United Athletic Conference

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Louisiana Tech forward Antonio Meeking, a senior from Farmerville, La. (Farmerville HS), averaged 25.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in a pair of wins last week. On Thursday, Meeking picked up his fourth double-double of the season with 27 points and 10 rebounds against Hawaii. Two nights later, he scored 23 points against San Jose State and blocked two shots, including one in the last seconds that could have forced the game into overtime. For the week, he shot 62.1 percent (18-of-29) from the field and led the Bulldogs in scoring in both games. It was Meekings first ever WAC player of the week award and first for a Bulldog this year.

Other nominations Other player of the week nominations included:
Renaldo Major, Jr., F, Fresno State - made his first two career starts and averaged 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in a pair of road wins against UTEP and Boise State. He scored 14 points against UTEP and then added a career-high 18 versus Boise State.
Kirk Snyder, So., G, Nevada - averaged 19.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in road wins at Boise State and UTEP. He recorded his WAC-best eighth double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds against the Broncos and then had a team-high 21 points at UTEP.
Jason McKrieth, So., F/G, Rice - led the Owls with 17 points in their only game at Tulsa last week.
Quinton Ross, Sr., G/F, SMU - averaged 23.5 points and shot 57 percent from the floor in a pair of wins over San Jose State and Hawaii. He scored a game-high 27 points in the contest against the Rainbow Warriors.
Dante Swanson, Sr., G, Tulsa - scored a game-high 22 points in a victory over Rice to help snap a three-game losing streak. He was 8-of-15 from the field including 6-of-12 from three-point range.

KEY WEEK IN THE WAC This week features some of the more interesting matchups of the season as the top two teams host the next two teams in the WAC standings. Fresno State and Nevada host Louisiana Tech and SMU on Thursday and Saturday. Fresno State won at Louisiana Tech and SMU earlier this year while Nevada beat Louisiana Tech but lost at SMU in overtime, the Packs last loss before its current five-game winning streak. Last year, Louisiana Tech defeated Fresno State in Fresno, snapping the Bulldogs 25-game home winning streak.

LOUISIANA TECH AND NEVADA WIN FIVE IN A ROW After beating Tulsa last night, Louisiana Tech has joined Nevada as teams with five-game winning streaks. The streaks are the longest by a WAC team in conference-only games this season. The teams are also one win shy of tying for the longest overall winning streak in the WAC as both Hawaii and Rice put together six-game streaks earlier this year.

EIGHT WITH 10 After Louisiana Techs win last night, the WAC now has eight teams that have won at least 10 games this season. Only seven other conferences in the nation have a higher percentage of teams with at least 10 wins. In each of the last two seasons, every WAC team won at least 10 games.

BRACKET BUSTER SATURDAY ESPN2 announced the pairings for the inaugural Bracket Buster Saturday on Sunday, Feb. 2. The WAC will have three of its four teams featured by ESPN2 or ESPN on Saturday, Feb. 22. The featured matchup has Fresno State, the WAC standings leader, playing at No. 12 Creighton at 11:00 a.m. (CT) on ESPN2. Bracket Buster Saturday was created this year in partnership with ESPN and several other top college basketball conferences to match potential NCAA tournament hopefuls against each other.

Bracket Buster Saturday Matchups-Feb. 22
Game 1-Fresno State (17-4) at Creighton (21-2), 11:00 a.m. (CT), ESPN2
Game 2-Northern Iowa (7-13) at Louisiana Tech (10-9), 12:00 p.m. (CT), ESPN Plus/Full Court
Game 3-Illinois State (4-16) at Marshall (10-10), 2:00 p.m. (ET), ESPN Plus/Full Court
Game 4-UW-Milwaukee (19-5) at Southern Illinois (16-4), 2:00 p.m. (CT), ESPN2
Game 5-Ball State (9-11) at Western Kentucky (15-8), 3:00 p.m. (CT), ESPN Plus/Full Court
Game 6-Bowling Green (10-10) at Illinois-Chicago (15-6), 4:00 p.m. (CT), ESPN2
Game 7-Hawaii (13-7) at Kent State (17-3), 9:30 p.m. (ET), ESPN2
Game 8-Detroit (12-9) at UCSB (11-10), 8:00 p.m. (PT), ESPN Plus/Full Court
Game 9-Tulsa (12-8) at Gonzaga (17-6), 9:00 p.m. (PT), ESPN

FSN TO SHOW BOISE STATE-TULSA CONTEST Fox Sports Net will televise Thursday nights game between Boise State and Tulsa. The game will tip-off at 7:05 p.m. (CT) and will be shown on Fox Sports Southwest and Fox Sports Northwest. Bill Land will handle the play-by-play duties while Jim Haller will provide color commentary.

DOUBLE LEADERS The WAC features four players that lead their teams in at least two of three categories (points, rebounds and assists) including Nevadas Kirk Snyder who leads the Wolf Pack in all three with 16.0 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. The other three are:
Antonio Meeking, Sr., F, Louisiana Tech (19.5 ppg, 7.9 rpg)
Brandon Hawkins, Sr., G, San Jose State (11.6 ppg, 2.8 apg)
Jason Parker, Jr., G, Tulsa (15.9 ppg, 3.5 apg)

TOP-SHOOTING OWLS Rice continues to lead the WAC in all three shooting categories. The Owls are shooting 47.7 percent from the field, 74.5 percent from the free throw line and 40.3 percent from three-point range. Last season, Tulsa finished the season leading the WAC in all three shooting categories to become the second team in WAC history to perform the trifecta.

HOME SWEET HOME The WACs 10 teams are a combined 79-31 (.718) at home so far this season. On the road, its a completely different story as the WAC is 27-63 (.300). In conference only games, the home teams are 38-18 (.679). Last week, visiting teams were 4-6 as Fresno State and Nevada both swept their road trips against UTEP and Boise State.

UNDEFEATED HOME TEAMS The WAC has just two teams that are still undefeated at home this season. Fresno State and Hawaii are both 12-0. In WAC games only, Fresno State is 6-0 while Nevada and Hawaii are 5-0.

HAWAII OWNS LONGEST HOME STREAK Hawaii has the WACs longest home winning streak at 24 in a row, the fifth longest in the nation. Oklahoma owns the longest streak with 34 straight, followed by Western Kentucky (32), Marquette (28) and Duke (25). The WACs second longest current home winning streak is 12 games by Fresno State while Nevada has put together a nine-game home winning streak.

ROAD WARRIORS Fresno State and SMU are the only two WAC teams to have winning road records in conference games as the Bulldogs are 4-2 and SMU is 3-2. In all games, only Fresno State (5-4) has a winning road records.

1,000-POINT SCORERS The WAC has seven players that have scored more than 1,000 points in their collegiate careers. The following list contains those players, their totals and where they rank in school history: Quinton Ross, G, SMU (1,584-7th); Terrance Green, G, Nevada (1,467-6th); Antonio Meeking, F, Louisiana Tech (1,434-14th); Kevin Johnson, F, Tulsa (1,393-8th); Dante Swanson, G, Tulsa (1,228-14th); Roy Smallwood, F, UTEP (1,119-18th); and Carl English, G, Hawaii (1,064-9th). Nevada junior Garry Hill-Thomas is 81 points shy of 1,000 for his career.

NATIONAL RANKINGS No WAC teams are ranked in the top 25, but Fresno State is receiving votes in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls.

NON-CONFERENCE MARK The WAC is 53-38 (.582) in non-conference games this season, including a 44-38 (.537) mark against Division I teams. Last year, WAC teams were 71-46 (.607) in non-conference games with a 61-44 (.581) 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).

2003 WILLIAMS WAC TOURNAMENT The 2003 Williams WAC Tournament will be held March 11-15 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 11. The remaining eight teams will all play in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 13 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 (ESPN2).

WILLIAMS IS TOURNAMENT SPONSOR For the third year in a row, Williams will be the WACs tournament sponsor. Williams moves, manages and markets a variety of energy products, including natural gas, liquid hydrocarbons, petroleum and electricity. Based in Tulsa, Okla., Williams operations span the energy value chain from wellhead to burner tip. Company information is available at www.williams.com.

FRESNO STATE, NEVADA TO HOST FUTURE WAC TOURNAMENTS Last fall, Fresno State was selected to host the 2004 WAC Tournament while Nevada will host the tournament in 2005. In 2004, the tournament will be played in the brand new Save Mart Center on the Fresno State campus. The following year, it will be held in Nevadas Lawlor Events Center.

ESPN/FOX SPORTS NET SCHEDULE The WAC has a multi-year contract with ESPN for coverage of football and basketball. Four games were scheduled for ESPN/ESPN2 (including the mens tournament championship game) while Fox Sports Net will telecast six mens games and four womens games including the womens WAC tournament final.

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

Boise State - averaged 58.0 points last week after averaging 80.0 points over its previous four games ... Boise State has lost four of its last five and seven of its last nine ... the Broncos opponents are shooting 77.3 percent from the free throw line, by far the best percentage against a WAC team this season, and a percentage that would rank seventh in the nation if the opponents were a single team ... Boise State has not scored 100 points since beating U.S. International, 106-82, during the 1985-86 season (490 games).

Fresno State - Fresno State has won 11 of its last 13 games ... the Bulldogs play its next two games at home before finishing up their regular season with four of five on the road ... Fresno State has given up 90.0 points per game in its two WAC losses and only 59.8 points per game in its 10 conference wins ... the Bulldogs have not lost two games in a row this season ... the Bulldogs are 5-4 on the road, the only WAC team with a winning road record ... Fresno State is 13-0 when leading at halftime, the only WAC team to not lose a game when leading at the break ... Fresno State is 7-1 in games decided by three points or less ... the Bulldogs won three straight games over SMU, Louisiana Tech and Hawaii (Jan. 16-23) by a combined total of four points ... Fresno State has only two players averaging more than 10 points per game (Damon Jackson-12.8 and Jonathan Woods-10.8) ... senior guard Damon Jackson has made four game-winning shots this year ... Fresno State is 12-0 at home for the fourth time since moving into Selland Arena (1967-68) ... the Bulldogs have gone undefeated at home in a season only twice ... the Bulldogs lead the WAC in scoring defense (64.0 points/game), scoring margin (+6.3), field goal percentage defense (.407) and rebounding margin (+6.3) ... 81.2 percent (95-of-117) of Travis DeManbys field goal attempts have come from behind the three-point line, the highest percentage of any regular starter in the WAC ... Fresno State is 114-20 (.851) at Selland Arena since the 1995-96 season ... this is the final season at Selland Arena for Fresno State as the Bulldogs will play in the Save Mart Center next year.

Hawaii - the Rainbow Warriors have lost six WAC road games, three more than all of last season ... UH has lost five of its last seven games after winning nine of its previous 10 ... junior Carl English leads the WAC in scoring with 20.6 points per game ... senior Mark Campbell leads the WAC in assists with 6.05 per game and is the only WAC player averaging more than five assists per game ... Haim Shimonovich did not start the SMU game, snapping a 52-game start streak ... UH is now 12-2 when leading at the half after leading Louisiana Tech, 33-32, at the half last week and losing, 66-65 ... Hawaii has won 24 straight home games (fifth longest streak in the nation) and 35 of its last 36 in Honolulu ... the streak is two wins shy of tying the school record ... in addition, UH has won 21 straight WAC home games dating back to 2000-01, the longest current streak in the conference.

Louisiana Tech - the Bulldogs play five games in a nine-day period (Feb. 6-15) ... after a five-game losing streak, the Bulldogs have won five in a row (all at home), currently tied with Nevada for the longest streak in the WAC ... Tech lost its five WAC games by a total of 24 points ... Louisiana Tech plays five of its last six WAC games on the road ... senior forward Antonio Meeking is the only player in the WAC to rank in the top five in scoring (19.5), rebounding (7.9) and field goal percentage (.526) ... Meeking has scored at least 20 points in nine of his last 10 games and five straight ... Meeking is averaging 22.5 points over his last 10 games ... Louisiana Tech is 17-0 at home against non-conference opponents under head coach Keith Richard.

Nevada - with its two road wins last week, Nevada posted its first conference road sweep in seven years ... the Wolf Pack have won five in a row, currently tied with Louisiana Tech for the longest streak in the WAC ... the streak is the longest for Nevada since winning five in a row during the 1996-97 season ... the last time Nevada won six in a row was near the end of the 1994-95 season ... Nevada has won eight of its last nine games and 11 of its last 14 ... the Pack has won nine straight home games ... sophomore Kirk Snyder has a WAC-best eight double-doubles on the season ... junior G Todd Okeson leads the WAC in three-point field goal percentage (.529; 46-87), currently the third best single-season percentage in WAC history ... Nevada became the last team in the WAC to win a game when trailing at the half after beating Boise State on Thursday ... six of the Packs seven losses have come by five or less points ... Nevada is 2-6 in games decided by five points or less.

Rice - the Owls have not lost back-to-back games this season ... senior Omar-Seli Mance has scored in double figures in 16 straight games, the longest streak in the WAC ... Mance has more three-point field goals this year (64) than he did in his previous two years (62) ... the Owls 13 wins are three more than all of last season ... Rice has won four of its last six road games ... the Owls five road wins are the most since winning six in 1994-95 ... sophomore Michael Harris is sixth in the nation in field goal percentage (.630) ... Omar-Seli Mance leads the WAC in three-point field goals made per game with 3.37 ... Jason McKrieth is tied for the WAC lead in free throw shooting in conference-only games (.906) ... Rice leads the WAC in scoring (76.3 ppg), field goal percentage (.477), three-point field goal percentage (.403), free throw percentage (.745) and three-point field goals made (7.05/game) ... the free throw percentage is the best by an Owl team since shooting 76.1 percent in the 1966-67 season ... junior Yamar Diene has 82 career blocks, tying tying the school record set by Alex Bougaieff.

San Jose State - the Spartans have lost 13 of their last 15 games ... if SJSU beats Hawaii on Saturday, it would mark the Spartans first sweep of the Bows since joining the WAC ... the Spartans are 0-6 on the road in WAC games, but have led three of them at halftime ... San Jose State leads the WAC in turnover margin (+3.00) ... San Jose State is last in the WAC in free throw percentage (.621) ... freshman Antonio Lawrence scored at least 22 points in both games last week including a career-high 24 against SMU ... SJSU has not scored 100 points in a game since beating Utah State, 101-85, on Jan. 25, 1979 (678 games).

SMU - the Mustangs win over Hawaii on Saturday snapped a four-game losing streak against the Rainbow Warriors ... SMU has won six of its last seven games ... the Mustangs have been outscored 75.5-75.0, the most competitive scoring margin in the WAC ... freshman Bryan Hopkins had his streak of 27 consecutive made free throws come to an end on Saturday against Hawaii ... Hopkins leads the WAC in steals with 2.15 per game ... senior Quinton Ross has started 80 straight games, the longest current streak in the WAC ... SMU has played in a school record five overtime games and won four, also a school record.

UTEP - the Miners have lost four games in a row and eight of their last nine ... junior Omar Duran scored a career-high 26 points last week against Fresno State and tied the school record with seven three-point field goals ... Justino Victoriano leads the WAC in rebounding with 8.8 per game ... UTEP outscored Nevada, 41-38, in the second half on Saturday, snapping an eight-game streak of being outscored in the second half of contests ... the Miners have lost 21 road games in a row dating back to Feb. 24, 2001, when it won at Rice, 59-52 ... the Miners are undefeated when scoring at least 70 points this season (4-0) ... UTEP is the only WAC team to not win a road game this year (0-6) ... the Miners were also the only WAC team to not win a road game last year (0-12).

Tulsa - the Golden Hurricane have lost five of their last seven games ... senior Antonio Reed (6.9 ppg and 3.9 apg) was dismissed from the team last week for violation of team policy ... senior Kevin Johnson leads the WAC in blocks with 2.15 per game ... Jason Parker leads the WAC in free throw percentage (.874) ... Tulsa leads the WAC in steals (8.05/game) ... the current five-member senior class has a record of 97-31 (.758) ... Tulsa has sold out 33 of its 67 games at the Reynolds Center where it has gone 56-11 (.836), 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.