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Weekly Men's Basketball Notes (Dec. 30)

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PLAYER OF THE WEEK UTEP guard/forward Omar Thomas, a junior from Philadelphia (Panola College), was named the MVP of the Sierra Providence SunClassic after helping the Miners beat Mississippi Valley State and Rutgers over the weekend. He began the week with 12 points and six rebounds in a victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff last Monday. On Saturday, he scored 24 points and had five rebounds while making 12-of-15 free throws against Mississippi Valley State. Against Rutgers in the championship game, he scored 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and pulled down nine boards. For the week, he averaged 18.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and hit 65.4 percent of his shots from the floor. It was Thomas first ever WAC Player of the Week award and first for a Miner since March 5, 2001.

Other nominations Other player of the week nominations included:
Jason Ellis, Jr., F, Boise State - recorded his third double-double of the year with 13 points and 15 rebounds against Portland.
Paul Millsap, Fr., F/C, Louisiana Tech - averaged 17.0 points, 13.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots in a split of two road games last week. He had 17 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks at UAB and followed that up with 17 points and 11 rebounds in a win over McNeese State.
Kirk Snyder, Jr., G, Nevada - scored a team-high 20 points and had seven rebounds in a win over UC-Davis. He also dished out three assists and was 7-of-8 from the free throw line.
Michael Harris, Jr., F, Rice - scored 24 points and had seven rebounds in a win over Navy. He was 8-of-10 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free thow line. Harris also tied a career-high with five blocked shots.
Jason Parker, Sr., G, Tulsa - scored 18 points, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out six assists and had four steals in an 84-46 win over Texas State.

WAC SEASON BEGINS The 2004 WAC mens basketball season gets underway this Saturday with four games. Defending regular season champion Fresno State travels to Hawaii, San Jose State hosts this seasons predicted champion Nevada, Tulsa is at Louisiana Tech and Boise State travels to UTEP for a game between the top two teams in the WAC during the non-conference schedule.

TELECONFERENCE TO RESUME JAN. 12 The WACs weekly mens basketball coaches teleconference will resume on Monday, Jan. 12. The call begins at 10:00 a.m. (MT) and each coach will be on for seven minutes to make comments and answer questions.

TEAMS CONTINUE TO WIN Over the last two weeks, WAC teams were 25-7 (.781) in non-conference games. On Dec. 21, two teams picked up top-25 wins as Nevada beat No. 6 Kansas, 75-61, while SMU picked up the victory at No. 17 Purdue, 60-59.

9-OF-10 AT .500 OR BETTER The WAC is one of nine conferences in the nation that have at least 90 percent of its teams at .500 or better. Joining the WAC are the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, Mountain West, Pac-10 and SEC. There are 31 Division I conferences in the nation.

HAWAII IN TITLE GAME The Rainbow Warrios defeated IUPUI last night, 82-64, to advance to its third straight championship game of the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic on Tuesday night. Earlier in the tournament, Hawaii beat Lamar, 94-88. They will face Fairfield in tonights game, a team that beat Pepperdine, 60-56, in the other semifinal last night. Hawaii has won eight straight games in the Rainbow Classic, winning the last two titles. Overall, the Rainbow Warriors have won five straight games, the second longest current streak in the WAC.

RICE HOSTS NO. 1 UCONN Rice hosts its second top-20 opponent this year as No. 1 Connecticut travels to Houston for a game on Jan. 2. Earlier this year, the Owls lost a close game to then-No. 20 Stanford, 60-56, at Autry Court. Connecticut is the nations top team in both the AP and USA Today/ESPN polls.

UTEP TOPS WAC WITH 9-1 RECORD After a 6-24 season last year, UTEP is 9-1 on the season, the best record of any WAC school. The Miners have won six in a row and are a perfect 8-0 at home. Last week, UTEP won its own Sierra Providence SunClassic by beating Mississippi Valley State, 84-63, and then Rutgers in the title game, 94-68. The Miners lead the WAC in scoring (87.1 ppg), scoring margin (+23.3), field goal percentage (.503) and three-point field goal percentage (.423).

FRESNO STATE STEPS UP ON D Fresno State won just two of its first seven games on the year but has won two in a row after holding those opponents to just 36.0 points per game. On Dec. 22, Fresno state beat Washington State, 46-29. The Cougars had just nine points at the half. The 29 points were tied for the eighth lowest in the NCAA since the three-point line was instituted in 1986. In their last game, the Bulldogs beat San Francisco, 52-43.

1,000-POINT SCORERS The WAC has four players that have scored more than 1,000 points in their collegiate careers: Roy Smallwood, F, UTEP (1,212); Garry Hill-Thomas, G, Nevada (1,086); Jason Parker, G, Tulsa (1,057); and Phil Martin, F, Hawaii (1,040). Rice junior forward Michael Harris has 943 points while Nevada junior guard Kirk Snyder has 919.

TULSA OWNS LONGEST HOME STREAK Tulsa has won all three of its home games this year to extend its home winning streak to 12 in a row, currently the longest streak in the WAC. UTEP has the WACs second longest home winning streak at eight in a row.

NON-CONFERENCE MARK The WAC is 60-30 (.667) in non-conference games this season, including a 51-29 (.638) 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).

TULSA TOP TEAM OVER FOUR YEARS Over the last four seasons, Tulsa is 80-32 (.714), the best record of any WAC team since 2000-01. The top five teams in wins over the last four seasons:

Team Wins
1. Tulsa 80
2. Hawaii 70
3. Fresno State 69
4. Louisiana Tech 56
5. SMU 55

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 - its 8-2 non-conference record was its fourth best ever ... is the only team in the WAC that has played a road game to not lose away from home this season (4-0) ... the 4-0 road record is its best since it won its first six road games during the 1987-88 season ... plays its next three games on the road (all WAC contests) ... is 4-1 in games where it trailed at the half this season ... had 50 rebounds at Oregon State on Dec. 20, the most for Boise State since Dec. 7, 1993 when it had 54 against Humboldt State ... junior forward Jason Ellis is the eighth player in Boise State history to record 500 points (521) and 500 rebounds (502).

Fresno State - senior Shantay Legans leads the WAC in assists with 5.7 per game ... sophomore guard Terry Pettis played in the last two games after missing the first seven ... Pettis has averaged 12.5 points in the last two games ... sophomore guard Reggie Butler has also seen limited action in the last two games after becoming eligible to play on Dec. 19 ... Butler enrolled in August 2002 and has sat out since then in order to meet NCAA eligibility guidelines ... plays 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 - is in the midst of an eight-game homestand and is 5-0 so far ... senior Michael Kuebler leads the WAC and is 20th in the nation in scoring with 20.8 points per game ... Kuebler tied a WAC-high with seven three-point field goals against IUPUI last night ... Logan Lee had a WAC season-high 10 assists in that game ... senior Haim Shimonovich has 115 blocked shots in his career, the most in the WAC by any active player ... Phil Martin has started 79 consecutive games, the longest current streak in the WAC ... Martin is the eighth player in UH history to record 500 points (1,040) and 500 rebounds (522) ... Hawaii has won 43 of its last 46 games in Honolulu.

Louisiana Tech - plays its next three games at home where it is 3-0 this season ... leads the WAC in rebounding margin at +12.1 per game ... freshman Paul Millsap leads the WAC in double-doubles (6), rebounding (11.7 rpg), field goal percentage (.657) and blocks (2.2 bpg) ... Millsap is second in the nation in rebounding and 20th in field goal percentage ... Tech has not allowed its opponents to score 100 points in a game for 288 contests, the longest such streak in the WAC ... the Bulldogs are 18-1 in non-conference home games under head coach Keith Richard.

Nevada - the Pack completed its four-game homestand with a 4-0 record ... Nevada has outscored its opponents by 19.0 points per game at home ... senior Garry Hill-Thomas has attempted 525 free throws in his career, by far the most of any active player in the WAC ... 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 - is 2-0 in its current four-game homestand ... in both of Rices losses, the Owls had six-point leads at intermission ... has made more free throws (138) than its opponents have attempted (135) ... Rashid Smith leads the WAC and is 18th nationally in steals with 3.0 per game ... Jason McKrieth is the only Owl to have scored in double figures in all nine games this year and leads Rice with 15.1 points per game ... senior center Yamar Diene has missed the last three games due to a sprained ankle ... 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 - has a four-game winning streak against Division I opponents for the first time since winning five in a row in Dec. 1998 ... begins a four-game homestand ... the Spartans lead the WAC in field goal percentage defense (.371) ... senior Brett Lilly leads the WAC in three-point field goals made with 3.0 per game ... moved its Dec. 30 game against Harvard to 2:00 p.m. (PT) so that fans could attend that evenings Silicon Valley Football Classic ... SJSU has not scored 100 points in a game since beating Utah State, 101-85, on Jan. 25, 1979 (695 games).

SMU - sophomore Bryan Hopkins scored a WAC season-high 35 points in the win against Miami (Ohio) on Dec. 20 ... has played a WAC-high five games decided by five points or less and is 3-2 in those contests ... has won its last 28 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 - has won five straight games by 20 or more points for the first time in school history ... for the first time in nearly three years, UTEP received votes in the AP Top 25 poll ... is a WAC-best 8-0 at home this season and has won those games by an average of 29.6 points per contest ... completes its current six-game homestand this Saturday against Boise State ... leads the WAC in three-point percentage (.423) ... is averaging a WAC-best 87.1 points per game (8th in the nation) ... its 23.3 point margin of victory is the fourth best in the nation ... has scored at least 83 points in each of its last six games (all wins) ... senior Roy Smallwood is the WACs active career leader in points (1,212) and rebounds (657).

Tulsa - senior guard Jason Parker is the WACs active career leader in three-point field goals made (129), three-point field goals attempted (342), steals (137), assists (263) and games played (112) ... has scored in double figures in 14 straight games, the longest current streak in the WAC ... Parker had a career-high nine rebounds in the win over Texas State last week ... 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 67-11 (.859) 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.