THIS WEEK IN SEAWOLF MEN’S BASKETBALL
6th annual
Great Northwest Athletic Conference
Men’s Basketball Championships
Marcus Pavilion - Lacey, Wash.
(All times listed Alaska Standard)
Thursday, March 3 - Quarterfinals
11 am: #6 Western Washington (15-14, 9-11) vs #3 Alaska Anchorage (21-10, 14-6)
1:15 pm: #5 Central Washington (18-7, 13-7) vs #4 Seattle Pacific (21-7, 14-6)
Friday, March 4 - Semifinals
11 am: WWU/UAA winner vs #2 Alaska Fairbanks (21-7, 15-5)
1:15 pm: CWU/SPU winner vs #1 Western Oregon (25-3, 18-2)
Saturday, March 5 - Championship
4:30 pm: Semifinal winners
LIVE VIDEOSTREAM & STATS: All games free at portal.stretchinternet.com/gnac
TV: Saturday’s game will air live on American Sports Network (not available in Alaska).
TICKETS: Packages and single-session tickets are available through the GNAC’s online ticketing site at eventbrite.com ... also available at the door at Marcus Pavilion box office.
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2015-16 stats)
G—Brian McGill, 6-2, Sr. (17.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.3 spg, .523 FG, .383 3FG, .931 FT)
G—Sekou ‘Suki’ Wiggs, 6-4, Jr. (24.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.5 spg, .429 FG, .353 3FG, .767 FT)
G—Spencer Svejcar, 6-4, Jr. (12.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.1 apg, .446 FG, .371 3FG, .831 FT)
F—Corey Hammell, 6-6, Jr. (12.2 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 1.3 apg, .448 FG, .832 FT)
F—To be determined
SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @UAAMBB (for in-game updates) and @UAASeawolves
Facebook: Alaska Anchorage Seawolves
Instagram: UAA_Seawolves
YouTube, Periscope & SnapChat: UAA Seawolves
Hashtags: #SeawolfHoops #UAASeawolves
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS: Western Washington closed the regular season on a 1-7 skid, with their lone win in February coming 83-66 at home against Northwest Nazarene ... still the highest-scoring team in the GNAC at 84.1 ppg, the Vikings are led by 6-6 Jr. F Jeffrey Parker (17.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, .454 FG, .379 3FG, .772 FT), 6-0 Sr. G Ricardo Maxwell (16.1 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.7 apg, .516 FG, .725 FT) and 6-4 Sr. G Kyle Impero (15.1 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.4 spg, .515 FG, .343 3FG, .752 FT).
TEAM COMPARISONS UAA WWU
Neutral-court Rec. 3-2 3-1
Points per Game 83.5 84.1
Points Allowed/Game 73.4 77.6
Rebounding Diff. +5.7 +3.8
Assists per Game 15.3 15.6
Turnovers per Game 11.1 11.4
Steals per Game 5.4 7.1
Blocks per Game 2.7 2.9
FG% .461 .473
3-pt FG% .371 .359
FT% .803 .716
THE SERIES vs WWU: WWU leads 17-15 overall, 1-0 neutral
Last Meeting: UAA 108-105, 2OT (2/4/16 at WWU)
Streak: UAA 2
Notes: UAA has won four of the last five after WWU took eight straight from 2011-14 ... the Seawolves won 87-84 at home this year ... lone neutral-court meeting was WWU’s 76-56 GNAC Tourney quarterfinal victory in Billings last March ... WWU leads 16-14 in GNAC regular-season meetings (since 2001-02) ... first and only non-GNAC meeting was an 89-77 UAA home win, Jan. 20, 2000, when both schools were in the Pac West Conference.
THIS YEAR VS. WWU: Jr. G Suki Wiggs and Sr. G Brian McGill combined for 64 points on Feb. 4 in Bellingham to help UAA prevail 108-105 in double overtime, despite surrendering a 17-point lead late in regulation ... the Seawolves got 33 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals from Wiggs, while Jr. F Corey Hammell was clutch in the extra periods, finishing with 13 points and 15 rebounds ... the Vikings got a game-high 37 points and 5 assists from Kyle Impero, and Jeffrey Parker added 25 points, including a three-pointer to force the second OT ... McGill topped the 30 barrier for the second time in his career with 31 points (7-18 FG, 2-4 3FG, 15-15 FT) ... in the first meeting, Jr. G Spencer Svejcar scored 18 points to spearhead a balanced offensive attack as UAA held on for an 87-84 win at the Alaska Airlines Center on Jan. 9 ... the Seawolves also got 21 points, 6 assists and 2 blocks from Wiggs, while Jr. G Diante Mitchell had 16 points (6-7 FG) and McGill added 14 points (6-11 FG) ... Impero led the Vikings with game-highs of 24 points and 9 rebounds.
UAA AT GNACs: The Seawolves are 3-5 all-time at the GNAC Tournament, participating each year since the event was founded in 2011 … UAA was runner-up the first two tourneys, losing to Central Washington in 2011 and MSU Billings in 2012 … UAA is 1-3 all-time in the quarterfinals, having lost three in a row.
GNAC Tournament At A Glance
Year Champion UAA Finish Location
2011 Central Washington 2nd (2-1) Campus Sites
2012 MSU Billings 2nd (1-1) Lacey, WA
2013 Seattle Pacific Qtrs (0-1) Lacey, WA
2014 Seattle Pacific Qtrs (0-1) Lacey, WA
2015 Seattle Pacific Qtrs (0-1) Billings, MT
NCAA ANNOUNCEMENT SUNDAY: The Seawolves and the rest of the Div. II college basketball world will learn their NCAA Tournament fates on Sunday, Mar. 6, when the 64-team national playoff field is unveiled at 6:30 p.m. AST on ncaa.com.
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 earned their sixth straight winning record in GNAC play and extended 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 .803 FT pct., along with top-35 marks in scoring margin (28th, +10.1), fewest turnovers per game (28th, 11.1), rebound margin (29th, +5.7) and assist/turnover ratio (31st, +1.37).
REGIONAL RANKINGS: The Seawolves were No. 9 in the second version of the NCAA Div. II West Region rankings on Feb. 24 ... 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 was recognized Tuesday as the GNAC Newcomer of the Year and a unanimous First Team All-GNAC pick after producing one of the most prolific statistical campaigns in UAA and league history ... the transfer from Div. I Idaho leads the GNAC in scoring (24.2 ppg, 9th nationally), defensive rebounding (6.2 drpg) and minutes per game (34.9), along with other league ranks of 3rd in rebounding (7.2 rpg), 3rd in steals (1.6 spg), 9th in assists (3.3 apg) and 10th in A/T ratio (1.3) ... 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 home win over UAF ... with six 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 (234) and attempted (305), while his scoring average is No. 3 all-time; in raw numbers, Wiggs is 2nd in points (750), leaving his just 63 shy of Jesse Jackson’s record 813 points in 1986-87 ... 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 ... Wiggs 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 was tabbed a 2nd Team All-GNAC selection this week after leading the league in rebouding by nearly three boards per game ... the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Junior College transfer ranks 12th nationally with 14 double-double efforts, along with NCAA D-II ranks of 2nd in offensive rebounding (4.2 orpg) and 13th in rebounding (10.2 rpg) ... 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 183 charities made and 7th in the GNAC with a .832 FT% ... he had a streak of 27 in a row from Nov. 28-Dec. 14 and 20 straight from Jan. 30-Feb. 9 ... 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 17 double-digit rebounding efforts, including six games with 15-plus.
B-MAC IN TOWN: Sr. G Brian McGill took home his second career 2nd Team All-GNAC award this week, along with one from his sophomore campaign of 2013-14 ... since regaining his eligibility on Dec. 31, McGill has scored double figures in 17 of 18 contests and leads the team with 4.2 assists per game ... the league’s 5th-leading scorer (17.9 ppg) 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 February road wins at Western Washington and Simon Fraser, including a career-high 34 points and 4 steals at SFU ... he also paces the GNAC with a school-record pace of .931 at the FT line, posting the two best single-game FT efforts in program history since mid-January – 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 .523 from the field, including 80 of 133 (.602) from inside the arc ... McGill has scored double figures in 36 of his last 46 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 (401), 3rd in assists per game (5.3), 13th in scoring average (15.5 ppg), 11th in points (1,177), 7th in FT% (.851), 5th in FTs made (308), 7th in FTs made per game (4.1), 12th in 3FG% (.423) and 13th in games started (67).
SVEJCAR SVWISHING: Jr. G Spencer Svejcar was recongized as an Honorable Mention All-GNAC performer after stepping up his game up a level in conference play, shooting .462 from the field and .386 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 20 of 29 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 33 of his last 73 (.452), including the game-tying trey at UAF to force overtime and the game-winning trey at WWU in double-OT ... Svejcar is one of the GNAC’s top FT shooters at .831.
LECKBAND TOGETHER: Sr. F Christian Leckband is the most experienced Seawolf on the roster, with his 114 career games now tied for 8th-most in program history ... coming off the bench in 29 of 31 contests this year, he has improved on his career scoring (8.7 ppg from 5.3 ppg) and rebounding (4.3 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 18th in the GNAC in FG% at .471, 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: Fr. G Damien Fulp is coming off his best GNAC effort last week, helping UAA erase a 14-point deficit at Central Washington with 8 points (4-9 FG), 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals and no turnovers in 22 minutes ... the former Colony High star also produced 7 points against Seattle Pacific, and he had 3 assists and no turnovers in a career-high 25 minutes at Simon Fraser ... Jr. G Drew Peterson also delivered a clutch performance last month, 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 seven of the last eight games, logging his a career-high 32 minutes against the Nanooks ... Jr. F Travis Parrish has played mistake-free ball all season, committing a mere 13 turnovers – including only two in the last 10 contests – while logging 290 total minutes in 30 of 31 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 .672 (43 of 64) for the season, making 14 of his last 19 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 (229-129) 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).
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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