United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK SMU guard/forward Quinton Ross, a senior from Dallas (Kimball HS), scored a career-high 28 points in an 87-84 overtime victory against TCU on Sunday to snap a five-game losing streak against the Horned Frogs. He was 10-of-20 from the field and 7-of-10 from the free throw line. Ross also added three rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal in a team-high 38 minutes of play. It is the first time Ross has been named the WACs Player of the Week.

Other nominations Other player of the week nominations included:
Haim Shimonovich, Jr., C, Hawaii - averaged 18.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in a pair of victories last week. He was named the MVP of the Hawaiian Airlines Tip-Off Tournament after scoring a career-high 18 points against Arkansas-Little Rock and matching it versus Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. He was 13-of-18 from the field and also had five steals.
Omar-Seli Mance, Sr., G, Rice - averaged a team-high 17.5 points, 6.0 assists and 3.0 steals in a split of two games last week. He scored a game-high 20 points and dished out eight assists in a win over Tulane and added 15 points at Stanford.
Giovanni St. Amant, Fr., G, UTEP - scored 21 points in a 75-66 win against New Mexico Highlands. It was the second highest total ever be a Miner freshman in his debut. He was 8-for-12 from the field, including 4-for-4 from three-point range. He also added three rebounds, two assists and a steal in the contest.
Kevin Johnson, Sr., F, Tulsa - was voted the MVP of the South Padre Island Classic after averaging 20.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in two wins. Johnson was a combined 18-of-30 from the floor (.600) in the two games.

NO. 22 TULSA WINS SOUTH PADRE ISLAND CLASSIC Behind MVP Kevin Johnson, Tulsa won the South Padre Island Classic beating New Mexico State and Texas-Pan American. In the opening game against New Mexico State, Tulsa trailed at halftime, 37-33, but outscored the Aggies by 14 in the second half, to win, 71-61. Dante Swanson led the Hurricane with 23 points. In the second game, Tulsa again dominated in the second half, outscoring Texas-Pan American by 27 points to win 80-50. Johnson scored a game-high 21 points for Tulsa.

RAINBOW WARRIORS TAKE TITLE Hawaii hosts three tournaments this year and began its season by winning its first title, the Hawaiian Airlines Tip-Off Tournament. The Rainbow Warriors beat Arkansas-Little Rock, 81-65, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 100-81. Junior Haim Shimonovich was named the MVP after averaging 18.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in the two games. Juniors Carl English and Michael Kuebler were also named to the all-tournament team. English averaged 16.0 points while Kuebler averaged 14.5 points and 5.0 assists in the two games.

FRESNO STATE OPENS SEASON Fresno State was the only WAC team to not start its season last week. The Bulldogs begin their campaign this weekend when they host the 24th annual McCaffrey Classic. Fresno State plays Idaho State on Friday night in the opening game and then take on either Saint Marys or Sam Houston State on Saturday. The Bulldogs have won the Classic six years in a row.

TULSA SECOND BEST OVER LAST FOUR SEASONS Since the start of the 1999-2000 season, Tulsa has won 87 games, the second most in the nation behind Dukes 96 victories. Cincinnati is fourth (86) followed by Gonzaga (83).

HAWAII OWNS LONGEST HOME STREAK Hawaii has the WACs longest home winning streak at 14 in a row. The WACs second longest current home winning streak is eight games by Louisiana Tech.

1,000-POINT SCORERS The WAC has five players that have scored more than 1,000 points in their collegiate careers: Terrance Green, G, Nevada (1,229); Quinton Ross, G, SMU (1,181); Kevin Johnson, F, Tulsa (1,117); Roy Smallwood, F, UTEP (1,095); and Antonio Meeking, F, Louisiana Tech (1,092). Tulsas Dante Swanson has 984 points after last weeks games.

NATIONAL RANKINGS Tulsa is ranked 22nd in the AP poll and 24th in the ESPN-USA Today coaches poll. Hawaii also received votes in both polls.

NON-CONFERENCE MARK The WAC is 8-5 (.615) in non-conference games this season, including a 6-5 (.545) mark against Division I teams. Last year, WAC teams were 71-46 (.607) in non-conference games with a 61-44 (.581) mark 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).

2003 WILLIAMS WAC TOURNAMENT The 2003 Williams WAC Tournament will be held March 11-15 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 11. The remaining eight teams will all play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 13 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.

WILLIAMS IS TOURNAMENT SPONSOR For the third year in a row, Williams will be the WACs tournament sponsor. Williams, through its subsidiaries, connects businesses to energy, delivering innovative, reliable products and services. Williams information is available at www.williams.com.

FRESNO STATE, NEVADA TO HOST FUTURE WAC TOURNAMENTS Earlier this fall, Fresno State was selected to host the 2004 WAC Tournament while Nevada will host the tournament in 2005. In 2004, the tournament will be played in the brand new Save Mart Center on the Fresno State campus. The following year, it will be held in Nevadas Lawlor Events Center.

ESPN/FOX SPORTS SOUTHWEST SCHEDULE The WAC has a multi-year contract with ESPN for coverage of football and basketball. Four games were scheduled for ESPN/ESPN2 (including the mens tournament championship game) while Fox Sports Net will telecast seven mens games and four womens games including the womens WAC tournament final.

BRACKET BUSTER SATURDAY The WAC and four of its teams have partnered with ESPN and several other top college basketball conferences for Bracket Buster Saturday, a new one-day, nine-game mens basketball event matching potential NCAA tournament hopefuls against each other. Bracket Buster Saturday will be played annually beginning with the inaugural event February 22, 2003. ESPN and ESPN2 will present five live games highlighted by the only predetermined game for 2003 featuring two teams that have reached the Elite Eight in recent years: Tulsa (2000) at Gonzaga (1999). In addition to those five, there will be four games produced and distributed in the markets of the competing teams. The 18-team field will feature four teams from the WAC (Fresno State, Hawaii, Louisiana Tech and Tulsa), Mid-American Conference and Missouri Valley Conference and three from the Horizon League, plus UC Santa Barbara from the Big West Conference, Western Kentucky from the Sun Belt Conference and Gonzaga from the West Coast Conference. The match-ups for Bracket Buster Saturday will be determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences on Monday, Feb. 3, 2003.

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

Boise State - Boise State plays Idaho State tonight and leads the series, 41-40, after winning the last six games ... BSU will play another in-state rival this week when it hosts Idaho on Saturday ... Boise State leads that series, 35-32 ... the Broncos have lost four straight opening games after losing to Eastern Illinois last week ... sophomore Jason Ellis had career-highs against Eastern Illinois with 13 points and 12 rebounds ... leading returning scorer Booker Nabors is recovering from knee surgery and is out until at least December ... Boise State has not scored 100 points since beating U.S. International, 106-82, during the 1985-88 season (470 games).