, Sr. (2.5 ppg, 1.4 rpg, .455 FG)
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Central Washington has dropped three of its last five to fall one game behind UAA in the race for the probable No. 2 seed in the GNAC Tournament ... the Wildcats clinched a GNAC Tourney berth with Saturday’s 112-84 win a Simon Fraser ... CWU is led by 5-11 Sr. G Dom Williams (19.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.6 apg, .455 3FG, .791 FT) and 6-8 Jr. F Joseph Stroud (11.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 2.9 bpg, .729 FG) ... Northwest Nazarene has lost three straight to fall into 5th place in the league standings with four games remaining ... the Crusaders, who host Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday, can officially clinch at GNAC Tournament bid with one more win or a Simon Fraser loss ... NNU is led by 6-4 Jr. G Erik Kinney (14.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 787 FT) and 6-7 Sr. F Kevin Rima (11.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg, .560 FG).
THE SERIES vs CWU: UAA leads 17-16 overall
In Ellensburg: CWU leads 9-7
Last Meeting: CWU 77-68 (1/22/15 at UAA)
Streak: CWU 1
Notes: Teams have split the last regular-season series in six of the last seven years ... the last four games have been decided by single digits, including UAA’s 96-89 win in Ellensburg last season ... the road team has won the last three meetings ... UAA leads 15-12 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 18-10
At NNU: UAA leads 7-6
Last Meeting: UAA 67-57 (1/24/15 at UAA)
Streak: UAA 4
Notes: UAA has won eight of the last nine meetings ... NNU’s only win since 2010-11 was a 61-60 thriller in Nampa, Jan. 3, 2013 ... UAA leads 17-10 in GNAC meetings … f rst meeting as D-II opponents was Feb. 3, 2001.
TEAM COMPARISONS UAA CWU NNU
UAA Road/Opp. Home 5-3 8-2 5-4
Points per Game 78.3 79.1 70.1
Points Allowed/Game 72.0 72.8 74.2
Rebounding Diff. +3.9 +4.6 +2.7
Assists per Game 18.0 17.0 12.8
Turnovers per Game 12.5 12.6 17.1
Steals per Game 5.7 8.1 6.6
Blocks per Game 2.3 4.9 3.8
FG% .466 .471 .471
3-pt FG% .375 .376 .368
FT% .762 .703 .739
UAA SPLITS AS GNAC DRAWS CLOSER: The Seawolves ran their winning streak to five games with an 82-68 home win over Montana State Billings on Feb. 12 before losing a 73-72 overtime heartbreaker to Seattle Pacific in a battle of 2nd- and 3rd-place teams on Feb. 14 at the Alaska Airlines Center ... against the Yellowjackets, Sr. G Travis Thompson sparked a second-half comeback with 23 points (6-10 FG, 4-5 3FG, 7-8 FT), 3 assists and no turnovers as UAA committed just seven team turnovers and swept the season series from MSUB ... Sr. G Derrick Fain had 18 points (7-13 FG, 4-7 3Fg), 5 rebounds, 4 assists and no turnovers, while Jr. PG Brian McGill finished with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals ... UAA outshot the ‘Jackets .522 (12 of 23) to .267 (4 of 15) from long range as Jr. G Dom Hunter scored all 10 of his points during the second stanza ... on Saturday, Jr. F Christian Leckband tallied a career-high 19 points (7-14 FG, 4-5 FT) and grabbed 4 rebounds, and Thompson tied the game with two FTs late in regulation, but the Falcons survived two final-second jumpers by Hunter to eke out the season sweep, drawing within half a game of UAA for 2nd place ... Thompson and McGill scored 13 points apiece and combined for 9 assists, while Fain had 10 points.
TEAM NOTES: UAA needs one more victory to clinch the program’s 10th straight winning season and the 32nd in 38 years … with their win over MSUB, the Seawolves earned their fifth consecutive plus-.500 league record and the for 27 of 33 years of conference membership (all leagues) ... in the NCAA Div. II national stats, UAA holds top-15 ranks in assists per game (12th, 18.0), FT% (17th, .762), assist/turnover ratio (15th, 1.45), along with 32nd in 3FGs per game (9.1) ... in the GNAC stats, the Seawolves lead in A/T ratio and are 2nd in assists per game, FT%, rebounds allowed per game (30.5) and 3FGs made per game ... for the second season in a row the Seawolves have set a new record for three-pointers made in a road game, with their 20 at Simon Fraser topping the 19 at Western Oregon (1/23/14) and Central Washington (2/13/14) ... the 20 treys also tied for the 3rd-most in a game in program history ... UAA’s four times reaching the century mark this year are the most under 11th-year head coach Rusty Osborne and the most since the 2000-01 squad did it seven times ... 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).
THE THOMPSON TICKER: Sr. G Travis Thompson notched his ninth 20-plus performance this year when he went for 23 points in UAA’s win over MSUB on Thursday ... Thompson also moved closer to No. 2 on UAA’s career scoring list with 1,585 points; he would need to average 16.2 points over the next five games to catch Hansi Gnad (1,666 pts,1983-87) ... the Seawolves’ career record-holder in 3FGs (287) ranks in the top 10 in 13 different stats categories at UAA, including scoring, FTs made (4th, 328), FT% (6th, .852), 3FG% (7th, .442), victories (t-3rd, 78), steals (8th, 118), assists (t-6th, 321), games played (5th, 117) and games started (9th, 79) ... on the all-time GNAC lists, Thompson now trails record-holder Jake Linton (St. Martin’s, 292 3FGs, 2005-09) by only five treys, along with ranks of 15th in scoring (needs 7 pts to move into 14th), 10th in FT% and 3FG%, 11th in 3FGs per game (2.45) and 11th in games played ... in this year’s GNAC stats, he is 4th in scoring (16.9 ppg), 2nd in 3FGs per game (3.1, 24th nationally), along with ranks of 3rd in minutes per game (32.4), 6th in A/T ratio (2.5, 32nd nationally), 10th in steals per game (1.4), 6th in 3FG% (.444, 30th nationally), 10th in FT% (.809) and 11th in assists per game (3.3), 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 ... most recently, Thompson added Capital One Academic All-District 8 honors to his resume, earning a spot on the 5-player squad with a 3.47 overall GPA in civil engineering.
McGILL THE THRILL: Jr. PG Brian McGill topped the 25-point mark for the seventh time in his career when he went for 29 in UAA’s win at Simon Fraser, including a 25-point explosion in the 1st half ... the Preseason All-GNAC selection holds down top-15 ranks in seven different categories, including 3rd in assists (5.3 apg, 29th nationally), 8th in scoring (15.1 ppg), 7th in minutes per game (30.9) and 12th in FT% (.798) … after just 53 games, McGill is already tied for 8th on UAA’s career list with 299, while his 5.6 assists per game rank No. 3 ... 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 ... McGill earned GNAC Player of the Week for his performance Jan. 1 & 3 against Western Washington and SFU, and he was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Ron Logsdon Classic in November ... he garnered All-GNAC Second Team honors in 2013-14.
MORE PLAYER NOTES: Sr. G Derrick Fain has taken his game to another level in the last three weeks, starting with GNAC Player of the Week honors for his performance at Western Washington and Simon Fraser ... last week the Dallas native posted his fourth and fifth straight double-figure scoring efforts with 18 points against MSU Billings and 10 against Seattle Pacific ... after averaging 6.0 ppg through the first 19 contests, Fain has totaled 84 points on 27-of-54 shooting (16-30 3FG) and 27 rebounds over the past five, tallying a career-high 23 points at Simon Fraser ... he also added a career-high 10 rebounds at SFU for his first double-double ... a one-year transfer from The Master’s College, Fain now ranks 16th in the GNAC with 1.6 3FGs per game and 18th in 3FG% at .384 ... Jr. G Dom Hunter has made a major impact since missing 10 games from Nov. 22-Jan. 3 with a toe injury, with his 13.6 points per game in GNAC contests ranking 12th in the league ... the Eastern Arizona transfer has scored double figures in seven of the last eight games, topping the 20-point mark three times ... he is also averaging 2.4 assists over the last six games, helping the Seawolves go 6-2 ... the Federal Way, Wash., native is shooting .859 from the FT line, with the third-most made (61) and attempted (71) on the team, despite playing only 13 of 24 games ... in the overall GNAC stats, Hunter is 15th in scoring (12.8 ppg), 4th in FT% and 14th in 3FGs per game (1.6) ... Fr. F Sjur Berg has shown the rebounding prowess that earned him a reputation as one of Europe’s top juniors, grabbing 13 rebounds against Western Washington (Jan. 3) and 9 at MSU Billings (Jan. 17) ... the Norwegian’s 5.2 rebounds per game are second-best on the team and rank 16th in the GNAC, while his .594 FG% is tied for 2nd on the team and would be 6th in the GNAC with enough attempts ... Jr. F Christian Leckband has provided a big lift off the bench in league play, posting 7.4 ppg and 4.2 rpg in GNAC counters ... on Jan. 3, the Nome product tied his then-career-high with 16 points in the win over Western Washington, and he reached double figures for the fourth time this year with a career-high 19 points against SPU on Saturday ... So. F Travis Parrish has quietly been one of UAA’s most efficient players in his first season since switching from football (Utah State) to the hardcourt ... Parrish is one of three Seawolves shooting .570 or better, connecting at a .625 clip (20 of 32) since entering the starting lineup on Dec. 13 ... three weeks ago the Utah native had career-highs of 10 points (4-5 FG, 2-2 FT) at Western Washington and 4 assists at Simon Fraser, and Saturday he added made a seson-best 3 steals Saturday against SPU ... UAA has gone 5-1 since Sr. C Brad Mears entered the starting lineup Jan. 29 ... the former Snow (Utah) College transfer has put up quiet but effective performances, shooting 10 of 18 from the floor with no turnovers in 97 minutes ... Mears has committed only one turnover in 189 total minutes this year ... 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 12th in rebounding, 2nd in FG% and 8th in blocks (0.9 bpg).
THE OSBORNE FILE: Eleventh-year head coach Rusty Osborne (205-116) 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
Derrick Fain
GNAC co-Player of the Week, 1/26-2/1
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
Capital One Academic All-Distrcit 8 Team, 2/5
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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