United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK SMU guard Justin Isham, a junior from Lancaster, Texas (Lancaster HS), scored a game and career-high 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting in SMUs 69-59 win at Texas-Pan American on Saturday night. Isham also added five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. It was Ishams first ever WAC player of the week award.

Other nominations Other player of the week nominations included:
Jermaine Blackburn, Jr., F, Boise State - scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds in his Bronco debut as Boise State beat Portland, 76-66. He also had three steals and an assist.
Jonathan Woods, Sr., F, Fresno State - had 18 points and six rebounds in the loss at Oregon. He was 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
Corey Dean, Jr., G, Louisiana Tech - scored 17 points, shooting 6-of-9 from the floor, in the loss at Alabama. He also added two rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Kirk Snyder, Jr., G, Nevada - averaged 19.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in two games last week. Snyder scored a team-high 17 points against Vermont and added 22 against Connecticut. He also had five assists and three steals in the two games.
Jason Parker, Sr., G, Tulsa - scored a game-high 23 points and set a career-high with seven rebounds in Tulsas 78-49 win over Northwestern State. He also added three assists and three steals. Parker shot 6-of-11 from the field and 10-of-12 from the free throw line. He scored 17 of his 23 points in the second half.

RICE WINS BP TOP OF THE WORLD CLASSIC Behind MVP Michael Harris, Rice won the BP Top of the World Classic beating Idaho State, Saint Marys and Washington State for the title. Against Idaho State, Harris scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the 76-46 victory. He added another double-double with 11 points and 11 boards in the 69-55 win over Saint Marys. In the championship game, Harris scored a team-high 15 points and pulled down nine rebounds. For the week, he averaged 15.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. Yamar Diene and Jason McKrieth were also named to the all-tournament team. McKrieth averaged 14.3 points and 5.7 rebounds while Diene averaged 10.7 points and 2.0 blocks per contest.

HAWAII EARNS FIRST ROUND VICTORY IN EA SPORTS MAUI INVITATIONAL Hawaii earned a win in its first round game of the EA Sports Maui Inviational, beating Santa Clara last night, 56-43. The Rainbow Warriors play Chaminade tonight in the semifinals at 5:00 p.m. (HT) on ESPN2. The two schools are just two miles away from each other, but this is just the third meeting and first since 1982. Hawaii will play either San Diego State or Dayton in either the championship game or consolation game tomorrow evening. Senior Michael Kuebler led Hawaii with 15 points in the game against Santa Clara.

OTHER ACTION In other top games, Tulsa travels to No. 14 Oklahoma tonight for a 7:00 p.m. (CT) contest. Its the first time in seven years that the two teams have met. Tulsa won the last meeting in 1996, 78-75. The Golden Hurricane also travel to Fort Worth for a game against TCU on Saturday night. Rice hosts No. 20 Stanford on Sunday afternoon while SMU, San Jose State, Boise State, UTEP, Louisiana Tech and Fresno State also play games this week.

1,000-POINT SCORERS The WAC has two players that have scored more than 1,000 points in their collegiate careers returning for their senior seasons: Roy Smallwood, F, UTEP (1,137); and Garry Hill-Thomas, G, Nevada (1,030). Tulsa senior guard Jason Parker has 934 points and Hawaii senior forward Phil Martin has 931 points.

TULSA OWNS LONGEST HOME STREAK With its win against Northwestern State last week, Tulsa improved its home winning streak to 10 in a row, currently the longest streak in the WAC.

TULSA OVER 100 Over the last four seasons, Tulsa is 77-28 (.733), the best record of any WAC team since 2000-01. The top five teams in wins over the last four seasons:

Overall
1. Tulsa 77
2. Fresno State 65
3. Hawaii 64
4. Louisiana Tech 51
SMU 51

NATIONAL RANKINGS No WAC teams are ranked in the top 25, but Nevada and Rice received votes in the coaches poll while Nevada also earned consideration in the AP poll.

NON-CONFERENCE MARK The WAC is 12-5 (.706) in non-conference games this season, including a 9-5 (.643) mark against Division I teams. Last year, WAC teams were 56-45 (.554) in non-conference games with 47-45 (.511) 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).

BRACKET BUSTER SATURDAY The WAC and five of its teams (Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, Rice and Tulsa) have partnered with ESPN and several other top college basketball conferences for the second annual Bracket Buster Saturday, a one-day, 23-game mens basketball event matching potential NCAA tournament hopefuls against each other. Bracket Buster Saturday will be February 21, 2004. ESPN and ESPN2 will present five games highlighted by the only predetermined game for 2004 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 five more games produced and distributed in the markets of the competing teams. The match-ups for Bracket Buster Saturday will be determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2004.

2004 McCAFFREY WAC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT The 2004 WAC McCaffrey WAC Basketball Tournament will be held March 9-13 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. 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 9. The remaining eight teams will all play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 11 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 2005 WAC Tournament will be played at Nevadas Lawlor Events Center, March 8-12.

WAC ON ESPN/SPORTSWEST The WAC has a multi-year contract with both ESPN and SportsWest for coverage of WAC football and basketball. A minimum of 14 games between the two networks will be scheduled this season.

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

Boise State - is 2-0 for the first time since a 4-0 start during the 1998-99 season ... Jermaine Blackburn scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half of the Broncos 80-68 win over Utah Valley State last night ... Joe Skiffer moved into fifth all-time in assists (251) at Boise State with his game-high six assists last night ... Boise State has beaten every team in the WAC except Nevada since joining the league in 2001-02 ... Boise State has not scored 100 points since beating U.S. International, 106-82, during the 1985-86 season (500 games).

Fresno State - the loss against Oregon snapped its seven-game winning streak in season openers ... of the 67 points scored against Oregon, 57 came from the Bulldogs five starters ... senior Shantay Legans scored a game-high 20 points in his Fresno State debut ... will play in the brand new Save Mart Center (home of this years 2004 McCaffrey WAC Basketball Tournament) after posting a 406-136 (.749) in 37 seasons at Selland Arena ... the Bulldogs first home game isnt until Dec. 5 when they hosts Arkansas-Monticello in the McCaffrey Classic.

Hawaii - trailed Santa Clara 12-0 to start last nights game ... senior Haim Shimonovich is the WACs active career leader in blocked shots with 106 ... Shiminovich had nine points and 11 rebounds in the Santa Clara game last night ... Phil Martin has started 72 consecutive games, the second longest current streak in the WAC ... Hawaii has won 38 of its last 41 games in Honolulu.

Louisiana Tech - a win over Jackson State tonight would give the Bulldogs their 200th at the Thomas Assembly Center (199-46) ... Tech has won four straight against Jackson State ... JC transfer Donnell Allick scored a team-high 19 points in his debut against Alabama ... true freshman Paul Millsap scored 10 points and pulled down nine rebounds in his debut ... Tech has the WACs longest current losing streak at seven games ... the Bulldogs have not allowed their opponents to score 100 points in a game for 280 contests, the longest streak in the WAC ... the Bulldogs are 17-1 in non-conference home games under head coach Keith Richard.

Nevada - junior Kirk Snyder has scored in double figures in 13 straight games, the longest current streak in the WAC ... senior Garry Hill-Thomas has attempted 503 free throws in his career, by far the most of any active player in the WAC ... Hill-Thomas has started 74 consecutive games ... freshman Marcelus Kemp has made 6-of-9 three-point shots this year ... the Packs 18 wins last year were the most under head coach Trent Johnson and the most since winning 21 during the 1996-97 season.

Rice - junior Michael Harris has scored in double figures in 12 straight games, the second longest current streak in the WAC ... the Owls were the only team in the WAC to not lose back-to-back games last season ... the Owls 19 wins last year were a nine-game improvement from the 2001-02 season.

San Jose State - jumped out to a 23-13 lead in the 76-65 overtime loss against Pacific ... the Spartans missed a five-foot shot at the end of regulation that would have won the game ... Michael McFadden led San Jose State with 15 points ... the Spartans were outscored 15-4 in overtime ... SJSU has not scored 100 points in a game since beating Utah State, 101-85, on Jan. 25, 1979 (687 games).

SMU - the win over Texas-Pan American was the Mustangs sixth straight season opening victory ... sophomore Bryan Hopkins scored 15 points in the win but had eight turnovers ... has won at least 15 games in seven straight seasons, the third longest streak in the WAC.

UTEP - set school records with 55 free throws attempted and 41 made in its 98-76 win over Sul Ross State last night ... seven players scored in double figures for the first time since 2000 ... is 2-0 for the fourth time in five years ... UTEPs 109-49 win in its season opener against Texas-Permian Basin was its second largest margin of victory in school history ... the Miners also tied a school record with 15 three-point field goals in that game ... senior Roy Smallwood is the WACs active career leader in points (1,137) and rebounds (605) ... the Miners have lost 26 road games in a row.

Tulsa - with the win over Northwestern State, Tulsa has now won its last 12 season openers ... JC transfer Guilherme Teichmann had 14 points and 10 rebounds in the game against Northwestern State ... senior guard Jason Parker is the WACs active career leader in steals (122), assists (242) and games played (105) ... has won at least 20 games in each of the last five seasons and nine times in the last 10 years ... Tulsa is 10-3 in the postseason the last four years: 3-1 in 2000 NCAA, 5-0 in 2001 NIT, 1-1 in 2002 NCAA and 1-1 in 2003 NCAA ... Tulsa is 65-11 (.855) at the Reynolds Center, the best winning percentage at home of any WAC team in its current arena ... every season that Tulsa has won 20 games, it has either played in the NCAA Tournament or won the NIT Championship.