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New Page 1PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tulsa forward Kevin Johnson, a junior from Missouri City, Texas (HCYA), averaged 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in a pair of victories over SMU and Louisiana Tech last week. Johnson shot .824 (14-17) from the field in the two games and played just 26.0 minutes per contest. Against SMU on Thursday, he had 16 points, five rebounds and four blocked shots. He followed that up with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks against Louisiana Tech.Other nominations
Other player of the week nominations included:
Booker Nabors, So., G, Boise State - averaged 15.5 points, 6.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds as Boise State split its two games on the road last week.
Carl English, So., G, Hawaii - scored a season-high 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting in a win over San Jose State. He also had two assists and two steals in the game.
Gerrod Henderson, Sr., G, Louisiana Tech - averaged 18.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in a split of two games. He scored 21 points against Rice and added 15 at Tulsa. He was 13-of-15 from the free throw line in the two games combined.
Garry Hill-Thomas, So., G, Nevada - averaged 22.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in a sweep of Boise State and UTEP. He scored a game-high 28 points against Boise State and was 10-of-10 from the line and then added 17 points versus UTEP and was 6-of-9 from the field.
Omar-Seli Mance, Jr., F, Rice - averaged 16.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in two games. He was 11-of-20 from the field (.550) and was 7-of-13 from three-point range (.538).
Quinton Ross, Jr., G/F, SMU - scored a team-high 24 points against both Tulsa and Rice and averaged 9.0 rebounds in the two games. He was 17-of-36 (.472) from the field for the week and also had five steals in the two contests.HAWAII AND TULSA MEET THURSDAY
The WACs top two teams meet this Thursday night when Hawaii hosts Tulsa at 7:00 p.m. (HT). The teams are tied in the loss column with two losses in conference play. The winner would have the inside track for the regular season championship and the number one seed in next months Williams WAC Tournament (March 5-9). The teams met earlier this year in Tulsa, and Hawaii came away with a 90-82 victory. Mike McIntyre came off the bench to score a game-high 22 points for the Rainbow Warriors, and both teams had five players score in double figures. Tulsa has a seven-game winning streak, tied for the 11th longest in the nation, while Hawaii has a 10-game home winning streak, tied for the 16th longest in the nation.TULSA SECOND BEST OVER LAST THREE YEARS
Over the last three seasons, Tulsa has won 80 games, second in the nation only to Dukes 87 victories. Cincinnati is next with 77 wins during the past three years.SIX NAMED TO NABC ALL-DISTRICT TEAMS
Last week, six WAC players were named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) all-district teams. Louisiana Techs Gerrod Henderson (District 8), SMUs Damon Hancock (District 9), Fresno States Melvin Ely (District 13) and Hawaiis Predrag Savovic (District 13) were first team members. Boise States Abe Jackson and Fresno States Chris Jefferies were named to the second team in District 13. The players are now eligible for the NABC/Pontiac Division I All-American Team to be announced at the end of the season.ELY BECOMES BULLDOGS ALL-TIME LEADING SCORER
Fresno State senior center Melvin Ely scored 49 points last week to become the schools all-time leading scorer and currently has 1,785 points. The old record was 1,739 points held by Wil Hooker who played at Fresno State from 1989-92. The 1,785 points also moved Ely to 25th in the WACs all-time scoring list. Ely is second on the WACs all-time list for blocked shots with 347. The WAC record is 425 set by Wyomings Theo Ratliff (1991-95).TOP SCORERS
The WAC has four players that have scored 20 or more points in at least 10 games this year. Fresno States Melvin Ely has reached that mark 16 times while Boise States Abe Jackson has hit it in 15 games. SMUs Damon Hancock has scored 20 or more in 14 contests this season and Hawaiis Predrag Savovic has 11 games with 20 or more points. Hawaii is 10-1 when Savovic scores 20, Fresno State is 10-6 when Ely scores 20 or more, Boise State is 8-7 when Jackson hits the mark and SMU is 8-6 when Hancock reaches 20.SWANSON IS NATIONS TOP LONG-RANGE SHOOTER
Tulsas Dante Swanson leads the nation in three-point shooting. The junior guard has made 54.8 percent (63-115) of his three-pointers. The percentage is currently the second highest in WAC history. The record is 56.3 percent set by Colorado States Joel Tribelhorn during the 1988-89 season.1,000-POINT SCORERS
The WAC has 10 players that have scored more than 1,000 points in their collegiate careers. Below are the players, their total points scored in college, where they rank on their schools career lists and how many points needed to tie the next player on those lists:
Player Points School Rank Points Needed
Melvin Ely, Sr., C, Fresno State 1785 1st
Gerrod Henderson, Sr., G, Louisiana Tech 1651 6th 65
Abe Jackson, Sr., F, Boise State 1580 4th 22
Greg Harrington, Sr., G, Tulsa 1414 7th 26
Damon Hancock, Sr., G, SMU 1354 11th 9
1Predrag Savovic, Sr., G, Hawaii 1320 6th 20
2Chris Jefferies, Jr., F, Fresno State 1139 N/A
Terrance Green, Jr., G, Nevada 1110 9th 15
Quinton Ross, Jr., G, SMU 1067 25th 10
Roy Smallwood, Jr., F, UTEP 1058 22nd 19
1Savovic scored 50 points while at Alabama-Birmingham (1997-98)
2Jefferies scored 262 points while at Arkansas (1998-99)
HOME RECORDS
As a league, all 10 WAC teams have a combined home record of 90-38 (.703). In conference games only, home teams are 43-29 (.597). Last week, home teams went 6-3. Teams picking up road wins were Louisiana Tech at Rice, Boise State at Fresno State and SMU at Rice.TULSA TOPS IN SHOOTING
Tulsa continues to lead the WAC in all three shooting categories. The Golden Hurricane is shooting 48.0 percent from the field (15th best in the nation), 75.7 percent from the free throw line (12th best in the nation) and 41.9 percent from three-point range (4th best in the nation).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. Below are three other rankings and the WAC teams ranked in the top 100 as well as the WACs overall ranking among the other 32 conferences.
Sagarin CollegeRPI.com Collegiate Basketball News
WAC 10 10 10
Tulsa 26 28 28
Hawaii 56 43 48
Louisiana Tech 72 77 78
Fresno State 75 69 65
SMU 94 97 94
Nevada 97
NON-CONFERENCE MARK
The WAC is 67-42 (.615) in non-conference games this season, including a 57-40 (.588) mark against Division I teams. There is one more non-conference games scheduled during the regular season (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 775-198 (.797), the third best winning percentage of any active coach and sixth best of all time. The 775 wins are fourth 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. Tarkanian is a 1955 graduate of Fresno State.
TEAM NOTES
Information on the mens basketball teams in the WAC:
Boise State - BSU has won two of its last three games ... senior forward Abe Jackson (Boise, Idaho) is first in the WAC in three-point field goals made with 3.16 per game and is third in the conference in scoring with 19.1 points per game ... Jackson has 79 three-point field goals, four shy of tying his school record set last year ... Jackson has scored 20 or more points in eight of his last 12 contests ... Jackson is fourth all-time in scoring at Boise State with 1,580 points and needs 22 to tie current Toronto Raptor Chris Childs for third place ... Jackson is the second Bronco to have 1,500 points and 500 rebounds in his career (Tanoka Beard: 1989-93) ... BSU is second in the WAC in scoring defense (64.6 points per game) and has held four opponents to under 50 points this season.
Fresno State - the Bulldogs have lost five of its last six WAC games ... Fresno State has averaged 62.1 points in its last seven games after averaging 81.3 in its previous six contests ... the Bulldogs were 3-3 without Melvin Ely in the lineup earlier in the season and are 2-4 without Chris Jefferies ... forward Chris Jefferies has missed the last six games due to a cartilage tear in his right knee and is out indefinitely ... starting point guard Chris Sandy was ruled ineligible by the school last week and missed the past two games when it was determined he received an improper benefit ... Sandy, who leads the WAC in assists in conference games with 6.17 per contest, is out indefinitely ... only six players competed in the 72-64 win over UTEP last Thursday ... Ely has scored 20 or more points in 15 of the last 17 games ... in conference games only, Melvin Ely leads the WAC in scoring (25.9 ppg), field goal percentage (.576) and blocks (3.38 bpg) ... after a 25-game home winning streak, the Bulldogs have lost three of their last five home games.
Hawaii - senior guard Predrag Savovic needs just five three-point field goals to tie the all-time Hawaii record held by Alika Smith (161) ... UH has won 15 of its last 17 games ... Hawaii is 5-2 in WAC road games, tying for the most wins in school history (1997) ... Hawaii is 43-135 (.242) all-time in WAC road games ... UH has won 11 of its last 16 games away from home ... UHs 12-2 start in WAC play is its best ever and ties for the most league wins by Hawaii in a season (12-4 in 1996-97) ... Hawaiis 21-4 start is its best since the 1971-72 season when it was 23-2 and finished the season 24-3 ... UHs four losses are by a combined 13 points and in all four losses Hawaii has failed to score 60 points ... Hawaii is second in the WAC in three-pointers made with 170 and should break last years school record of 177 treys ... UH has made at least seven three-pointers in each of its 12 WAC wins ... the Rainbow Warriors have held 11 of its opponents to 60 points or less this year ... Hawaii leads the WAC and is 16th nationally in scoring defense (61.4 points per game) ... Hawaii has won 10 straight home games and 21 of its last 22 in Honolulu ... in addition, UH has won 14 straight WAC home games dating back to last year, the longest current streak in the conference.
Louisiana Tech - Louisiana Tech had its seven-game conference winning streak snapped at Tulsa on Saturday ... Tech has won seven of its last nine games and has won seven of eight conference games ... Louisiana Tech has shot 79.8 percent from the free throw line in its last four games after shooting just 66.7 percent in its first 20 games ... Techs field goal percentage defense is .405, the best by a Bulldog team since the 1969-70 season ... Tech has assured itself of its fourth consecutive winning season ... the Bulldogs are 14-0 when holding opponents to under 70 points ... Louisiana Tech is 5-2 on the road in WAC games ... senior guard Gerrod Henderson became the schools all-time steals leader last week and now has 188 ... Henderson needs 66 points to pass Karl Malone for fifth on the schools all-time scoring list ... Louisiana Tech leads the WAC and is seventh nationally in rebounding margin (+8.5).
Nevada - Terrance Green scored 16 points against Boise State last week and was 14-of-16 from the free throw line, but just 1-of-11 from the field ... Green was 14-of-17 from the line against UTEP and finished the game with 33 points ... for the week, he was 28-of-33 from the line ... Nevada broke a conference-game record with 45 free throws made against Boise State and tied a conference-game record with 55 free throw attempts in that contest ... the Pack has won three in a row and four of its last five games ... Nevada needs five more free throws to break the school record of 537 set during the 1965-66 season ... the Wolf Pack have won six road games this season, one more than they did over the last three years combined ... Nevada has won 15 games this season, the most since the 1997-98 season when it went 16-12 and has assured itself of a winning season for the first time since 1997-98 ... the Wolf Pack is 9-3 at home and 24-15 (.615) since Trent Johnson took over as head coach three years ago ... senior F Corey Jackson leads the WAC in rebounds with 10.9 ... Jackson has nine double-doubles on the season, the third most in the WAC ... Nevada is 8-0 against schools from California including a sweep of Fresno State ... the Pack is 8-0 when it scores 80 or more points.
Rice - the top two scorers at Rice are true freshmen (Michael Harris-12.8 ppg and Jason McKrieth-12.4 ppg) ... Harris has seven double-doubles in his last 13 games and has 11 on the season, tied for the most in the WAC ... Harris is third in the WAC in rebounding (8.7) ... he leads all WAC freshmen in scoring and rebounding ... Harris has 31 blocked shots and is fourth on the schools single-season list ... his 218 rebounds are the most by any Rice freshman ... junior guard Omar-Seli Mance set a career-high with six three-pointers last week against SMU and is the only Owl to start all 25 games this season.
San Jose State - the Spartans have scored less than 70 points in the last 13 games ... SJSU is one of two WAC teams to not win a conference road game this year (0-7) ... San Jose State scored a season-low 46 points in its loss at Hawaii on Saturday ... SJSUs last six opponents have shot better than 50 percent from the field ... San Jose State has lost four of its last five games by 24 or more points.
SMU - senior guard Damon Hancock is second in the WAC in scoring with 21.1 points per game ... Hancock missed the Tulsa game last week due to the flu ... SMU is 2-1 without Hancock in the lineup ... Hancock has scored in double figures in the last 24 games he has played in, the longest such streak in the WAC and has scored 20 or more points in eight of nine games ... Hancock and Quinton Ross average 38.6 points per game, 52.8 percent of the Mustangs offense ... SMU is 28-5 under head coach Mike Dement when shooting 50 percent or better from the field ... after a 4-0 conference start, SMU has lost six of its last 10 WAC games.
UTEP - the Miners face rival New Mexico State on Wednesday night and trail the series 82-98 ... UTEP lost at New Mexico State earlier this year, 73-71 ... UTEP has lost six in a row for the first time under head coach Jason Rabedeaux ... the Miners have lost 18 games, the third-most in school history ... UTEP has lost three of its last five home games including two in a row ... UTEP has lost five games by five points or less, the most in the WAC ... the Miners are 0-11 on the road this year and have lost 14 in a row dating back to last season ... UTEP is the only WAC team to not win a road game this year ... the Miners are averaging 68.7 points per game this season after a school-record 80.3 last year ... after registering eight wins when trailing at the half last year, the Miners are 2-16 when behind at the break this season.
Tulsa - Tulsa has won seven in a row for the second time this season, the longest current streak in the WAC ... has 20 wins for the fourth straight year and seventh out of the last eight seasons ... the 22-4 start is its third best in school history ... Tulsa is a WAC-best 5-1 on the road in conference games this year and finishes the season with three in a row away from home ... Kevin Johnson has scored in double figures in all 15 conference games this year ... the Golden Hurricane lead the WAC in scoring (81.8), scoring margin (+12.7), three-point field goals made (7.9), assists (17.7) and steals (8.5) ... guard Greg Harrington is the teams lone senior and has 519 assists, the most in school history ... Harrington leads the WAC in free throw percentage (.880) and assists (5.5) ... guard Dante Swanson leads the WAC and the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.548) ... the WAC record for three-point field goal percentage in a season is .563 (76-135) set by Colorado States Joel Tribelhorn during the 1988-89 season ... Harrington is Tulsas all-time winningest player with a 103-30 (.774) record in his four seasons ... Tulsa has sold out 26 of its 55 games at the Reynolds Center where it has gone 48-7 (.873).
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. Tulsa will also host the 2003 Williams WAC Tournament.TULSA TO HOST 2003 TOURNAMENT
On Jan. 17, the WAC announced that the 2003 Williams WAC Mens and Womens Basketball Tournament will be returning to Tulsa for a third consecutive year. It will be held in the Donald W. Reynolds Center on The University of Tulsa campus, March 12-15.WILLIAMS IS TOURNAMENT SPONSOR
For the second year in a row, Williams is the WACs tournament sponsor. Williams, through its subsidiaries, connects businesses to energy, delivering innovative, reliable products and services. Williams information is available atwww.williams.com.ESPN/FOX SPORTS SOUTHWEST SCHEDULE
The WAC has a multi-year contract with ESPN for coverage of football and basketball. Five games have been scheduled for ESPN2 (including the mens tournament championship game) and ABC while Fox Sports Southwest will telecast five mens games and four womens games including the womens WAC tournament finals on March 9. Fox Sports Net Southwest reaches over 6.8 million cable and satellite subscribers in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and parts of New Mexico.