PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Nevada guard Marcelus Kemp has been named the Western Athletic Conference men’s basketball player of the week for November 12-18. This is the third career WAC Player of the Week honor for the senior.
Kemp, a senior from Seattle, Wash. (Garfield), averaged 17.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game in Nevada’s wins over UC Irvine and Santa Clara last week. Kemp shot 60 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three-point land last week. He turned in 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting, six rebounds and two steals in Nevada’s win at UC Irvine on Nov. 13. He also scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting in the Wolf Pack’s victory over Santa Clara on Nov. 17, making 3-of-6 three-point attempts against the Broncos. Kemp has scored in double figures in 13 consecutive games dating back to last season.
The other nominations were senior guard/forward Bobby Nash, Hawai?i; freshman forward Wendell McKines, New Mexico State; junior sophomore C.J. Webster, San Jose State and senior guard Jaycee Carroll, Utah State.
THIS WEEK IN THE WAC ? In a shortened week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, New Mexico State will take on No. 16 Texas at the Legends Classic in Newark, N.J. In the second game of the Legends Classic the Aggies will take on either Tennessee or West Virginia. Utah State started the week with a win against Austin Peay in Logan. Hawai?i will make its first road trip of the year, taking on New Mexico. Nevada will face instate rival UNLV on Nov. 24 in one of seven games on Nov. 24.
WAC ON ESPN ? The WAC has a multi-year contract with ESPN for coverage of WAC football and basketball. The complete television schedule will be available at a later date.
O’REILLY ESPNU BRACKETBUSTERS ? For the sixth year in a row, the WAC has partnered with ESPN and several other top college basketball conferences for the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters, a weekend men’s basketball event matching potential NCAA tournament hopefuls against each other. All nine WAC teams will be a part of this year’s pool of teams. The event will be held February 22-24, and ESPN2 and ESPNU will present 11 games. The match-ups for Bracket Buster Saturday will be determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences about three weeks before the event.
SPARTANS WIN TOURNEY TITLE ? Despite the 79-72 loss to Lipscomb, the Spartans captured the First Shot Exempt Tournament title, by virtue of having defeated both of the other teams that could finish the event with identical 2-1 records. This marks San Jose State’s first in-season tournament crown since the Comerica Cable Car Classic at San Jose Arena in 1996. That year, the Spartans upset then-19th-ranked Alabama, 60-59 in overtime, on December 27, and topped Detroit Mercy, 63-56, the next day.
CARROLL AND KEMP NAMED TO NAISMITH AND WOODEN WATCH LISTS ? Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll and Nevada’s Marcelus Kemp continue to receive national attention this fall and were recently named to the preseason watch list for the 2007-08 Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced. Last week, both were named one of 50 preseason candidates for the 2007-08 John R. Wooden Award.
The Naismith Trophy watch list, which consists of 50 players, was compiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selector’s, which based its preseason criteria on player performances from last season and expectations for the 2007-08 season. There were 17 seniors and 17 juniors on the preseason list, along with 16 sophomores. The list does not include incoming freshmen, although those student-athletes will be considered in the first vote in January, 2008. The Naismith Trophy is the most prestigious national award presented annually to college basketball’s player of the year.
KEEPING TRACK OF COACH MORRILL ? With three wins thus far this year, Utah State head coach Stew Morrill is now 216-78 (.735) in his 10th year at USU and is just nine wins shy of tying legendary coach E. Lowell Romney (1920-41) for the most wins in school history with 225. Coach Morrill is also just five games shy of tying H. Cecil Baker (1951-61) for the second-most games coached in USU history with 299.
NASH IS CASH ? Much was expected of Hawai?i fifth-year senior Bobby Nash before the season started and so far he has delivered. With the absence of fellow senior cocaptain Matt Gibson, Nash has elevated his play, filling in at the point and leading the Western Athletic Conference in scoring (22.3 ppg) through three games. Nash tied his career-high with 22 points vs. San Diego in the season opener then set a new high the very next game with a 30-point outburst in a tight two-point loss to Illinois.
CAREER WEEKEND FOR BELL ? Fresno State senior point guard Kevin Bell had a career weekend during the World Vision Classic presented by Pape. Bell averaged 19.3 points and 5.6 assists per game over three games. Bell matched his career-high with 25 points against San Diego State in the championship game. Bell scored 21 points and added six assists and five rebounds against Liberty and scored 12 points with five assists against Portland.
LARRY’S FAST START ? Boise State’s Reggie Larry is off to a strong start registering double-doubles in Boise State’s first two games and missing a double-double by just one rebound in the Broncos’ third game. The senior from Newark, N.J., is fourth in the WAC in scoring (18.3 ppg) and second in the league in rebounding (9.7), while ranking fourth in field goal percentage (61.1 percent) and second in steals (2.33/game). Larry opened the season with a 20-point and 10-rebound performance against Utah Valley and followed with a 18-point and 10-rebound game against No. 9 Washington State. He had 19 points and nine rebounds at Montana State.
2007-08 Television Schedule
Upcoming Games (All times local to playing site/Subject to change)
Date Game Time Outlet
11/14 UC Davis at NMSU 7:00 p.m. Aggie Vision
11/24 Nevada at UNLV 7:05 p.m. Wolfpack Sport Net
11/28 San Diego at Boise State 7:00 p.m. KTVB-Boise
12/1 Nevada at Pacific 7:05 p.m. Wolfpack Sport Net
12/4 New Mexico at NMSU 7:00 p.m. Aggie Vision
12/8 UTEP at NMSU 7:00 p.m. Aggie Vision
12/8 Fresno State at UNLV 7:00 p.m. Bulldog Sports Net
12/8 LMU at Boise State 7:00 p.m. KTVB-Boise
12/11 Prairie View at NMSU 7:00 p.m. Aggie Vision
12/16 Fresno State at Arizona 7:00 p.m. Bulldog Sports Net
12/20 Utah Valley at Utah State 7:00 p.m. KJZZ-TV
12/22 Nevada at Northern Iowa 1:05 p.m. Wolfpack Sports Net
12/29 Fresno State at Stanford 7:00 p.m. Bulldog Sports Net
12/29 Brigham Young at Boise State 7:00 p.m. KTVB-Boise
12/31 Alcorn St. at New Mexico State 1:00 p.m. Aggie Vision
HAWKINS REMAINS HOT ? Senior guard/forward Justin Hawkins recorded his second double-double of the season at Duke. He had 16 points and 11 rebounds as the Aggies fell to the Blue Devils, 86-61, in their first-ever meeting. Senior guard Fred Peete added 13 points while freshman forward Wendell McKines had a career-high 10 points. The Aggies earned their first victory of the season with a 75-65 win over UC Davis. The game was the home opener and the first career Division I victory for first-year head coach Marvin Menzies. McKines had a team-high 17 points in his first career start while Hawkins added 15 points and sophomore guard Jonathan Gibson supplied 12 points. The Aggies pummeled LeMoyne-Owen, 100-64, behind a career-high 20 points from Gibson and 19 points from McKines, who also had his first career double-double with 11 rebounds.
CARROLL CLOSING IN ON SEVERAL SCHOOL RECORDS ? Along with ranking fifth all-time in school history in scoring, Utah State senior guard Jaycee Carroll is closing in on several other Utah State career records, as he ranks first all-time in school history in three-point shooting (.453), is second in three-pointers made (274) and three-pointers attempted (605), is third in 10-point games (92) and games started (103), fifth in minutes per game (33.4), total minutes played (3,469), free throw percentage (.839) and field goals made (648), and sixth in field goals attempted (1,284). Carroll also ranks 11th all-time in points per game (17.7, is 15th all-time in games played (104) and 22nd all-time in assists (206).
WAC TOURNAMENT TO RETURN TO RENO IN 2009 ? Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson announced that the WAC Board of Directors awarded the 2009 and 2010 WAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments to the University of Nevada and the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority. The tournaments will be held in the 11,485-seat Lawlor Events Center, located on the campus of the University of Nevada.
The WAC tournaments were last held in Reno in 2006. The 2007 tournaments were held in Las Cruces, New Mexico at New Mexico State University, as will the 2008 tournaments before returning to Reno in 2009.
FANTASTIC FRESHMEN ? In his first career start, New Mexico State freshman forward Wendell McKines had a team-high and career-high 17 points along with nine rebounds. The Oakland, Calif., native was 8-for-14 from the field and grabbed six offensive boards.
In their first appearances in a regular season game, freshmen guards DeAngelo Jones and Gordo Castillo both scored. Castillo had three points, one assist, block and steal while Jones scored two points and grabbed a rebound.
NEW MEXICO STATE TO HOST 2008 WAC TOURNAMENT ? Las Cruces and New Mexico State University will host the 2008 WAC Tournament, March 11-15. It will be the second year in a row that the event will be held at the Pan American Center. The tournament features all nine men’s and women’s teams.
NEW MEXICO STATE WINS 2007 WAC TOURNAMENT ? In just its second year in the WAC and two years after posting a 6-24 record, New Mexico State won the 2007 WAC Tournament held in Las Cruces, N.M. The Aggies beat Utah State in the finals, 72-70. It was Utah State’s second straight finals appearance. New Mexico State opened the 2007 tournament by beating Louisiana Tech in the quarterfinals, 77-70, and Boise State in the semifinals, 88-69. The 2008 tournament will also be hosted by New Mexico State and will be held March 11-15, 2008.
CARROLL HAS 37 CAREER 20-POINT GAMES ? Jaycee Carroll has scored 20 or more points in a game 38 times during his Utah State career, including four times thus far this year. He also has five career 30-point games and one career 40-point game as he scored 44 points against New Mexico State on Feb. 5, 2007. Overall, Carroll ranks third all-time at Utah State with 92 career double-figure scoring games.
NEVADA TOP TEAM OVER LAST FOUR YEARS ? Over the last five seasons, Nevada is 108-28 (.794), the best record of any WAC team during that time. In conference games, Nevada has won 56 games, the most in that same time period. The top three teams in wins (both overall and WAC) over the last four seasons:
Overall Record (Pct.) WAC Record (Pct.)
1. Nevada 108-28 (.794) 1. Nevada 56-12 (.824)
2. Utah State 98-36 (.731) 2. Fresno State 37-31 (.544)
3. Hawai?i 73-51 (.589) 3. Hawai?i 36-32 (.529)
TEAM LEADERS ? The WAC has six schools with players who led their team in two of three statistical categories (points-rebounds-assists).
Reggie Larry, Sr., F, Boise State (18.3 ppg, 9.7 rpg)
Kevin Bell, Sr., G, Fresno State (19.3 ppg, 5.8 apg)
Bobby Nash, Sr., G/F, Hawai?i (22.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg)
Jordan Brooks, Jr., F, Idaho (5.3 rpg, 6.7 apg)
Kyle Gibson, So., G, Louisiana Tech (11.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg)
C.J. Webster, So., C, San Jose State (13.3 ppg, 9.7 rpg)
TOURNAMENT OPPONENTS ? WAC teams could face at least 18 non-conference opponents that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Boise State, Fresno State and New Mexico State are scheduled to play three of those teams, a WAC-high.
Utah State at Weber State, Nov. 10
New Mexico State at Duke, Nov. 12
Florida A&M at New Mexico State, Nov. 14 (Legends Classic)
Washington State at Boise State, Nov. 13
Idaho at Gonzaga, Nov. 13
Idaho at Washington State, Nov. 16
Illinois at Hawai?i, Nov. 16
Nevada at UNLV, Nov. 24
Louisiana Tech at Texas Tech, Dec. 5
Fresno State at UNLV, Dec. 8
Fresno State at Arizona, Dec. 16
San Jose State at Michigan State, Dec. 19
Boise State at Albany, Dec. 22
New Mexico State at Louisville, Dec. 22
Nevada at North Carolina, Dec. 27
Brigham Young at Boise State, Dec. 29
Oral Roberts at Utah State, Dec. 29
Fresno State at Stanford, Dec. 29
HOME SWEET HOME ?With its 71-68 home win against Austin Peay, Utah State has now won 47 straight regular season non-conference home games, which is the second-longest streak in the nation behind Duke who has won 52 straight. When including postseason play, USU has won 23-straight home games against non-conference opponents and 47 of its last 49 overall. The last time a Utah State team lost a non-conference home game during the regular season was on Jan. 8, 2000 against BYU, 82-73.
Boise State Broncos (1-2, 0-0 WAC)
While chances are slim that Matt Nelson will join Boise State’s career 1,000-point list, it is almost a sure thing the Bronco senior will end his playing career with 1,000-career points ... Nelson has scored 882 career points, leaving him 118 shy of 1,000 heading into the Broncos’ games against Montana Tech and Southern Utah ... Nelson scored 425 points in two seasons at Eastern Washington and then scored 417 last season for Boise State ... since becoming the head coach at Boise State before the 2002-03 season, Greg Graham has led Boise State to wins in nearly 89 percent of the games when the team has scored 80 or more points ... the Broncos are 30-4 (88.2 percent) in those games.
Fresno State Bulldogs (2-2, 0-0 WAC)
The Bulldogs return to the Save Mart Center for one game, before hitting the road for a six-day, two-game road trip following Thanksgiving ... Fresno State will face Montana State on Wednesday, November 21 at 7 p.m. at the Save Mart Center ... the Bulldogs follow that game with road games at Sam Houston State and at Winston-Salem State ... Fresno State faces two tough road games over a six-day stretch beginning Saturday, November 24 ... after facing Montana State at home, Fresno State will take its first plane trip of the year.
Hawai?i Warriors (1-2, 0-0 WAC)
Before the season started head coach Bob Nash vowed for a more up-tempo UH offense ... so far the ’Bows are averaging a conference high 77.7 points per game, a good 5.5 ppg higher than last year’s average ... UH is also averaging 64 field goal attempts per game, nearly seven more than last year’s 57.2 average ... Hawai?i got off to its first 0-2 start in 14 years with both losses coming at home ... the last time UH lost
its fist two home games of the year was during Riley Wallace’s first season at UH in 1987-88, when they lost four in a row ... UH’s loss to Illinois was only its eighth in 50 non-conference games at the Stan Sheriff Center since the start of the 2001-02 season.
Idaho Vandals (1-1, 0-0 WAC)
A win for Idaho would be the earliest the Vandals have earned two wins since the 2002-03 season started 2-0 ... Idaho’s game at UC Riverside is its third consecutive road game ... Idaho ha had a different leading scorer in all three games this season ... Idaho has made just one of its last 12 free throws, which includes a span of 10 consecutive misses ... Idaho scored 110 points vs. Cascade College ... the 110 points were the most for an Idaho team since scoring 116 vs. Simon Fraser State Nov. 14, 1991 and it was the first time the Vandals have eclipsed the century mark since scoring 101 vs. Cal Poly Jan. 9, 1999.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (1-1, 0-0 WAC)
The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs are looking to keep the winning going Tuesday, Nov. 20, against the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions ... Louisiana Tech is coming off a 64-56 win against UL-Lafayette last Friday giving Bulldog head coach Kerry Rupp his first career win ... Tech and Pine Bluff have only met twice during both programs’ histories ... the Bulldogs won both games over the Golden Lions in the 2003-04 season by scores of 71-59 and 82-47 ... sophomore Kyle Gibson is Tech’s leading scorer with 11.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, while senior Keith Smith is averaging 10.0 points per game for the Bulldogs.
Nevada Wolf Pack (2-1, 0-0 WAC)
Nevada is back in first place in the WAC, tied with San Jose State with matching 2-1 records ... this week, the Wolf Pack takes on instate rival UNLC on Nov. 24 ... Nevada turned in a 67-54 victory over Santa Clara on Saturday night in the team’s home opener at Lawlor Events Center ... the Wolf Pack won its 13th consecutive game at Lawlor Events Center, which is the longest active streak in the WAC and the 15th-longest in the country ... the team also won for the 25th time in 26 games at home ... in the last four-plus seasons, Nevada has turned in a 61-6 record at Lawlor Events Center ... senior Marcelus Kemp led three Wolf Pack players in double figures for scoring with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting ... he also made 3-of-6 three-pointers.
New Mexico State Aggies (0-2, 0-0 WAC)
The New Mexico State men’s basketball team is now 2-2 after falling to No. 13/10 Duke, Nov. 12, but returning home and defeating UC Davis, Nov. 14, and LeMoyne-Owen, Nov. 18, in the regional rounds of the Legends Classic ... the Aggies travel to Newark, N.J., for the Legends Classic Championship rounds ... New Mexico State will meet No. 15/16 Texas in a semifinal game, Friday, Nov. 23, at 5:00 p.m. and then the Aggies play No. 7 Tennessee or West Virginia, Saturday, Nov. 24 ... the Longhorns are the second ranked team that the Aggies have played this season after falling to then-No. 13 Duke last week.
San Jose State Spartans (2-1, 0-0 WAC)
With two wins already this season, the Spartans need only four more wins to top last season’s win total of five ... San Jose State out-rebounded its opponent by a double-digit margin for the second-straight night, this time by 13 boards, 41-28 ... the Spartans had out-rebounded Appalachian State on Friday by 16, 51-35 ...the Spartans will have 12 days off from competition before traveling to Bakersfield, Calif., to take on Cal State Bakersfield at the Rabobank Arena on Friday,
November 30, at 7:00 p.m. ... against Lipscomb, DeVonte Thomas contributed a season-high seven points off the bench in just 13 minutes.
Utah State Aggies (3-3, 0-0 WAC)
Utah State is in its 103rd season of basketball and has an overall record of 1,349-981 (.579) ... USU has not had a losing season since the 1992-93 campaign, a span of 14 years, when that team finished with a 10-17 record ... the four teams who hosted preliminary round games in the 2007 South Padre Island Invitational all won those contests (Bradley, Iowa, Utah State and Vanderbilt), while the four teams that played on the road all lost their games (Austin Peay, Florida Golf Coast, Maryland-Eastern Shore and Valparaiso) ... Utah State is 28-10 (.737) in games played on neutral courts over the last nine years and has won each of its last five games on a neutral court.