United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Tulsa forward Anthony Price, a sophomore from The Woodlands, Texas (The Woodlands HS), averaged 15.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in a pair of road games last week. In an 81-73 loss against 14th-ranked Oklahoma, Price scored 12 points and had three rebounds. He followed that up with a career-high 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting in a 74-62 win at TCU. For the week, he was 15-of-19 (.789) from the floor. It was Prices first ever WAC Player of the Week.

Other nominations Other player of the week nominations included:
Jermaine Blackburn, Jr., F, Boise State - averaged 21.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in a pair of victories last week. He was 17-of-25 (.680) from the field, 5-of-10 from three-point range and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. He scored 25 points against Utah Valley State.
Mustafa Al-Sayyad, Jr., F/C, Fresno State - scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to go along with two blocks in the game against Santa Clara.
Michael Kubler, Sr., G, Hawaii - was named to the all-tournament team at the EA Sports Maui Invitational after averaging 22.3 points (the most of anyone in the eight-team tournament) in three games. He tied a career-high with 29 points in the semifinal victory against host Chaminade and added 23 points in the championship game against Dayton.
Paul Millsap, Fr., F/C, Louisiana Tech - posted a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Jackson State. He also had a block and two steals in the contest.
Jason McKrieth, Jr., G, Rice - scored 14 points and had four rebounds, two steals and one assist in a four-point loss against 20th-ranked Stanford last Sunday.
Filiberto, Rivera, Jr., G, UTEP - averaged 13.0 points, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals in two wins for the Miners last week. He was 8-of-14 (.571) and 10-of-13 (.769) from the free throw line for the week.

MINERS LAST REMAINING UNBEATEN WAC TEAM UTEP is off to a 3-0 start and is the only team in the WAC without a loss this season. The Miners beat Portland State, 70-57, on Saturday night. UTEP had four players score in double figures led by Filiberto Riveras 15 points. The Miners are 3-0 for the first time since beginning the 2000-01 season winning its first six games.

1,000-POINT SCORERS The WAC has two players that have scored more than 1,000 points in their collegiate careers: Roy Smallwood, F, UTEP (1,148); and Garry Hill-Thomas, G, Nevada (1,030). Tulsa senior guard Jason Parker has 988 points and Hawaii senior forward Phil Martin has 950 points.

TULSA OWNS LONGEST HOME STREAK Tulsa won its only home game played so far this year to extend its home winning streak to 10 in a row, currently the longest streak in the WAC.

TULSA TOP TEAM OVER FOUR YEARS Over the last four seasons, Tulsa is 78-30 (.722), the best record of any WAC team since 2000-01. The top five teams in wins over the last four seasons:

Overall
1. Tulsa 78
2. Fresno State 65
Hawaii 65
4. Louisiana Tech 52
SMU 52

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 19-14 (.576) in non-conference games this season, including a 13-14 (.481) mark against Division I teams. Last year, WAC teams were 56-45 (.554) in non-conference games with a 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 - the Broncos scored a WAC season-high 113 points against Eastern Oregon last Saturday ... it was the first time in 500 games that Boise State scored at least 100 points in a game since beating U.S. International, 106-82, during the 1985-86 season ... junior Jermaine Blackburn leads the WAC in scoring with 20.0 points per game ... Boise State has beaten every team in the WAC except Nevada since joining the league in 2001-02.

Fresno State - is 0-2 for the first time in 40 years ... this season marked the first time the Bulldogs opened with two straight road games since 1975-76 ... hosts the McCaffrey Classic this weekend, a tournament in which Fresno State has not lost a game since 1995 against Princeton, the Bulldogs Saturday opponent in this years tournament ... is the only team in the WAC yet to play a home game this year ... 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.

Hawaii - senior guard Michael Kuebler was the only Rainbow Warrior named to the EA Sports Maui Invitational all-tournament team ... Kueblers 29 points against Chaminade last week are the most by a WAC player this season ... senior Haim Shimonovich is the WACs active career leader in blocked shots with 106 ... Phil Martin has started 74 consecutive games, tied for the longest current streak in the WAC ... Hawaii has won 38 of its last 41 games in Honolulu.

Louisiana Tech - Northern Iowa hit a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer last night to beat the Bulldogs, 75-72 ... the win over Jackson State last week was the Bulldogs 200th at the Thomas Assembly Center (200-46) ... have not allowed their opponents to score 100 points in a game for 282 contests, the longest such streak in the WAC ... the Bulldogs are 17-1 in non-conference home games under head coach Keith Richard.

Nevada - after a 10-day layoff, Nevada plays at Portland on Thursday night ... 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, tied for the longest current streak in the WAC ... 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 - Jason McKrieth is the only Owl to have scored in double figures in all four games this year and leads Rice with 14.2 points per game ... Michael Harris streak of scoring in double figures came to an end after 12 games when he scored eight against Stanford last Sunday ... Harris leads the WAC in rebounding with 10.8 per game ... Yamar Diene leads the WAC in blocked shots with 2.0 per game ... 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 - Eric Walton grabbed 13 rebounds against UC Santa Cruz last Tuesday, the most of any player in the WAC last week ... he also had 12 points to record his first double-double ... the 46-point win over UC Santa Cruz was the most lopsided win by San Jose State since beating Humboldt State by 47 on Nov. 28, 1975 ... after using 19 different starting lineups last year, the Spartans have used the same lineup in all three games this season ... SJSU has not scored 100 points in a game since beating Utah State, 101-85, on Jan. 25, 1979 (689 games).

SMU - plays Baylor tonight and is looking for its 100th win against the Bears (99-73) ... beat Texas Tech on Monday behind Bryan Hopkins team-high 19 points ... Patrick Simpson just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds in that game ... has won its last 26 games when holding an opponent under 60 points ... has won at least 15 games in seven straight seasons, currently the third longest streak in the WAC.

UTEP - leads the WAC in three-point percentage (.458) ... is averaging a WAC-best 92.3 points per game ... senior Roy Smallwood is the WACs active career leader in points (1,148) and rebounds (613) ... the Miners have lost 27 road games in a row ... UTEPs last road victory came on Feb. 24, 2001 when it beat Rice, 59-52, in Houston ... UTEP plays at Texas Tech (4-2) tonight ... the Miners have won five of the last eight against the Red Raiders ... Tech lost at SMU on Monday night, 62-59.

Tulsa - since the 2000-01 season, Tulsa is 10-4 in games played in November ... senior guard Jason Parker is the WACs active career leader in three-point field goals made (122), three-point field goals attempted (321), steals (127), assists (253) and games played (108) ... Parker is 29 points shy of becoming the 28th player in school history to score 1,000 in his career ... 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.