United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Tulsa guard Dante Swanson, a junior from Wagoner, Okla. (Wagoner HS), was named the MVP of the Yahoo! Sports Invitational played last week in Laie, Hawaii, after he averaged 20.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals in three wins. Swanson was 19-of-22 (.864) from the field including 7-of-9 from three-point range. He also was 15-of-20 from the free throw line. In the opening game against Buffalo, he scored a team-high 21 points and had four steals. Two nights later in the championship game versus BYU-Hawaii, Swanson scored a game-high 25 points and was 9-of-9 from the field including three treys.

Other nominations Other player of the week nominations included:
Abe Jackson, Sr., F, Boise State - scored 23 points and had six rebounds in a victory against Northern Arizona. He shot 8-of-14 from the field, including 5-of-7 from three-point range.
Predrag Savovic, Sr., G, Hawaii - averaged 18.0 points in three victories as Hawaii won last weeks Rainbow Classic. Savovic scored a game-high 19 points in the title game against Georgia.
Brandon Hawkins, Jr., G, San Jose State - made his San Jose State debut and averaged 23.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists in three games last week. Against Notre Dame de Namur, Hawkins recorded a triple-double with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Against Mount St. Marys, he set a San Jose State and WAC record for most free throws made and attempted (24-of-31).

CONFERENCE SEASON BEGINS TONIGHT The 40th conference season in WAC history begins tonight as four teams are in action. Fresno State travels to Hawaii and San Jose State hosts Nevada. The Fresno State-Hawaii game is a rematch of one of last years WAC tournament semifinal games. The Rainbow Warriors defeated Fresno State, 76-67, on their way to the tournament title in Tulsa. Both teams played in last years NCAA tournament. On Friday, WAC newcomers Boise State and Louisiana Tech play their first WAC games. Boise State takes on SMU in Dallas, while Louisiana Tech hosts UTEP. Boise State and Louisiana Tech will then face each other in Ruston on Sunday afternoon.

TULSA TOPS IN SHOOTING Tulsa leads the WAC in all three shooting categories. The Golden Hurricane is shooting 48.4 percent from the field, 78.9 percent from the free throw line and 39.4 percent from three-point range.

SANDY BEGINS BULLDOG CAREER Fresno State point guard Chris Sandy will see his first action tonight and is expected to start against Hawaii. Sandy sat out the first semester to become eligible. He was a second-team junior College All-American last season after averaging 16 points, six assists and six steals at Westark Community College.

FRESNO STATES ELY SITTING ONE MORE GAME Fresno State senior center Melvin Ely (last years WAC Player of the Year) will sit out his sixth and final game of the year tonight against Hawaii due to an NCAA inquiry into allegations he received improper benefits. Elys first game back will be on Saturday night against San Jose State. Ely has averaged 19.9 points and 9.3 rebounds in seven games this year.

NATIONAL RANKINGS No teams in the WAC are ranked in the top 25 of the AP and USA Today-ESPN polls, but Tulsa is receiving votes in both and Hawaii earned recognition in the AP poll. In the Sagarin ratings, Tulsa is 36th followed by Fresno State (57th), Louisiana Tech (92nd) and Hawaii (99th). In CollegeRPI.com, Fresno State is 52nd, Tulsa is 75th and Hawaii is 78th.

NON-CONFERENCE MARK The WAC is 64-39 (.621) in non-conference games this season, including a 54-37 (.593) mark against Division I teams. Last year, WAC teams were 88-32 (.733) in non-conference games with a 77-32 (.706) record against Division I teams. The WACs best record ever against non-conference opponents came during the 1974-75 season when it was 73-22 (.768).

WAC LEGEND Fresno States Jerry Tarkanian is in his 31st season as a head coach and has a record of 767-191 (.801), the third best winning percentage of any active coach and sixth best of all time. The 766 wins are fourth most among active coaches and tied for sixth all-time. His teams have won at least 20 games in 29 of his 30 years, one shy of the all-time record, and as head coach of UNLV in 1990, Tarkanian led the Runnin Rebels to a national championship by defeating Duke, 103-73.

TEAM NOTES Information on the mens basketball teams in the WAC:

Boise State - the Broncos have won five of their last six games ... Boise States first two conference games are against teams it has never faced (SMU and Louisiana Tech) ... senior forward Abe Jackson (Boise, Idaho) has 1,296 career points and is fifth on the schools all-time list ... Jackson leads the WAC in three-point field goals made with 3.10 per game and is third in the conference in scoring with 19.3 points per game ... Jackson has played all 10 games this year and has scored more than 20 points in seven games and less than 10 points in the other three contests ... Jackson averaged 25.0 points in the Broncos six wins and 10.8 points in the four losses ... BSU is second in the WAC in scoring defense (59.0 points per game) and has held four opponents to under 50 points this season.

Fresno State - the Bulldogs are 3-2 without Melvin Ely in the lineup ... junior forward Hiram Fuller has started the five games Ely has missed and has averaged 12.0 points and 10.4 rebounds ... when Ely returns to action, he will be attempting to keep his three-game double-double streak alive ... the Bulldogs begin the conference season on the road and were the only WAC team to have a winning record on the road last year in conference play (5-3) ... Fresno State has the WACs longest home winning streak at 22 games ... Damon Jackson is the only WAC player with at least 10 free throw attempts this season to shoot 100 percent from the line (13-of-13).

Hawaii - UH is off to a 9-2 or better start for the fourth time in the last six years ... center Haim Shimonovich was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Rainbow Classic after averaged 9.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game ... the Rainbow Warriors have held six of their first 11 opponents to under 60 points which ties the most times UH has held its opponents to under 60 points in a season under head coach Riley Wallace ... Hawaii leads the WAC in scoring defense (58.2 points per game) ... Carl Englishs streak of 11 games scoring in double figures came to an end last week against Portland ... senior guard Predrag Savovic needs 27 points to become the ninth player in UH history to score 1,000 points.

Louisiana Tech - Tech won its first game of a four-game homestand last week against Jackson State ... Louisiana Tech is 4-0 at home this season ... Tech has four players averaging double figures in scoring (Darrian Brown-13.7, Marco Cole-13.0, Gerrod Henderson-12.3 and Antonio Meeking-12.2) ... the Bulldogs are averaging 76.7 points per game this season after averging 68.3 last year ... Louisiana Tech leads the WAC in rebounding margin (+11.9) by a 4.5 margin over second place Nevada.

Nevada - the Wolf Pack have won two road games this year, one more than all of last season ... Nevada is 7-3 for the second straight year and is a perfect 5-0 at home ... the Wolf Pack have won their home games by an average margin of 22.4 points ... guard Garry Hill-Thomas has scored 20 or more points in three straight games ... Kirk Snyder (6-6, 205, F, Upland, Calif., Upland HS) has met the NCAA requirements on his SAT and will suit up for the first time tonight against San Jose State ... Nevada is the only school in the WAC to make more free throws (228) than its opponents have attempted (217) ... senior F Corey Jackson is the only WAC player to average double figures in rebounds (10.9).

Rice - all four wins have been at home and all four losses have been on the road ... Rice has a seven-game home winning streak but a 10-game regular season road losing streak ... the Owls won the first of their current three straight home games last week against Centenary ... Rice was 26-of-29 (.897) from the free throw line in that game ... freshman Michael Harris scored a career-high 22 points and tied a career-high with 14 rebounds to record his fourth double-double in his seven games.

San Jose State - junior guard Brandon Hawkins has played in only three games, but leads San Jose State in scoring (23.0), rebounding (8.0) and assists (6.0) ... Hawkins transferred from Iowa State and became eligible last week ... after not scoring more than 65 points in its first nine games, SJSU has scored 70 or more in its last three ... the Spartans have been held to under 60 points in five of its seven losses ... San Jose State is 4-7 in the Compaq Center where it will meet Fresno State on Saturday night ... Brandon Hawkins triple-double against Notre Dame de Namur was the first in school history.

SMU - senior guard Damon Hancock leads the WAC in scoring with 20.7 points per game ... Hancock has scored in double figures in the last 12 games he has played in, the longest such streak in the WAC ... last week, SMU led TCU 54-41 before the Horned Frogs went on a 33-8 run to beat the Mustangs, 74-62.

UTEP - the Miners have lost five in a row on the road dating back to last year ... UTEPs 11-game home winning streak came to an end last week against Mississippi ... it was the Miners longest streak since winning 11 in a row during the 1994-95 season ... the Miners are 20-3 in their last 23 home contests ... over the last two seasons, UTEP is 14-2 when committing an equal or less number of turnovers than its opponents and 13-13 when committing more turnovers than its opponents.

Tulsa - Tulsa has a WAC best seven-game winning streak ... the Golden Hurricane lead the WAC in scoring (86.2), scoring margin (+18.6), assists (18.5) and steals (8.80) ... guard Greg Harrington is the teams lone senior and has 437 assists, 20 shy of becoming the schools all-time leader ... Harrington leads the WAC in free throw percentage (.914) and assists (6.2) ... guard Dante Swanson leads the WAC in three-point field goal percentage (.509).

2002 TOURNAMENT The 2002 Williams WAC Tournament will be held March 5-9 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla. Both the men and women compete during the same week. On the mens side, the seven, eight, nine and ten seeded teams will play on Tuesday, March 5. The remaining eight teams will all play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 7 with the top seed competing versus the winner of the Tuesday eight-nine game, the No. 2 seed vs. the winner of the seven-10 game, the No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 and No 4 vs. No. 5. The winners will play in the semifinals on Friday and the championship game will be Saturday night. The site for the 2003 WAC Tournament has not been determined at this time.

CAREER LEADERS A few WAC players are moving their way up some of the WACs career records lists:

Field Goal Percentage
1. .622 George Scott, New Mexico (280-450), 1982-85
9. .580 Melvin Ely, Fresno State (600-1035), 1999-02
15. .566 Kevin Johnson, Tulsa (263-465), 2000-02

3-Point Field Goal Percentage
1. .480 Trent Shippen, Colorado State (94-196), 1988-89
13. .424 Dante Swanson, Tulsa (115-271), 2000-02

3-Point Field Goals Made
1. 285 Raymond Dudley, Air Force, 1986-90
285 Clayton Shields, New Mexico, 1995-98
25. 142 Greg Harrington, Tulsa, 1999-02

Blocked Shots
1. 425 Theo Ratliff, Wyoming, 1992-95
2. 336 David Van Dyke, UTEP, 1989-92
336 Luc Longley, UNM, 1988-91
4. 301 Melvin Ely, FS, 1999-02

FOX SPORTS SOUTHWEST SCHEDULE This year, Fox Sports Southwest will telecast five mens games and four womens games including the womens WAC tournament finals on March 9. On the mens side, all five teams from the east region of the WAC will be featured. The schedule begins Feb. 2, 2002, when WAC newcomer Louisiana Tech travels to SMU for a 3:00 p.m. (CST) contest. A week later, UTEP hosts Tulsa at 8:00 p.m. On Feb. 14, SMU is at Tulsa for a 7:00 p.m. game and two nights later, Rice will host SMU at 3:00. Rice will again be featured at home when it takes on Tulsa on Feb. 28 at 7:00 p.m. in the final mens game of the schedule. Fox Sports Net Southwest reaches over 6.8 million cable and satellite subscribers in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and parts of New Mexico.