United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Hawaii guard Predrag Savovic, a senior from Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia (Alabama-Birmingham), led the team in scoring in a pair of victories over Fresno State and Nevada. Against the Bulldogs, he scored a season-high 23 points and grabbed six rebounds. He was also 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Versus Nevada, he scored 19 points and was 5-of-10 from three-point range. For the week, he averaged 21.0 points and 4.0 rebounds. He also shot .467 (7-15) from behind the three-point line and made all nine of his free throw attempts.

Other nominations Other player of the week nominations included:
Gerrod Henderson, Sr., G, Louisiana Tech - averaged 19.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in a pair of victories over Boise State and UTEP. He was 10-of-22 (.455) from the field, 4-of-7 (.571) from three-point range and 14-of-17 (.824) from the free throw line.
Terrance Green, Jr., G, Nevada - scored a season-high 27 points versus San Jose State and added 18 versus Hawaii. He also averaged 6.0 rebounds and shot .542 (13-24) from the field in the two games.
Jason McKrieth, Fr., F/G, Rice - led the Owls in scoring by averaging 17.0 points in two games. He had 22 points versus Texas-Pan American and made 12 free throws in a win over Siena.
Brandon Hawkins, Jr., G, San Jose State - averaged 23.0 points, 5.5 assists and 3.5 rebounds in a pair of games. He scored 34 points versus Nevada and was 10-of-11 from the free throw line in that game.
Quinton Ross, Jr., G, SMU - led the Mustangs to a pair of wins over Boise State and UTEP by averaging 18.5 points and 7.0 rebounds. He was 12-of-22 (.545) from the field in the two contests.
Dante Swanson, Jr., G, Tulsa - scored 23 points, pulled down six rebounds and had four assists versus Kansas. He was 8-of-14 (.571) from the field including 6-of-9 from three-point range.

THREE START 2-0 The first weekend of WAC play saw three teams jump out to 2-0 starts. Hawaii beat Fresno State and Nevada while Louisiana Tech and SMU defeated UTEP and Boise State. At least one team will pick up its first loss this weekend as Louisiana Tech hosts SMU this Saturday at 4:00 p.m. (CT).

ESPN2 TO BROADCAST TULSA-FRESNO STATE This Saturday night, ESPN2 will televise the Tulsa-Fresno State game in Fresno at 9:00 p.m. (PT). The matchup pits the two winningest programs in the WAC over the last six years. Tulsa is 133-50 (.727) since joining the conference prior to the 1996-97 season while Fresno State is 121-59 (.672). In head-to-head matchups, Fresno State leads the series 6-2. The Bulldogs have won five of six regular season games, and the teams split their two WAC tournament contests. In 2000, the teams met in the WAC tournament finals in Fresno where the Bulldogs won 75-72.

DEFENSE WINS Last week, two WAC teams held their conference opponents to 40 points or less. On Saturday night, Hawaii defeated Nevada, 58-40. The Wolf Pack shot just 29.6 percent from the field. On Sunday afternoon, Louisiana Tech beat Boise State, 59-36. The 36 points are the lowest in a WAC game since Tulsa beat Rice, 75-33, on Feb. 14, 2000.

TULSA TOPS IN SHOOTING Tulsa continues to lead the WAC in all three shooting categories. The Golden Hurricane is shooting 47.3 percent from the field, 79.1 percent from the free throw line and 40.3 percent from three-point range.

NATIONAL RANKINGS No teams in the WAC are ranked in the top 25 of the AP and USA Today-ESPN polls, but Hawaii and Tulsa are receiving votes in both. In the Sagarin ratings, Tulsa is 33rd followed by Fresno State (57th), Louisiana Tech (70th) and Hawaii (76th). In CollegeRPI.com, Fresno State is 38th, Hawaii is 54th, Tulsa is 63rd, SMU is 85th and Louisiana Tech is 92nd. As a conference, the WAC is ranked 10th by both Sagarin and CollegeRPI.com.

NON-CONFERENCE MARK The WAC is 65-41 (.613) in non-conference games this season, including a 55-39 (.585) mark against Division I teams. There are four more non-conference games scheduled during the regular season (Alcorn State at UTEP-1/28, Louisiana Tech at Centenary-1/30, Oklahoma State at Fresno State-2/10 and New Mexico State at UTEP-2/20). 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 768-192 (.800), the third best winning percentage of any active coach and sixth best of all time. The 768 wins are tied for fourth most among active coaches and tied for fifth 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 36 points scored against Louisiana Tech were the lowest in school history ... Boise State was 0-of-19 from three-point range in that game and had just 12 points at the half ... senior forward Abe Jackson (Boise, Idaho) has 1,316 career points and is fifth on the schools all-time list ... Jackson is second in the WAC in three-point field goals made with 2.83 per game and is fourth in the conference in scoring with 17.8 points per game ... Jackson averaged 25.0 points in the Broncos six wins and 10.5 points in the six losses ... Jackson scored just four points against Louisiana Tech, marking the second time this season he has been held to four points in a game (San Diego) ... BSU is second in the WAC in scoring defense (60.8 points per game) and has held four opponents to under 50 points this season.

Fresno State - Melvin Ely returned to the lineup last Saturday against San Jose State and recorded a double-double with 29 points and 10 rebounds ... it was Elys fourth consecutive double-double and the 29 points tied a career-high ... the Bulldogs were 3-3 without Melvin Ely in the lineup ... junior forward Hiram Fuller started the six games Ely missed and averaged 11.8 points and 9.8 rebounds ... Fresno State has the WACs longest home winning streak at 22 games ... Damon Jackson missed his first free throw of the year last week against San Jose State and is now 15-of-16.

Hawaii - UH is off to an 11-2 start for the second time in three years ... Hawaiis five-game winning streak is its longest since 1999 and currently the longest in the WAC ... the Rainbow Warriors have held seven of their first 12 opponents to under 60 points, 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 (57.9 points per game) ... senior guard Predrag Savovic became the ninth player in UH history to score 1,000 points and currently has 1,015 ... Hawaii has won 16 of its last 17 home games.

Louisiana Tech - the 36 points given up against Boise State are the fewest for a Tech opponent since defeating East Texas State in 1958, 58-34 ... the 36 points are also a Thomas Assembly Center record ... the Bulldogs are 2-0 in conference play for the first time since the 1996-97 season ... Tech is 6-0 at home this season ... Tech has four players averaging double figures in scoring (Gerrod Henderson-13.5, Darrian Brown-12.5, Marco Cole-12.3 and Antonio Meeking-11.0) ... the Bulldogs are averaging 75.1 points per game this season after averging 68.3 last year ... Louisiana Tech leads the WAC in rebounding margin (+11.7) by a 5.2 margin over second place San Jose State.

Nevada - the Wolf Pack have won three road games this year, as many as they did over the last two seasons ... the overtime win at San Jose State was Nevadas first ever WAC road victory ... Nevadas 8-4 start is its best since the 1988-89 season when it started 9-4 ... Nevada 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 scored 20 or more points in four straight games before scoring just 10 against Hawaii on Saturday night ... Nevada is one of two schools in the WAC to make more free throws (268) than its opponents have attempted (249) ... senior F Corey Jackson is the only WAC player to average double figures in rebounds (10.8), nearly three rebounds more than the next highest player in the league ... Jackson has five double-doubles on the season, tied with Melvin Ely for the most in the WAC.

Rice - Rice had its seven-game home winning streak come to an end against Texas-Pan American ... the Owls have a 10-game regular season road losing streak ... Rice plays at Fresno State on Thursday ... the Owls have never beaten Fresno State (0-9) ... two of Rices top three scorers are true freshmen (Jason McKrieth-15.1 ppg and Michael Harris-11.8 ppg) ... Harris is second in the WAC in rebounding (7.9).

San Jose State - junior guard Brandon Hawkins improved his career scoring high in four straight games (18, 21, 30 and 34) before scoring 12 in his last game against Fresno State ... Hawkins became just the second player in school history to record back-to-back 30+ scoring games when he had 30 versus Mt. Saint Marys and 34 against Nevada.

SMU - senior guard Damon Hancock leads the WAC in scoring with 20.4 points per game ... with 10 points against UTEP, Hancock has scored in double figures in the last 14 games he has played in, the longest such streak in the WAC ... Hancock is the only player in the WAC to lead his school in points (20.4) and assists (3.7) ... SMU is 2-0 in WAC play for the third straight season ... SMU is one of two schools in the WAC to make more free throws (201) than its opponents have attempted (189) ... SMU is now 7-1 this season and 54-7 under Mike Dement when holding an opponent to less than 40 percent shooting.

UTEP - UTEP is 0-2 in the WAC ... the Miners have not started 0-3 in conference play since the 1977-78 season ... UTEP hosts Hawaii in its WAC home opener on Thursday night and have won their last four WAC home openers ... UTEP was the only WAC team to sweep the Rainbow Warriors last year ... the Miners are 20-3 in their last 23 home contests ... UTEP is averaging 78.2 points at home and 58.8 points on the road ... the Miners have lost seven in a row on the road dating back to last year ... Roy Smallwood is the only player in the WAC to lead his school in scoring (12.8) and rebounding (5.8).

Tulsa - the guard trio of Dante Swanson (23), Antonio Reed (23) and Greg Harrington (19) scored 65 of Tulsas 85 points versus Kansas ... the Golden Hurricane lead the WAC in scoring (86.1), scoring margin (+16.2), assists (18.3) and steals (8.8) ... guard Greg Harrington is the teams lone senior and has 443 assists, 14 shy of tying Byron Boudreaux (1983-87) for the schools all-time mark ... Harrington leads the WAC in free throw percentage (.929) and assists (6.2) ... the WAC record for best free throw percentage in a season is .935 (101-108) set by New Mexicos Rob Robbins during the 1989-90 season ... guard Dante Swanson leads the WAC in field goal percentage (.571) and three-point field goal percentage (.532).

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. .581 Melvin Ely, Fresno State (614-1047), 1999-02
15. .563 Kevin Johnson, Tulsa (264-469), 2000-02

3-Point Field Goal Percentage
1. .480 Trent Shippen, Colorado State (94-196), 1988-89
10. .432 Dante Swanson, Tulsa (121-280), 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. 305 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.