THIS WEEK IN SEAWOLF MEN’S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 25 – 5:30 pm AST – Johnson Sports Center – Nampa, Idaho
Alaska Anchorage (20-9, 13-5 GNAC)
at Northwest Nazarene (8-16, 4-14 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Feb. 27 – 6:30 pm AST – Nicholson Pavilion – Ellensburg, Wash.
Alaska Anchorage at Central Washington (17-6, 12-6 GNAC [2/25 vs UAF])
LIVE VIDEOSTREAM & STATS: Both games free at portal.stretchinternet.com/uaa
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2015-16 stats)
G—Brian McGill, 6-2, Sr. (18.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 4.4 apg, 1.4 spg, .508 FG, .375 3FG, .933 FT)
G—Sekou ‘Suki’ Wiggs, 6-4, Jr. (23.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1.4 spg, .432 FG, .335 3FG, .771 FT)
G—Spencer Svejcar, 6-4, Jr. (12.1 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.1 apg, .452 FG, .385 3FG, .870 FT)
F—Corey Hammell, 6-6, Jr. (12.3 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 1.4 apg, .450 FG, .825 FT)
F—Brian Pearson, 6-9, So. (0.4 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.6 bpg, .600 FT, 7.2 mpg)
SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @UAAMBB (for in-game updates) and @UAASeawolves
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Instagram: UAA_Seawolves
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Hashtags: #SeawolfHoops #UAASeawolves
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Northwest Nazarene will close out its season this weekend, having been eliminated from GNAC Tournament contention with seven losses in its last eight games ... the Crusaders are led by 6-6 Jr. G Bouna N’Diaye (14.9 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.9 apg, 1.3 bpg, .474 FG, .415 3FG, .768 FT) and 6-7 Jr. F Detwon Rogers (13.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, .498 FG, .377 3FG) ... Central Washington has gone 5-1 this month to stay in contention for the No. 2 seed at the GNAC Tournament, althought the Wildcats could also end up seeded as low as No. 5 ... CWU is led by 6-8 Sr. C Joseph Stroud (16.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 2.6 bpg, .609 FG) and 6-2 Sr. G Gary Jacobs (14.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 3.5 apg, .484 FG, .772 FT).
TEAM COMPARISONS UAA NNU CWU
UAA Road/Opp. Home 6-2 6-6 8-2
Points per Game 83.9 72.0 84.4
Points Allowed/Game 73.3 78.4 76.7
Rebounding Diff. +5.8 -7.0 +5.0
Assists per Game 15.9 13.5 16.5
Turnovers per Game 10.9 14.7 12.8
Steals per Game 5.2 6.5 6.5
Blocks per Game 2.7 4.0 4.7
FG% .464 .430 .475
3-pt FG% .375 .361 .369
FT% .805 .720 .723
THE SERIES vs NNU: UAA leads 19-11
In Nampa: Tied 7-70
Last Meeting: UAA 90-78 (12/5/15 at UAA)
Streak: UAA 1
Notes: UAA has won nine of the last 11 meetings ... NNU has won two of the last three in Nampa, including a 100-93 overtime thriller last season ... UAA leads 18-11 in GNAC meetings (since 2001-02) … first meeting as D-II opponents was Feb. 3, 2001.
THE SERIES vs CWU: UAA leads 18-17
In Ellensburg: CWU leads 10-7
Last Meeting: UAA 93-65 (12/3/15 at UAA)
Streak: UAA 1
Notes: CWU has won four of the last six meetings, including a 80-67 decision last year in Ellensburg ... teams have split the regular-season series in six of the last eight years, although CWU earned a sweep in 2014-15 ... the road team has won three of the last five meetings, including UAA’s 96-89 win in Ellensburg, Feb. 13, 2014 ... UAA leads 16-13 in GNAC regular-season meetings … first meeting occurred Feb. 1, 1979, although teams did not play again until Feb. 2000.
BITTERSWEET HOME FINALES: The Seawolves closed out their home season by splitting a pair of games at the Alaska Airlines Center last week, handling Concordia, 93-67, on Thursday, before taking top-ranked Western Oregon to the wire in a 64-58 loss on Saturday ... against the Cavaliers, Sr. G Brian McGill tallied 19 points (8-14 FG, 3-5 3FG) and 9 assists to lead a wire-to-wire rout, while Jr. G Suki Wiggs had 22 points (9-15 FG), 6 rebounds and 2 blocks ... Jr. F Corey Hammell picked up his 12th double-double with 11 points (3-5 FG, 5-6 FT) and 13 rebounds, Sr. F Christian Leckband added 16 points (6-11 FG, 4-8 3FG), and Jr. G Drew Peterson finished with 9 points (3-4 3FG) and 3 assists as UAA shot its best percentage against a D-II foe this year at .574 ... two days later, the Seawolves got 22 points from Wiggs and led the Wolves by six points with under 10 minutes remaining before WOU rallied in the final two minutes ... McGill finished with 15 points and 6 assists and Leckband had 6 rebounds in the final home game for both seniors, while Hammell tallied 11 points (5-6 FT) and 8 rebounds.
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves have secured the 15th 20-win season in program history and the first since 2011-12 (23-7) ... UAA has clinched the program’s 11th straight winning season and the 33rd in 39 years … the Seawolves have now qualified for the GNAC Tournament each year since the event was instituted in 2011 ... the Seawolves have clinched their sixth straight winning record in GNAC play and are looking to extend the same streak of top-4 finishes ... at 8-0, UAA had its second-longest unbeaten start to GNAC play in the league’s 15-year history, trailing only the 2007-08 Final Four squad that won its first 11 league contests ... the Seawolves’ 9-game winning streak tied for the 6th-longest in program history and was the longest since winning 10 straight early in the 2011-12 campaign ... UAA ranks 2nd in the NCAA Div. II national stats with its .805 FT pct., along with top-30 marks in assist/turnover ratio (16th, +1.46), fewest turnovers per game (21st, 10.9), scoring margin (26th, +10.6) and rebound margin (28th, +5.8).
REGIONAL RANKINGS: The Seawolves opened at No. 8 in the initial NCAA Div. II West Region rankings on Feb. 17 ... the rankings, which will be updated Wednesday, are used to determine the five at-large berths for the 8-team regional tournament, set for Mar. 12-15 at the home court of the highest seed ... the rankings consider only games against fellow Div. II opponents and put a premium on ‘in-region’ contests.
SUKI SMOOTH: Jr. G Sekou ‘Suki’ Wiggs has made a strong push for All-America honors in his first season since transfering from Div. I Idaho, leading the GNAC in scoring (23.6 ppg, 11th nationally) and defensive rebounding (6.2 drpg), along with league ranks of 3rd in rebounding (7.2 rpg), 5th in steals (1.4 spg), 9th in assists (3.4 apg), 8th in A/T ratio (1.4) and 3rd in minutes (34.6 mpg) ... Wiggs set UAA and GNAC records by scoring at least 20 points in 21 straight games – both overall and to start a season; although the NCAA does not keep official records on streaks, Wiggs’s 20-plus string is known to be the longest in Div. II since at least the 2011-12 season ... the former Seattle O’Dea High star started early by setting the CCA Div. II Tip-Off Classic single-game scoring record with 34 points against Cal Baptist on Oct. 31, and he tallied a combined 50 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists in UAA’s 2- and 4-point wins over Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific in November ... more recently, Wiggs posted his sixth and seventh double-doubles with 33 points and 10 rebounds in UAA’s 108-105 double-OT win at Western Washington, followed by 20 points and 10 rebounds in the win over UAF ... with five 30-point efforts already, Wiggs has become just the seventh Seawolf with that many in a career ... he has already broken UAA’s season records for FTs made (206) and attempted (266), while his scoring average is No. 3 all-time; in raw numbers, Wiggs is 3rd in points (685), needing just 10 more to catch Jason Kaiser (695 pts in 1993-94) for 2nd place on that list ... in late November, he earned GNAC Player of the Week and GCI Great Alaska Shootout all-tourney honors after breaking the 38-year-old tournament’s scoring record with 98 points, surpassing the 97 by Purdue legend Glenn Robinson from 1993; Wiggs tied for the 2nd-highest scoring game by a Seawolf in Shootout history with 35 in the opener against eventual champ Middle Tennessee, and he led the tourney in scoring by more than 10 ppg, becoming first player to tally at least 30 in all three games ... the Preseason All-GNAC selection was a double-digit career scorer in two seasons at Idaho, winning the Western Athletic Conference’s Sixth Man of the Year as a freshman in 2013-14.
HAMMELL TIME: Jr. F Corey Hammell has shown why he averaged a double-double last season at Santa Rosa Junior College, leading the GNAC and ranking 14th nationally with 12 such performances ... Hammell leads the nation in offensive rebounds per game (4.3) and is also 14th in rebounds per game (10.1) ... the Californian is on pace to become the fifth Seawolf to average a double-double and the first since Peter Bullock in 2002-03 ... Hammell is also on pace for one of the most productive free-throw campaigns in program history, now ranking 2nd on UAA’s single-season list with 170 charities made and 8th in the GNAC with a .825 FT% ... he had a streak of 27 in a row from Nov. 28-Dec. 14 and 20 straight from Jan. 30-Feb. 9 ... the 6-6, 225-pounder leads the GNAC by nearly three rebounds per game and ranks 21st in scoring with 12.3 ppg ... with 17 points and 17 rebounds against NNU on Dec. 5, Hammell grabbed the most boards for a Seawolf since 2009 and matched UAA’s program-best in a GNAC game (Bullock, twice, 2002-03), while his 19 points and 17 rebounds at Concordia marked his fourth ‘15/15’ outing ... overall, Hammell has 15 double-digit rebounding efforts, including six games with 15-plus.
B-MAC IN TOWN: Sr. G Brian McGill has given the Seawolves a huge boost since rejoining the lineup on Dec. 31, scoring double figures in 15 of 16 contests and leading the team with 4.4 assists per game ... McGill earned his third career GNAC Player of the Week honor after exploding for 65 points (18-33 FG, 3-5 3FG, 26-26 FT) in the recent road wins at Western Washington and Simon Fraser, including a career-high 34 points and 4 steals at SFU ... in the GNAC-only stats, he ranks 5th in scoring (18.2 ppg), 10th in FG% (.508), 7th in assists and leads the league with a school-record pace of .933 at the FT line ... McGill has posted the two best single-game FT efforts in program history since mid-January, going 16 of 16 at UAF and 15 of 15 at WWU ... with a miss late in the UAF game, he also had a streak of 40 straight chairities come to an end ... the Oregon native is connecting at a .567 FG% from inside the arc, including the game-winning layup at Seattle Pacific with 5 seconds left ... McGill has scored double figures in 34 of his last 44 outings dating to last year, including 12 times with 20-plus ... on UAA’s career lists, the former Western Oregon transfer stands 2nd in assists (397), 3rd in assists per game (5.4), 13th in scoring average (15.5 ppg), 13th in points (1,145), 7th in FT% (.849), 5th in FTs made (298), 7th in FTs made per game (4.0), 12th in 3FG% (.422) and 13th in games started (65) ... a 2015-16 Preseason All-GNAC pick, McGill garnered All-GNAC Second Team honors in 2013-14 and was honorable mention last year.
SVEJCAR SVWISHING: Jr. G Spencer Svejcar has stepped his game up a level in conference play, shooting .476 from the field and .413 from 3FG range ... an NJCAA All-Region IX First Team selection as a sophomore at Laramie (Wyo.) CC last year, the Colorado native has tallied double figures in 18 of 27 games as a Seawolf, including 22 points (7-13 FG, 4-6 3FG) at UAF, 18 points (8-9 FT) against Chaminade, and 18 points (7-11 FG)/5 assists against Western Washington ... after starting the year 20 of 70 (.286) from 3FG range, he has nailed 32 of his last 65 (.492), including the game-tying trey at UAF to force overtime and the game-winning trey at WWU in double-OT ... Svejcar leads the GNAC in FT% at .870 (Brian McGill has not played enough games to be eligible), along with other league ranks of 22nd in scoring (12.1 ppg), 9th in 3FGs per game (1.9) and 15th in 3FG% (.385).
LECKBAND TOGETHER: Sr. F Christian Leckband is the most experienced Seawolf on the roster, with his 112 career games now tied for 8th-most in program history ... coming off the bench in 27 of 29 contests this year, he has improved on his career scoring (9.3 ppg from 5.3 ppg) and rebounding (4.6 rpg from 3.2 rpg) averages, boosted by his 21 points against Simon Fraser, 16 points against MSUB and 11 rebounds at SFU ... Leckband currently ranks 17th in the GNAC in FG% at .484, while on UAA’s other career lists he is 31st in scoring (760 pts) and 18th in 3FGs made (115) ... the Nome native has 12 double-figure scoring efforts this year, plus 16 games with at least 5 rebounds.
UNSUNG HEROES: Jr. G Drew Peterson became the latest Seawolf to emerge with a clutch performance, scoring a career-high 14 points – including the go-ahead three-pointer – on 4-of-8 shooting (3-5 3FG, 3-4 FT) in the 76-71 win over UAF ... the former San Diego Miramar JC standout has notched at least one trey in the last six games, logging his a career-high 32 minutes against the Nanooks ... Jr. G Damien Fulp had his highest-scoring GNAC effort with 7 points against Seattle Pacific, and he had 3 assists and no turnovers in a career-high 25 minutes at Simon Fraser on Feb. 6 ... Jr. F Travis Parrish has played mistake-free ball all season, committing a mere 13 turnovers – including only two in the last eight contests – while logging 268 total minutes in 28 of 29 games ... Parrish contributed 4 points (2-2 FG), 2 rebounds, 2 assists and no turnovers in the double-OT win at Western Washington ... Jr. F/C Tayler Thompson is shooting a sizzling .679 (38 of 56) for the season, making 9 of his last 11 shots ... Thompson scored a career-high 11 points (5-6 FG) and grabbed 6 rebounds in the Jan. 23 win at Concordia.
INJURY REPORT: The Seawolves have been without the services of Jr. G Diante Mitchell since the GNAC’s 2nd-leading FT% (.852) and 3FG% (.460) shooter injured his lower leg Jan. 28 against Saint Martin’s ... a former NJCAA Academic All-American at Western Nebraska, Mitchell also currently ranks 11th in the GNAC in assists (2.9), and 12th in FG% (.500) ... his return to the lineup is doubtful for the rest of the season ... UAA suffered its first big blow on Nov. 6 when So. F Sjur Berg suffered a broken elbow in the Seawolves’ home opener ... following surgery, Berg is expected to miss the rest of the season ... the Norwegian ranked second on the team (15th GNAC) last year with 5.2 rpg and was averaging 7.0 rpg through the first three games this year.
THE OSBORNE FILE: Now in his 12th year as head coach, Rusty Osborne (228-128) has now led the Seawolves to 11 straight winning seasons, along with 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, 2015, 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 in 2015-16 by Cameron Turner (5th season) and Kasey Riley (1st season).
SEAWOLVES TABBED 4TH: The Seawolves were picked to finish fourth in the 2015-16 Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason coaches’ poll, released Oct. 15.
2015-16 Great Northwest Athletic Conference
Preseason Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Poll
Rk Team (1st-pl. votes) ‘14-15 Records Pts
1. Western Washington (5) 20-11/11-7 (t-5th) 114
2. Western Oregon (4) 23-7/15-3 (1st) 106
3. Seattle Pacific (2) 24-8/13-5 (2nd) 100
4. Alaska Anchorage 16-13/12-6 (t-3rd) 92
5. Central Washington 17-9/12-6 (t-3rd) 80
6. Alaska Fairbanks 7-19/4-14 (8th) 63
7. Saint Martin’s 6-22/3-15 (t-9th) 41
Montana State Billings 5-23/3-15 (t-9th) 41
9. Northwest Nazarene 14-16/11-7 (t-5th) 37
10. Concordia, Ore. 25-7 1st Yr in GNAC 32
11. Simon Fraser 11-15/6-12 (7th) 20
(Votes awarded on 11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis)
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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