PLAYER OF THE WEEK ? Fresno State senior guard Kevin Bell has been named the Western Athletic Conference men’s basketball player of the week for Feb. 18-24. This is the first career WAC Player of the Week honor for the senior.
Bell, a senior from Los Angeles, Calif. (Fairfax), had two great games as the Bulldogs completed a home sweep, beating Hawai?i 70-65 on Wednesday and Cal Poly 76-70 on Saturday. Against the Warriors, Bell spear-headed a Bulldog comeback with a career-high 27 points and added nine assists. With Fresno State trailing by seven points with less than 3:30 remaining, Bell knocked down a three and hit all four free throws in the final 15 seconds to seal the win for the Bulldogs. Bell made 8-of-18 field goals in the game, 9-of-12 free throws, adding two rebounds and one steal in 38 minutes.
Against Cal Poly, Bell scored 19 points and for the second-straight game had nine assists. He again led the Bulldogs in come-from-behind fashion hitting a big three point field goal with 5:10 remaining that gave Fresno State the lead. For the week, Bell averaged 23.0 points, 9.0 assists, made 13-of-29 field goals (.449), 3-of-6 three point field goals (.500), and 17-of-22 free throws (.773). He averaged two boards per game and had a total of two steals.
The other nominations were senior forward Matt Nelson Boise State and senior guard Jaycee Carroll, Utah State.
THIS WEEK IN THE WAC ? The WAC returns to conference play this week with games only on Thursday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1. First-place Boise State will make the long trip to San Jose and Honolulu to take on San Jose State and Hawai?i. On Thursday, New Mexico State will take on Nevada in a battle for second place in the WAC. Fourth-place Utah State will take on Louisiana Tech in its only game of the week.
WAC STRUGGLES IN O’REILLY’S BRACKETBUSTERS ? New Mexico State was one of three teams in the WAC to earn a victory in the O’Reilly ESNPU BracketBuster, as the league finished 3-6. The Aggies defeated Long Beach State, 80-48, in the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBuster, Feb. 23 in Las Cruces. Freshman forward Herb Pope had a game-high 14 points to pace the balanced Aggie offense. Utah State started the BracketBusters off with a 72-59 win over UC Santa Barbara, while Fresno State defeated Cal Poly in Fresno. On ESPNU, Nevada fell to Southern Illinois in Carbondale, while Siena knocked off Boise State, 93-70 on ESPN360.com.
STRIVING FOR 20 ? With a win over Cal State Bakersfield, Boise State’s 2007-08 team became just the eighth team in school history to win 20 games in a season. The 2007-08 team joined the 1987-88 team (24 wins), the 1988-89 and 2003-04 teams (23 wins), the 1986-87 team (22 wins), the 1992-93 and 1998-99 teams (21 wins) and the 1969-70 team (20 wins).
Utah State (19-9) is looking to win 20 games for the ninth-straight year, extending its current school record, and for the 23rd time in school history. Under head coach Stew Morrill, USU is 8-4 (.667) when attempting to win its 20th game of the year, while Utah State is 22-12 (.647) all-time when going for its 20th win of the season.
New Mexico State and Nevada are also nearing the 20-win mark. The Aggies are 16-12 this season, while the Wolf Pack are 17-10.
COACH MORRILL BREAKS RECORD ? Jan. 17 and Jan. 19 were without a doubt two of the most historic days in Aggie Basketball history as Stew Morrill became the school’s all-time winningest coach on Jan. 17 and senior guard Jaycee Carroll became the school’s all-time scoring leader on Jan. 19. Morrill passed E. Lowell Romney’s (1920-41) 225 career wins, while Carroll passed Greg Grant’s (1983-86) 2,127 career points.
BIG IMPROVEMENT ? The 2007-08 San Jose State team has its first 10-win season since 2001-02 when the Spartans were 10-22. The last time the Spartans won more than 10 games in a season was 2000-01 when the team posted a 14-14 win-loss record.
CARROLL BECOMES USU’S ALL-TIME LEADING SCORER ? Senior All-American guard Jaycee Carroll became Utah State’s all-time leading scorer on Jan. 19, 2007 at home against Idaho as he made a three-pointer from the left wing with 13:35 to play in the first-half to eclipse Greg Grant’s (1983-86) record of 2,127 points. Carroll now has 2,339 career points and is one of just three players in school history to score 2,000 points along with Grant and Wayne Estes (1963-65) who scored 2,001 career points.
BIG ON THE BOARDS ? The Aggies are dominating teams on the boards this season and out-rebounding their opponents by an 8.8 margin. NMSU has grabbed 414 offensive rebounds this year, which is an average of 14.79 per contest. Senior guard/forward Justin Hawkins and freshman forward Wendell McKines both have over 170 rebounds this year. McKines leads the squad with 82 offensive boards. Senior center Hatila Passos leads the WAC in that category with 3.18 offensive rebounds per game and McKines ranks second with 2.93 offensive boards per contest as of Feb. 24.
WAC STRIKES A DEAL WITH GREAT ALASKA SHOOTOUT ? Athletic director Dr. Steve Cobb announced that the University of Alaska Anchorage Athletic Department has signed a scheduling agreement with the Western Athletic Conference for the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout.
Under the 5-year deal, the WAC will send one men’s team per year to the prestigious college basketball tournament, starting with the 31st annual Shootout in 2008.
“This is a great opportunity for the WAC and its basketball programs,” said WAC commissioner Karl Benson. “This tournament has a national tradition that attracts top-caliber teams that we are excited to be a part of. We also appreciate the national attention that is delivered by the exposure from ESPN.”
The 2008 Shootout will be played Nov. 26-29 at Anchorage’s Sullivan Arena.
FRESNO STATE PACKING THE STANDS ? After a season-high 11,030 fans against Utah State, Fresno State continues to lead the WAC in home attendance, nearly 1,600 more fans per game than the No. 2 program in the league, Utah State. The Save Mart Center has seen an average of 10,456 fans per game through 15 home games. The Aggies average 8,928 per contest. Last season, the Dogs ranked No. 33 in the NCAA in attendance average at more than 11,000 fans per game.
AMONG THE BEST IN THE NATION ? Boise State is still first in the nation in field goal percentage (.512), while Utah State is fourth in field goal percentage (.505). The Aggies are also second in the nation in free throw percentage (.783) behind Cornell which is first (.788). Individually, Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll is fifth in the nation in free throw percentage (.915) and up to first in three-point field goal percentage (.514). Boise State’s Tyler Tiedeman is third in three-point field goal percentage (.500). Nevada’s JaVale McGee is 15th in the country in blocked shots (2.7 bpg). Boise State’s Matt Nelson is fourth in field goal percentage (.656).
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.
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.
TEAM LEADERS ? The WAC has six schools with players who lead their team in two of three statistical categories (points-rebounds-assists). Idaho’s Jordan Brooks is the only player to lead in all three categories.
Reggie Larry, Sr., F, Boise State (18.9 ppg, 9.0 rpg)
Kevin Bell, Sr., G, Fresno State (18.1 ppg, 6.0 apg)
Jordan Brooks, Jr., F, Idaho (12.8 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 4.3 apg)
Kyle Gibson, So., G, Louisiana Tech (15.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg)
Justin Hawkins, Sr., G/F, New Mexico State (17.0 ppg, 7.2 rpg)
C.J. Webster, So., C, San Jose State (11.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg)
SUPER SENIORS ? The WAC seniors are leading the way offensively this season. Eight of the top 10 leading scorers in the league are seniors. Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll leads the way, averaging 22.0 ppg. The guard is one of only two players in the WAC averaging over 20.0 ppg along with Nevada’s Marcelus Kemp (20.1 ppg). Boise State’s senior duo of Reggie Larry (18.9 ppg) and Matt Nelson (15.8 ppg) are third and eighth, respectively in the league in scoring. There is just one underclassman in the top 10 in scoring, Louisiana Tech’s Kyle Gibson (16.0), which is good enough for seventh in the WAC. New Mexico State’s Justin Hawkins is the only junior in the top 10. He is fifth in the league in scoring, averaging 17.2 ppg.
BRONCOS LEAD WAC WITH 17 INDIVIDUAL 20-POINT GAMES IN WAC GAMES AND 30 FOR SEASON ? Boise State players have combined for 30 individual 20-point games this season, which is the most in the WAC this year. Reggie Larry leads the Broncos with 13 individual 20-point games, the second most in the conference to date (Utah State’s Jaycee Carroll leads with 18, while Nevada’s Marcelus Kemp also has 13). Matt Nelson has eight 20-point games, while Tyler Tiedeman has six 20-point games and Matt Bauscher has three. In league games, the Broncos have a WAC-best 17 individual 20-point games. Nevada and Utah State have the second most with 14.
NEVADA TOP TEAM OVER LAST FOUR YEARS ? Over the last four seasons dating back to 2004-05, Nevada has turned in a 98-28 record, the best record of any WAC team during that time (.778 winning percentage). In conference games, Nevada has won 52 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 98-28 (.778) 1. Nevada 52-11 (.825)
2. Utah State 88-38 (.701) 2. New Mexico St. 30-14 (.682)
3. Hawai?i 62-49 (.549) 3. Utah State 28-16 (.636)
UTAH STATE’S CARROLL RE-WRITING RECORD BOOKS ? Senior guard Jaycee Carroll continues to put his name at the top of Utah State’s records book as he is now the school’s all-time leader in points scored (2,354), three-pointers made (346), three-pointers attempted (741), three-point percentage (.467), field goals attempted (1,612), 10-point games (114), games started (125), games played (127) and total minutes played (4,325). Overall, Carroll currently holds nine school records, which is the most in school history. With four regular season games still to play for Carroll, he will likely break the school’s all-time record for field goals made which would give him 10 school records.
BIG BLOCKER ? Sophomore JaVale McGee and the Wolf Pack continue to lead the WAC in blocked shots per game. McGee is averaging a league-best 2.74 blocks per game, 1.28 blocks per game ahead of New Mexico State’s Martin Iti (1.46), and is 15th in the NCAA in the category. He swatted a career-best seven shots Dec. 22 at Northern Iowa and has blocked six in three other games this season (Nov. 11 at UCF, Nov. 18 vs. Cal and most recently Feb. 11 vs. Utah State). He added five blocks Dec. 12 vs. San Diego and has had four in five other games (at North Carolina, Cal State Stanislaus, Idaho, at NMSU, at Idaho). McGee has blocked at least one shot in 23 of 27 games this season.
Boise State Broncos (20-7, 10-3 WAC)
Boise State’s four seniors have been a big reason the Broncos are off to a 20-7 start ... in addition to providing leadership, three of the Broncos four seniors have each started all 27 of Boise State’s games and one started the first 26 ... the four have combined to score 70.4 percent of the team’s points (1,555 of 2,210) while also grabbing 64.9 percent of the team’s rebounds (627 of 966) ... the seniors have made 56.5 percent of their field goal attempts (574-of-1,016) and 46.9 percent of their three-pointers (143-of-305) ... this week, the Broncos get back to conference action, making the brutal trip to San Jose State and Hawai?i.
Fresno State Bulldogs (13-15, 5-8 WAC)
Eddie Miller scored 25 points and Kevin Bell added 19 points and nine assists to lead Fresno State over Cal Poly 76-70 on Saturday night ... Miller’s three-pointer with 2:28 left, his sixth of the game, put Fresno State (13-15) ahead for good in the non-conference game between Central California teams ... Lorenzo Keeler had 21 points and Trae Clark added 19 for Cal Poly (10-15), which fell short after rallying from a 10-point deficit in the final 14 minutes ... Kevin Bell is fourth in the WAC in scoring, averaging 18.1 ppg ... he is also second in the conference in assists, averaging 5.96 apg.
Hawai?i Rainbow Warriors (11-14, 7-5 WAC)
UH dropped to 3-3 all-time in the BracketBusters event with a 79-62 loss at UC Riverside (Feb. 23) ... the Highlanders will play a return game in Honolulu next season ...the 31 points by Larry Cunningham was the most by a UH opponent this season ... freshman Kareem Nitoto made his first career start at UC Riverside and scored a season-high 13 points, including 8-of-8 from the free throw line ... UH has just 21 bench points in its last four games combined ... UH is shooting just 26 percent (16-for-61) from three-point range in the last four games ... UH is 1-3 in that span.
Idaho Vandals (6-19, 3-10 WAC)
Idaho currently leads the WAC in three-point field goal percentage defense at .331 ... Idaho is averaging 74.2 points per game at home compared to just 55.7 points per game on the road ... the Vandals haven’t scored more than 65 points on the road this season ... Mike Hall missed Idaho’s last game due to conduct detrimental to the team ... he is expected to travel with the team this week ... with three conference wins, Idaho has surpassed its WAC win total from each of the past two seasons ... the team has also eclipsed four wins for the first time since the 2004-05 season ... Idaho has outscored its opponent at the free throw line four times.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (4-21, 1-11 WAC)
Louisiana Tech assistant coach Curtis Condie will return to his alma mater on Thursday when the Bulldogs travel to Logan to take on Utah State ... Louisiana Tech could not hang on in overtime Saturday night as Samford bested Tech by a final score of 73-70 in front of 1,240 fans in the Thomas Assembly Center ... sophomore Kyle Gibson is one of three unreleated Gibson to be ranked in the top 15 in scoring in the conference ... Gibson is ranked seventh in the conference in scoring, averaging 15.9 ppg ... he is the second ranked Gibson behind Hawai?i senior Matt Gibson (16.7 ppg).
Nevada Wolf Pack (17-10, 9-4 WAC)
Saturday’s game marked Nevada’s first loss and its first road game in five appearances in the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters event (now 4-1) ... the Wolf Pack scored a season-low 49 points Saturday at Southern Illinois ... its previous low was 55 points in its Dec. 22 win at Northern Iowa, also a game against a MVC opponent ... the team matched its season high with 21 turnovers and allowed Southern Illinois 14 steals, a season best by a Wolf Pack opponent this year ... the Wolf Pack had come into the game averaging just 6.7 turnovers per game in its previous three contests.
New Mexico State Aggies (16-12, 9-3 WAC)
The Aggies rank first in rebounding offense (40.7), rebounding margin (+8.8) offensive rebounds (14.79) and field goal defensive (.420) ... Senior guard/forward Justin Hawkins is fifth in scoring (17.0) and in rebounding (7.2) ... senior center Hatila Passos also leads the WAC in field goal percentage (.703) ... from the three-point line sophomore guard Jonathan Gibson is fifth in shots made per game (2.29) ... sophomore guard Chris Cole ranks third in assist to turnover ratio (1.95) as of Feb. 24.
San Jose State Spartans (12-14, 4-8 WAC)
Heading into the week’s action, C.J. Webster (11.1 ppg.), Justin Graham (11.1 ppg.), Chris Oakes (11.1 ppg.), Tim Pierce (10.9 ppg.), and DaShawn Wright (10.5 ppg.) have a double-figure scoring average ... the last time a San Jose State team finished a season with four players averaging in double-figure scoring was 1998-99 ... the only time the Spartans finished a season with five players averaging in double- figure scoring was 1974-75 ... five times this season, the Spartans had five players score in double figures in a game ... the New Mexico State game (2/2) was the first one of the five in which San Jose State did not win.
Utah State Aggies (19-9, 8-4 WAC)
Senior guard Jaycee Carroll is currently shooting 51.4 percent from three-point range which ranks first in the nation ... Carroll also ranks fifth nationally in free throw shooting at 91.5 percent and is 12th in the nation in scoring with 22.0 points per game, all of which lead the WAC ... Carroll also ranks 10th in the WAC in overall shooting at 52.4 percent and is 10th in the league with 6.2 rebounds per game ... Carroll ranks third in the nation in scoring among active players at the Division I level with 2,354 points, behind Bo McCalebb of New Orleans who has 2,592 career points and Reggie Williams of VMI who has 2,461 career points.