United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Hawaii guard Predrag Savovic, a senior from Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia (UAB), scored a career-high 32 points in Hawaiis 75-60 win over UTEP and shot 10-of-15 from the field in the contest. Savovics previous career high was 31 points set against UTEP last year. Earlier in the week, he scored a team-high 20 points in a victory against Boise State and had two steals. In the two games combined, he shot 16-of-32 from the field, 6-of-12 from three-point range, 14-of-17 from the free throw line and averaged 5.5 rebounds. Hawaii improved to 10-1 in the WAC (19-3 overall) and has won nine home games in a row.

Other nominations Other player of the week nominations included:
Darrian Brown, Jr., G, Louisiana Tech - averaged 18.5 points and 10.0 rebounds in a split of two games. Brown shot 14-of-20 from the field, 4-of-7 from three-point range and made all five of his free throw attempts. He set career-highs with 28 points and 13 rebounds against Centenary.
Terrance Green, Jr., G, Nevada - averaged 14.5 points in two games, including a game-high 24 points against Tulsa. Against the Golden Hurricane, he made 10-of-17 shots from the field.
Michael Harris, Fr., F, Rice - averaged 15.0 points and 9.3 rebounds in three games for the Owls. He recorded double-doubles against Tulsa and Fresno State and made 19-of-35 shots from the field for the week.
Marion Thurmond, Sr., C, San Jose State - averaged 14.0 points and 9.5 rebounds in a pair of victories over UTEP and Boise State. Against the Miners, he had 16 points, a game-high 10 rebounds, four blocks and three steals. Two nights later, he scored all 12 of his points in the second half to help San Jose State break a 19-19 tie at halftime.
Damon Hancock, Sr., G, SMU - scored 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting and added five assists and five rebounds against Louisiana Tech.
Kevin Johnson, Jr., F, Tulsa - averaged 13.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.0 blocks in three victories last week. Against Rice, he had a season team-high seven blocks.

HAWAII THIRD IN THE WEST Only seven schools in the nation have more wins than Hawaii (19) and just two are west of the Mississippi River. Duke, Cincinnati, Kansas, Butler, Gonzaga, Western Kentucky and Memphis each have 20 victories. If Hawaii picks up a victory this week, it will mark the ninth time the program has won 20 games in a season. The school record is 25 wins set during the 1989-90 season.

ELY LOOKS TO BECOME BULLDOGS ALL-TIME LEADING SCORER Fresno State senior center Melvin Ely is one point shy of 1,700 for his career and needs 41 points to become the schools all-time leading scorer. The record of 1,739 points is held by Wil Hooker who played from 1989-92. Ely is currently averaging 23.6 points a game and at that pace, would break the record at home in Sundays nationally televised game against No. 14 Oklahoma State on ABC. Ely also has 336 career blocked shots, currently tied for second on the WACs all-time list with Luc Longley (New Mexico: 1988-91) and David Van Dyke (UTEP: 1989-92).

HARRINGTON TWO SHY OF 500 Tulsa senior guard Greg Harrington needs just two more assists to reach 500 for his career. Harrington is already the schools all-time leader and will become the 14th player in WAC history to have 500 assists. Tulsa plays at Boise State on Thursday night.

TOP SCORERS The WAC has three players that have scored 20 or more points in at least 12 games this year. Fresno States Melvin Ely and Boise States Abe Jackson have reached that mark in 13 games. SMUs Damon Hancock has scored 20 or more in 12 contests this season. Counting just the 20-point games, Ely is averaging 27.1 ppg, Jackson is averaging 25.1 points and Hancock is averaging 24.7 points. Fresno State is 9-4 when Ely scores 20 or more, while Boise State is 7-6 when Jackson hits the mark and SMU is 6-6 when Hancock reaches 20. Hancock has scored 20 or more points in six straight games.

SWANSON IS NATIONS TOP LONG-RANGE SHOOTER Tulsas Dante Swanson leads the nation in three-point shooting. The junior guard has made 53.5 percent (53-99) 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 nine 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 1699 2nd 40
Gerrod Henderson, Sr., G, Louisiana Tech 1578 8th 30
Abe Jackson, Sr., F, Boise State 1508 4th 94
Greg Harrington, Sr., G, Tulsa 1370 10th 2
Damon Hancock, Sr., G, SMU 1296 14th 47
1Predrag Savovic, Sr., G, Hawaii 1255 6th 85
2Chris Jefferies, Jr., F, Fresno State 1139 N/A
Terrance Green, Jr., G, Nevada 1043 12th 17
Roy Smallwood, Jr., F, UTEP 1021 26th 2

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 79-30 (.725). In conference games only, home teams are 33-21 (.611). Last week, home teams were 7-2. The two road wins came when Nevada defeated Rice, 64-56, and Louisiana Tech won at SMU, 70-66.

TULSA TOPS IN SHOOTING Tulsa continues to lead the WAC in all three shooting categories. The Golden Hurricane is shooting 47.9 percent from the field, 76.9 percent from the free throw line and 41.0 percent from three-point range. Tulsas 76.9 percent success rate from the charity stripe is currently the sixth best in the nation. Four starters are shooting better than 78 percent from the free throw line: Greg Harrington (.885), Kevin Johnson (.870), Dante Swanson (.816) and Antonio Reed (.783).

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 33 38 41
Hawaii 62 51 52
Fresno State 64 59 59
Louisiana Tech 75 90 91
SMU 93 100

NON-CONFERENCE MARK The WAC is 66-42 (.611) in non-conference games this season, including a 56-40 (.583) mark against Division I teams. There are two more non-conference games scheduled during the regular season (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 773-196 (.798), the third best winning percentage of any active coach and sixth best of all time. The 773 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 - the Broncos have lost six in a row for the first time since the 1980-81 season when they lost seven in a row ... BSU has lost nine of its last 11 games ... senior forward Abe Jackson (Boise, Idaho) is first in the WAC in three-point field goals made with 3.19 per game and is second in the conference in scoring with 19.3 points per game ... Jackson has scored 20 or more points in six of his last eight contests ... Jackson is fourth all-time in scoring at Boise State with 1,508 points and needs 94 to tie current Toronto Raptor Chris Childs for third place ... with 12 more rebounds, Jackson will become the second Bronco with 1,500 points and 500 rebounds in his career (Tanoka Beard: 1989-93) ... Bryan Defares has scored in double figures in nine straight games and is averaging 12.9 points per contest during that span ... BSU is second in the WAC in scoring defense (63.3 points per game) and has held four opponents to under 50 points this season.

Fresno State - the Bulldogs have lost three WAC games in a row for the first time under head coach Jerry Tarkanian ... Fresno State has averaged 63.3 points in its last three games after averaging 81.3 in its previous six contests ... Fresno State plays No. 14 Oklahoma State this week and is 2-0 versus ranked opponents this year and have won five of their last six against ranked opponents ... Melvin Ely would rank sixth in the nation in scoring (23.6 ppg), seventh nationally in blocked shots (3.6 bpg) and 18th in rebounds (10.3 rpg) if he had enough games to qualify ... he will appear in the next report on Friday as he will have played in 75 percent of his teams games at that time ... the Bulldogs were 3-3 without Melvin Ely in the lineup earlier in the season ... Ely had scored 20 or more points in 12 straight games before being held to a season-low 10 points on Saturday against Rice ... Ely has recorded double-doubles in four of his last five games ... in conference games only, Melvin Ely leads the WAC in scoring (26.2 ppg), rebounding (11.0) and blocks (3.60 bpg) ... forward Chris Jefferies missed the last two games due to a cartilage tear in his right knee and is questionable this week ... the Bulldogs are 45-5 (.900) in WAC home games under head coach Jerry Tarkanian ... the Bulldogs lost their last home game, snapping a 25-game home winning streak.

Hawaii - UH has won 13 of its last 14 games ... Hawaii is 4-1 in WAC road games and needs one more to tie for the most in school history ... Hawaii is 42-134 all-time in WAC road games ... UH has won 10 of its last 14 games away from home ... UHs 10-1 start in WAC play is its best ever ... Hawaiis 19-3 start is its best since the 1971-72 season when its was 20-2 and finished the season 24-3 ... UHs three losses are by a combined nine points ... Hawaii is second in the WAC in three-pointers made with 142 and is on pace to break last years school record of 177 treys ... the Rainbow Warriors have held 10 of its opponents to 60 points or less this year ... Hawaii leads the WAC and is 18th nationally in scoring defense (61.5 points per game) ... Hawaii has won nine straight home games and 20 of its last 21 in Honolulu ... in addition, UH has won 13 straight WAC home games dating back to last year, the longest current streak in the conference.

Louisiana Tech - Tech has won four of its last five games ... the Bulldogs are 11-0 when holding opponents to under 70 points ... Louisiana Tech is tied with Hawaii for the best WAC road record (4-1) ... Marco Cole tied a career-high with 27 points against SMU ... senior guard Gerrod Henderson has 183 steals and needs two more to tie the all-time career steal record at Louisiana Tech ... Louisiana Tech leads the WAC and is fifth nationally in rebounding margin (+9.1) ... Tech has won the tip in 19 of its 20 games.

Nevada - the Wolf Pack have won five road games this season, the same number as they did over the last three years combined ... Nevada has won 12 games this season, the most since the 1997-98 season when it went 16-12 ... the Wolf Pack is 7-3 at home and 22-15 (.595) since Trent Johnson took over as head coach three years ago ... senior F Corey Jackson is the only WAC player to average double figures in rebounds (10.6) ... Jackson has eight double-doubles on the season, the third most in the WAC ... Nevada is 7-0 against schools from California and plays at Fresno State on Thursday night ... the Wolf Pack beat Fresno State earlier this year, 88-85, in Reno ... the Pack is 6-0 when it scores 80 or more points.

Rice - Rice defeated Fresno State on Saturday to pick up its first ever win against the Bulldogs (1-10) ... Omar-Seli Mance scored a game-high 21 points against Fresno State ... the Owls have played its last eight games without their leading scorer Jason McKrieth who has been sidelined with a sprained foot ... the top two scorers at Rice are true freshmen (McKrieth-14.8 ppg and Michael Harris-13.3 ppg) ... Harris has five double-doubles in his last nine games and has nine on the season, second in the WAC ... Harris is second in the WAC in rebounding (8.5) ... he leads all WAC freshmen in scoring and rebounding ... Harris has 25 blocked shots and is seventh on the schools single-season list ... the Owls have a 15-game regular season road losing streak.

San Jose State - the Spartans have scored less than 70 points in the last 10 games, but has won the last two and three of the last five ... the two-game winning streak is their first of the season ... SJSU hits the road against Louisiana Tech and SMU and is looking for its first WAC road win of the year ... a win over Louisiana Tech would give the Spartans their second ever three-game WAC winning streak ... in three of the last four games, San Jose State has failed to score 20 points by halftime.

SMU - the Mustangs take on conference leading Hawaii in Dallas on Thursday and are 5-5 all-time versus the Rainbow Warriors ... SMU has lost two straight home games and has not lost three in a row since the 1995-96 season ... senior guard Damon Hancock leads the WAC in scoring with 21.4 points per game ... Hancock has scored in double figures in the last 21 games he has played in, the longest such streak in the WAC ... Hancock and Quinton Ross average 37.6 points per game, more than 50 percent of the Mustangs office ... Ross needs 29 points to reach 1,000 for his career ... SMU is 27-5 under head coach Mike Dement when shooting 50 percent or better from the field ... after a 4-0 conference start, SMU has lost four of its last six WAC games.

UTEP - has won three of its last four home games ... UTEP has lost five games by five points or less, the most in the WAC ... the Miners are 0-9 on the road this year and have lost 12 in a row dating back to last season ... UTEP is 24-5 the last two seasons at home ... the Miners are averaging 68.8 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 2-12 when behind at the break this season.

Tulsa - the win over Fresno State last Thursday snapped a six-game losing streak against the Bulldogs ... Tulsa is shooting 41.0 percent from three-point range, but only hit 26.7 percent in its win over Nevada on Saturday ... Kevin Johnson has scored in double figures in all 11 conference games this year ... the Golden Hurricane lead the WAC in scoring (82.3), scoring margin (+12.6), assists (17.6) and steals (8.9) ... guard Greg Harrington is the teams lone senior and has 498 assists, the most in school history ... Harrington leads the WAC in free throw percentage (.885) and assists (5.6) ... 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 and the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.535) ... 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 has been a part of 99 victories while at Tulsa, one shy of the record set by Marcus Hill (1997-01) ... Tulsa has sold out 25 of its 53 games at the Reynolds Center where it has gone 46-7 (.868).

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 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.

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

Points
1. 2542 Keith Van Horn, Utah, 1993-97
35. 1699 Melvin Ely, Fresno State, 1999-02

Rebounds
1. 1317 Michael Cage, San Diego State, 1980-84
27. 845 Melvin Ely, Fresno State, 1999-02

Field Goal Percentage
1. .622 George Scott, New Mexico (280-450), 1982-85
9. .580 Melvin Ely, Fresno State (695-1198), 1999-02
18. .560 Kevin Johnson, Tulsa (327-584), 2000-02

Field Goals Made
1. 987 Danny Ainge, Brigham Young, 1978-81
14. 695 Melvin Ely, Fresno State, 1999-02

3-Point Field Goal Percentage
1. .480 Trent Shippen, Colorado State (94-196), 1988-89
6. .445 Dante Swanson, Tulsa (141-317), 2000-02
16. .416 Greg Harrington, Tulsa (159-382), 1999-02

3-Point Field Goals Made
1. 285 Raymond Dudley, Air Force, 1986-90
285 Clayton Shields, New Mexico, 1995-98
20. 159 Greg Harrington, Tulsa, 1999-02
24. 145 Predrag Savovic, Hawaii, 2000-02
27. 141 Dante Swanson, Tulsa, 2000-02

3-Point Field Goals Attempted
1. 798 Dominick Young, Fresno State, 1995-97
23. 387 Predrag Savovic, Hawaii, 2000-02
25. 382 Greg Harrington, Tulsa, 1999-02
27. 365 Mike McIntyre, Hawaii, 1999-02

Assists
1. 778 Jeff Jonas, Utah, 1973-77
14. 498 Greg Harrington, Tulsa, 1999-02

Blocked Shots
1. 425 Theo Ratliff, Wyoming, 1992-95
2. 336 Melvin Ely, Fresno State, 1999-02
19. 147 Kevin Johnson, Tulsa, 2000-02

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.