THIS WEEK IN SEAWOLF BASKETBALL...
Saturday, Jan. 10 – 7 pm – Patty Center – Fairbanks, AK
Alaska Anchorage (7-7, 3-1 GNAC) at Alaska Fairbanks (5-7, 2-2 GNAC)
ON TV: None
RADIO: FM-93.7 KAFC
FREE LIVE VIDEO: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/uaa/
LIVE STATS: AlaskaNanooks.com
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. (16.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 6.5 apg, .545 FG, .432 3FG, .778 FT)
G—Travis Thompson, 6-1, Sr. (15.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.2 apg, .438 FG, .438 3FG)
G—Kevin Bowman, 6-1, Jr. (6.2 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.3 apg, .328 3FG)
F—Travis Parrish, 6-3, So. (3.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, .515 FG)
C—Kalidou Diouf, 6-9, Fr. (12.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.9 bpg, .661 FG, .850 FT)
SCOUTING THE NANOOKS: Alaska Fairbanks has put an end to a 5-game losing streak with three straight wins, including last week’s home sweep of Western Washington (64-60) and Simon Fraser (121-111) ... the Nanooks, who are ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA sanctions, are led by 6-1 Jr. G Ashton Edwards (14.8 ppg, 3.2 apg, .432 3FG, .919 FT) and 6-3 Jr. G Ruben Silvas (12.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 1.9 apg, .606 FG, .846 FT).
THE SERIES vs UAF: UAA leads 73-22 (31-17 at UAF)
Last Meeting: UAF 70-68 (2/27/14 at UAF)
Streak: UAF 1
Notes: UAF’s win to close the 2013-14 regular season snapped UAA’s series-record 16-game winning streak, marking the Nanooks’ first triumph since 2006 ... five of the last six games have been decided by six points or less … UAA had won seven straight at the Patty Center prior to last Feburary ... UAA leads 20-6 in GNAC meetings (since 2001-02) and 43-10 since 1990 … teams have met at least twice each year since both became NCAA Div. II programs in 1977-78.
TEAM COMPARISONS UAA UAF
UAA Road/UAF Home 1-2 4-2
Points per Game 80.3 70.8
Points Allowed/Game 71.9 73.8
Rebounding Diff. +6.9 -0.2
Assists per Game 19.5 14.1
Turnovers per Game 13.4 11.8
Steals per Game 6.9 4.3
Blocks per Game 2.6 3.0
FG% .479 .429
3-pt FG% .371 .384
FT% .730 .721
SWEET HOME SWEEP: The Seawolves got their first back-to-back wins against Div. II competition this season in entertaining contests over Simon Fraser (108-86) and Western Washington (62-60) in the first-ever Great Northwest Athletic Conference games played at the Alaska Airlines Center, Jan. 1 & 3 ... against SFU, Jr. PG Brian McGill had 28 points (10-18 FG, 7-9 FT), 6 rebounds and 4 assists and Fr. C Kalidou Diouf posted his second double-double with 19 points (9-11 FG) and 15 rebounds to overcome the highest-scoring squad in NCAA Div. II ... Sr. G Travis Thompson scored 15 points, while Jr. G Kevin Bowman and Sr. G Derrick Fain chipped in 11 points and 4 assists apiece as UAA held SFU to a season-low point total ... UAA also got nice efforts from Jr. F Christian Leckband (9 pts, 8 rebs, 3 assts, 0 turnovers) and Fr. F Sjur Berg (6 pts, 3-5 FG, 8 rebs) against the Clan ... on Saturday, McGill scored 20 points (6-11 FG, 8-8 FT) – including the game-winning bank shot with 6.5 seconds remaining – and dished 5 assists to help UAA snap an 8-game losing skid against the Vikings ... Leckband matched his career-high with 16 points (6-9 FG, 2-3 3FG), sparking the Seawolves second-half comeback, while Thompson added 11 points despite a subpar shooting performance ... Berg came through with a career-high 13 rebounds (including the board that led to game-winning possession) in just 21 minutes.
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves rank in the top 50 nationally in four categories – assists per game (10th, 19.5), assist/turnover ratio (20th, 1.46), rebound margin (32nd, +6.9) and 3FGs per game (41st, 9.0) ... in the GNAC stats, the Seawolves lead in A/T ratio and are 2nd in FT% (.730), assists per game, 3FGs made per game (9.5) and rebounds allowed per game (30.4) ... 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’s 0-4 start was just the second such in program history (0-6 in 2001-02) ... 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 became the Seawolves’ career record-holder in three-pointers Saturday against Western Washington, passing former teammate Kyle Fossman (2010-14) with his 258th career trey ... the former Dimond High star now ranks in the top 10 in 11 different stats categories at UAA, including 6th in scoring (1,394 pts), FTs made (264), FT% (.849) and 3FG% (.440), and 9th in assists (286), steals (109) and victories (71) ... in this year’s GNAC stats, he ranks 7th in scoring (15.2 ppg), 1st in 3FGs per game (3.2), 3rd in minutes per game (31.8), 9th in steals per game (1.8), 9th in 3FG% (.438) and 10th in assists per game (3.2), despite being the focus of opposing defenses ... Thompson 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 last month ... 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 last week’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 eight different categories, including 2nd in assists (6.5 apg), 3rd in scoring (16.9 ppg), 4th in minutes per game (31.5), and 9th in FT% (.778) … after just 44 games, McGill already ranks 10th on UAA’s career list with 268 assists, while his 6.1 assists per game rank only behind former All-American Luke Cooper 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 11th nationally (No. 1 among freshmen) in FG%, despite a rough shooting night against Western Washington ... 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 13th in scoring (12.6 ppg), 8th in rebounding (6.1 rpg), 2nd in FG% and 8th 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 8.1 rebounds per game over the last six contests ... the Norwegian had career-highs of 5 offensive, 8 defensive and 13 total boards against WWU, including the carom that led to the game-winning basket ... Berg’s .571 FG% is second on the team behind Diouf, and his 6.3 rpg leads UAA and ranks 7th in the GNAC ... 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 also had his best back-to-back rebounding efforts last week with a season-high 8 against SFU and 5 against WWU ... Leckband is 14th in the GNAC from long range with at .412 3FG% ... Jr. G Kevin Bowman has started the last four contests and broken into the GNAC rankings at 17th in A-T ratio (1.5) ... the Arizona native has at least 9 points and 4 assists in each of the last four of the last five games, including 10 points (3-7 3FG) against No. 16 BYU-Hawaii and 11 points against SFU.
THE OSBORNE FILE: Eleventh-year head coach Rusty Osborne (199-113) 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 Saint Martin’s on Jan. 25, 2014, he also became the winningest coach in program history, surpassing former mentor Charlie Bruns … 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
