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New Page 1PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Nevada guard Garry Hill-Thomas, a sophomore from Oakland, Calif. (Bishop O'Dowd HS), averaged 21.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists in a pair of victories last week. He began the week by scoring 14 points in an 84-59 win over San Francisco and then scored a career-high 28 points in a 78-53 win against Santa Clara. In the second game, he hit eight of his last nine shots and was 10-of-14 from the field in the game. For the week, he shot 14-of-27 from the floor (.519) and 14-of-17 from the charity stripe (.824). He also had three steals and a block.Other nominations
Other player of the week nominations included:
Chris Jefferies, Jr., F, Fresno State - averaged 17.0 points and 12.0 rebounds in three victories last week. He had a pair of double-doubles with 23 points and a career-high 15 rebounds versus UC-Riverside and 16 points and 13 rebounds at Pacific.
Haim Shimonovich, So., C, Hawaii - recorded a double-double with career-highs of 16 points and 12 rebounds versus Northwestern State and scored the game-winning shot with 4.4 seconds remaining. He also had five blocks in the contest.
Marco Cole, Sr., G, Louisiana Tech - averaged 21.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in two wins last week. Against Jackson State, he tied his career-high with 27 points.
Jason McKrieth, Fr., G, Rice - played in three games and averaged 19.7 points and 6.0 rebounds. Against Stephen F. Austin, he scored a career-high 24 points and added 22 against previously undefeated Baylor.
Phil Calvert, Jr., G, San Jose State - scored a season-high 25 points in a victory at Iowa State to help end the Cyclones 39-game home winning streak. He averaged 15.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in three games for the week.
Quinton Ross, Jr., G, SMU - averaged 16.3 points and 6.0 rebounds in three games. He was named the Hawkeye Challenge all-tournament team after scoring a season-high 24 points and pulling down eight rebounds versus Iowa.
Charlie Davis, Jr., F, Tulsa - in two games, Davis averaged 11.0 points and 9.0 rebounds. He shot .818 (9-11) from the field and recorded a double-double against Oral Roberts with 14 points and 11 rebounds.FRESNO STATES ELY SITTING OUT
Fresno State senior center Melvin Ely (last years WAC Player of the Year) sat out the last two games because of an NCAA inquiry into allegations he received improper benefits. His status for this week is uncertain. Ely has averaged 18.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in five games this year.FRESNO STATE-SAN JOSE STATE SITE CHANGE
The Fresno State-San Jose State game scheduled for Dec. 29 at the Event Center on San Jose States campus has been moved to the Compaq Center in San Jose. The move was made since Fresno States football team will be playing in San Jose two days later in the Silicon Valley Football Classic. Tip-off for the basketball game will remain 7:30 p.m. (PT).NATIONAL STATISTICS
The NCAA will be releasing its first set of national statistics next Tuesday, Dec. 11.NATIONAL RANKINGS
Fresno State is ranked in both the AP (No. 21) and USA Today-ESPN (No. 16) polls. No other teams received votes in either poll. In the Sagarin ratings Fresno State is 27th followed by Nevada (60th) and Louisiana Tech (80th).NON-CONFERENCE MARK
The WAC is 34-22 (.607) in non-conference games this season, including a 29-21 (.580) 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 765-188 (.803), the best winning percentage of any active coach and fourth best of all time. The 765 wins are the third most among active coaches and 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 - head coach Rod Jensen needs two more wins to reach 100 for his career ... senior forward Abe Jackson has 1,187 career points and is seventh on the schools all-time list ... Boise State swept Idaho this year for the first time since the 1996-97 season ... for the eighth time in school history, the Broncos held their last two opponents to less than 50 points ... Boise State has never held three straight opponents to under 50 points ... senior center Trever Tillman will miss 4-6 weeks due to a broken bone in his right ring finger suffered during the Eastern Washington game.
Fresno State - junior forward Hiram Fuller started both games of the McCaffrey Classic in Melvin Elys abscence and averaged 9.0 points and 6.0 rebounds ... Chris Jefferies was named the MVP of the McCaffrey Classic ... the Bulldogs are 6-1 for the first time since the 1996-97 season ... Fresno State has the WACs longest home winning streak at 20 games.
Hawaii - the Rainbow Warriors are 5-1 for the second time in the last three years ... Hawaii has won 10 home games in a row, its longest streak since the 1989-90 season ... UH has played its games without senior guard Predrag Savovic, junior Luc-Arthur Vebobe and freshman Nkeruwem Akpan because they are waiting clearance from the NCAA regarding their eligibility.
Louisiana Tech - is now 8-1 in overtime games under head coach Keith Richard ... the Bulldogs are averaging 87.8 points per game this season after only averging 68.3 last year ... Louisiana Tech leads the WAC in both scoring (87.8), field goal percentage (.508) and rebounding margin (+11.5).
Nevada - the Wolf Pack have won two road games this year, one more than all of last season ... is 4-1 for the second straight year ... Nevada completed a season sweep (3-0) of West Coast Conference schools (Saint Marys, San Francisco and Santa Clara).
Rice - all three wins have been at home and all three losses have been on the road ... Rice has a six-game home winning streak ... Rice plays an exhibition game this Saturday night against Athletes First ... junior G Omar-Seli Mance scored a career-high 26 points against Baylor.
San Jose State - guard Phil Calvert has scored at least 20 points in all three Spartan wins ... San Jose States win against Iowa State was its first against a current Big 12 member on the road and first against a Big 12 team since beating Iowa State, 59-56, in 1979 ... Iowa States 39-game home winning streak was the second longest in the nation.
SMU - head coach Mike Dement needs just one more win to reach 100 at SMU ... senior guard Damon Hancock leads the WAC in scoring with 20.7 points per game ... Hancock surpassed the 1,000 point mark for his career and now has 1,034 to rank 27th at SMU ...
UTEP - plays Washington on Thursday night and is 55-40 against Pac-10 schools in El Paso ... UTEP has lost four in a row (all on the road) for the first time since losing five in a row at the end of the 1999-2000 season ... UTEP has won eight in a row at home ... the Miners have played five of their first six games on the road, something the team has not done since the 1961-62 season.
Tulsa - guard Greg Harrington is the teams lone senior and needs just 60 assists to become the schools all-time leader and three for 400 ... Tulsa has outrebounded all four of its opponents and does not have anyone taller than 6-7 in its starting lineup ... Tulsa faces two former Missouri Valley Conference opponents this week: Southwest Missouri State and Wichita State.
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
Fresno State senior Melvin Ely is moving his way up a couple of the WACs career records lists:
Field Goal Percentage
1. .622 George Scott, New Mexico (280-450), 1982-85
10. .578 Melvin Ely, Fresno State (580-1004), 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. 296 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.