THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
November 30 (Monday)
Saint Mary’s def. San Jose State, 78-71
December 1 (Tuesday)
Pacific at Fresno State, 7:00 p.m. PT
UTEP at New Mexico State, 7:00 p.m. MT
Television: AggieVision, ESPN Full Court, ESPN360
December 2 (Wednesday)
Louisiana Tech at ULM, 7:00 p.m. CT
Hawai‘i at UC Irvine, 7:00 p.m. PT
Brigham Young at Utah State, 7:00 p.m. MT
Television: CW30-Utah, ESPN Full Court, ESPN360
December 3 (Thursday)
Idaho at Cal State Northridge, 7:00 p.m. PT
December 5 (Saturday)
San Jose State at Utah Valley, 2:05 p.m. MT
Boise State at Illinois, 6:30 p.m. CT
Northwestern State at Louisiana Tech, 7:00 p.m. CT
Saint Mary’s at Utah State, 7:00 p.m. MT
Television: CW30-Utah
Nevada at Pacific, 7:00 p.m. PT
Television: KAME-TV 21/Comcast SportsNet California
New Mexico State at New Mexico, 7:00 p.m. MT
Television: The Mtn.
December 6 (Sunday)
San Diego at Fresno State, 4:00 p.m. PT
#25 Portland at Idaho, 5:00 p.m. PT
Lamar at Hawai‘i, 5:00 p.m. HT
Television: KFVE-Hawaii
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos (4-2, 0-0 WAC)
After posting their first road win last week at Eastern Washington, the Broncos chose to stick to the faster lineup as they started the same five for the second consecutive game (La’Shard Anderson, Robert Arnold, Kurt Cunningham, WestlyPerryman and Ike Okoye) ... this is the second lineup BSU has tried this season ... after struggling the last few games from beyond the arc, the Broncos recorded seven 3-pointers against North Texas with Paul Noonan leading the way as he registered three from 3-point range ... for the second consecutive game, BSU had at least four players finish in double figures against North Texas ... in fact, Boise State is a perfect 3-0 when four or more Broncos score in double-digits.
Fresno State Bulldogs (2-3, 0-0 WAC)
Fresno State went 0-1 last week with a 74-67 setback at Santa Clara ... senior Sylvester Seay scored a season-high 26 points, including 10 free throws, and nine rebounds in the loss ... the game marked the conclusion of the Fresno State men’s basketball team’s road portion in the West Coast Classic ... sophomore Paul George added 19 points and nine rebounds ... he hit a season-high three 3-pointers on four attempts. Mychal Ladd, another sophomore guard, contributed eight points ... freshman center Greg Smith continues improved his nation’s leading field goal percentage to 29 of 36 on the season ... Fresno State returns home for five home games over a six-game span, startingTuesday.
Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine (2-3, 0-0 WAC)
Hawai‘i closed its season-opening five-game homestand with an 83-71 loss to New Mexico ... for the third straight game, UH fell victim to a second-half slump as New Mexico (6-0) went on a 19-1 run—including a string of 14 unanswered points—to start the second half and turn a one-point UH lead to a commanding 17-point Lobo cushion ... Jeremy Lay led UH with a career-high 26 points, while Hiram Thompson added 15. Leading scorer Roderick Flemings was held to just four points on 2-of-6 shooting ... Petras Balocka grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds for UH, the most by a ’Bow in five years ... up next for UH is its first road game of the season at UC Irvine on Wednesday.
Idaho Vandals (4-1, 0-0 WAC)
At 4-1, Idaho is off to its best start since the 1988-89 season … Idaho center Marvin Jefferson, who leads the WAC in blocked shots, has had three blocks in four of the team’s five games this season ... his average of 2.6 blocks per game puts him on pace to break Idaho’s single-season blocks record by the end of the regular season … Idaho has not trailed since late in the first half of the team’s win at North Dakota State three games ago … Idaho’s offense features tremendous balance ... through five games, seven Vandals have already scored in double digits ... this week, Idaho travels to play Cal State Northirdge before hosting No. 25 Portland on Sunday.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (5-1, 0-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech is off to its best start since going 5-0 during the 1990-91 season after a 2-0 week … LA Tech won at TCU to improve to 4-0 in the all-time series and is the second-straight season to defeat the Horned Frogs … in the TCU win, senior Magnum Rolle hit a key go-ahead basket and swatted away a potential game-winning lay up … Tech and TCU had nine ties and eight lead changes, all in the second half … Kyle Gibson scored 19 points in the win despite playing just four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble … this week, Tech will play a pair of in-state schools, at ULM and at home against Northwestern State.
Nevada Wolf Pack (2-3, 0-0 WAC)
After making the 266-mile roundtrip to Pacific, Nevada will have notched 5,731 miles in its three-game road stretch ... the Pacific game also ends a stretch of four of five away from home for the Wolf Pack which will begin a season-long four-game homestand after that ... Luke Babbitt has notched double-doubles in each of his last four games and now has a team-leading 10 double-doubles in his career ...Armon Johnson needs just 14 points to become the 19th player in school history to join Nevada’s 1000-point club ... he currently has scored 986 points in 72 career games ... with 283 career assists, he can also become the sixth player to turn in 1,000 points and 250 assists in his career if he reaches the 1,000-point milestone.
New Mexico State Aggies (2-3, 0-0 WAC)
The Aggies celebrated Thanksgiving Day with an 84-68 victory over North Carolina A&T in Las Cruces behind a career-high 31 points from senior guard Jonathan Gibson ... NM State led from start to finish with junior guard Jahmar Young adding 23 points ... center Hamidu Rahman recorded a double-double consisting of 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, which helped NM State out-rebound A&T, 45-31 ... in a rematch of the ESPNU BracketBuster game from a season ago, the Aggies fell at Cal State Fullerton, 84-73 in Fullerton, Calif. ... Rahman recorded his first double-double of the year with 19 points and 12 rebounds ... Young also scored 19 while Gibson contributed 16 points ... NM State hosts UTEP and travels to New Mexico this week.
San Jose Spartans (2-3, 0-0 WAC)
San Jose State went 1-1 last week with a 59-55 win over Pacific and a 78-71 setback to Saint Mary’s on Monday night ... the win over Pacific was the team’s first in the 21st century over a non-conference opponent that came into the game four games or more over .500 ... Pacific was 4-0 prior to the San Jose State game ... against Saint Mary’s, San Jose State led by as many as 16 points in the second half, but the Gaels rallied to take the victory ... C. J. Webster led the Spartans with his second double-double in three days with 18 points and 10 rebounds ... Chris Oakes scored 14 and pulled down nine rebounds ... Mac Peterson came off the bench with 10 as the San Jose State reserves outscored the Gaels’ bench players, 22-14.
Utah State Aggies (3-2, 0-0 WAC)
Utah State went 2-0 last week with wins over Idaho State (77-44) and Southern Utah (89-49) ... junior forward Tai Wesley led the way for the Against the Bengals, hitting 8-of-11 from the field and 3-of-3 at the free throw line as he had a season-high 19 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes ... gainst the Thunderbirds, Wesley was 4-of-7 from the field and 4-of-4 at the charity stripe as he had
12 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one block in 26 minutes ... for the week, Wesley averaged 15.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists, shot 66.7 percent from the field (12-18) and was a perfect 7-of-7 at the free throw line ... this week, USU hosts BYU and Saint Mary’s on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.
WAC NOTES
BOISE STATE’S OKOYE NAMED VERIZON WIRELESS WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Boise State’s Ike Okoye has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 23-29. The honor marks the first career WAC Player of the Week award for Okoye.
Okoye, a senior forward from Sacramento, Calif. (Wyoming), helped the Broncos to a 2-0 record last week with wins over Eastern Washington and North Texas. Okoye recorded his second career double-double in an 82-69 road win at Eastern Washington, registering 21 points with a career-high 17 rebounds. He went 8-of-14 from the field, while making 5-of-6 from the free throw line. Okoye also tied a career high with six blocks against the Eagles. Okoye also scored 13 points with eight rebounds and three blocks in a 79-73 victory over North Texas. On the week, Okoye averaged 17.0 points, 12.5 rebounds, 4.5 blocks and 2.5 assists per game. He shot 54.2 percent from the field (13-of-24) and 80.0 percent from the free throw line (8-of-10).
Other nominees included: Idaho senior guard Steffan Johnson … Louisiana Tech senior guard Kyle Gibson … New Mexico State senior guard Jonathan Gibson … San Jose State senior guard Robert Owens … and Utah State junior forward Tai Wesley.
LOUISIANA TECH AND IDAHO OFF TO GREAT STARTS
With a 5-1 record to start the season, Louisiana Tech is off to its best start since going 5-0 during the 1990-91 season. At 4-1, Idaho is off to its best start since the 1988-89 season when the team also opened play with a 4-1 mark and eventually a 10-1 record. Louisiana Tech takes its 5-1 record to ULM before hosting Northwestern State this week. Idaho travels to Cal State Northridge before hosting 25th-ranked Portland. The game against Portland is likely to be the first time the Vandals have ever hosted a ranked team in a non-conference game.
NEW MEXICO STATE’S GIBSON BECOMES MEMBER OF 1,000 POINT CLUB, NEVADA’S JOHNSON CLOSING IN ON 1,000
Jonathan Gibson scored a career-high 30 points last week against Oklahoma Panhandle State to become the 25th player in NM State history to top the 1,000-points mark for his career. Gibson is the only current WAC player with 1,000 or more career points. Nevada junior Armon Johnson is likely to be the next WAC player to hit the 1,000 point mark as he currently has 986 career points.
UTAH STATE OWNS SECOND-BEST HOME WIN STREAK IN THE NATION
Utah State has won 36 straight home games dating back to the 2007-08 season which is a school-record and the second-longest home winning streak in the nation behind Kansas who has won 44 straight home games. Overall, USU has won 51 of its last 52 home games dating back to the 2005-06 season with its only loss during that stretch coming against Fresno State, 71-66, on March 3, 2007.
IDAHO ALREADY 2-0 AGAINST TEAMS FROM LAST YEAR’S NCAA TOURNAMENT
WAC teams will play at least 15 non-conference games against opponents that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament, including last year’s national champion (North Carolina). Idaho opened its season with two of its first three games against 2009 NCAA Tournament teams. Idaho beat both Utah and North Dakota State on their home floors and started the season 2-1. The WAC is currently 2-3 against 2009 NCAA Tournament teams, with both wins coming from Idaho.
Idaho def. Utah, 94-87 (Nov. 13)
Utah def. Utah State, 68-67 (Nov. 18)
Washington def. San Jose State, 80-70 (Nov. 20)
Brigham Young def. Hawai‘i, 83-65 (Nov. 20)
Idaho def. North Dakota State, 81-69 (Nov. 21)
VCU def. Nevada, 85-76 (Nov. 27)
North Carolina def. Nevada, 80-73 (Nov. 29)
Brigham Young at Utah State, Dec. 2
Idaho at Cal State Northridge, Dec. 3
Boise State at Illinois, Dec. 5
Louisiana Tech at Arizona, Dec. 9
Fresno State vs. Brigham Young, Dec. 12
New Mexico State at UCLA, Dec. 15
Morehead State at Utah State, Dec. 22
Portland State at Boise State, Dec. 21
Nevada vs. Brigham Young, Dec. 22
NEVADA LEADS WAC IN SCORING, PUTS UP A LEAGUE-HIGH 112 POINTS IN WIN OVER HOUSTON
Nevada’s 112 points in its Nov. 21 win over Houston marked the most for the Wolf Pack since the team turned in a 117-88 win over Northwestern State on Dec. 19, 1991. The team’s 61 points in the first half also mark the most points in a half since Nevada scored what is believed to be a school-record 71 points in the second half of a 117-88 win over Northwestern State on Dec. 19, 1991. Nevada is leading the WAC in scoring offense this season at 82.2 points per game, 3.2 points ahead of second-place New Mexico State. Four Wolf Pack players are averaging in double figures for scoring this season.
WAC RPI ON THE RISE
After sinking as low as 24, the WAC’s RPI is now on the rise as it currently sits at 12, according to both CollegeRPI.com and RealTimeRPI.com. Nevada holds the top RPI in the conference at 76, followed by Louisiana Tech at 88.
UTAH STATE’S JARED QUAYLE CANDIDATE FOR LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD
Utah State’s Jared Quayle has been named one of 30 candidates for the 2009-10 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, which is presented annually to the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete of the Year. It is the third year in a row that a Utah State player has been named one of 30 national candidates for this award as Jaycee Carroll was selected as one of 10 finalists in 2008 and Gary Wilkinson was one of 30 candidates in 2009. Quayle, a 6-1 senior guard from Perry, Utah is the only player from the state of Utah and the only player from the Western Athletic Conference to be selected for this award.
ESPNU BRACKETBUSTERS
For the eighth year in a row, the WAC has partnered with ESPN and several other top college basketball conferences for 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 Feb. 20. The match-ups for Bracket Buster Saturday will be determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences about three weeks before the event.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO RETURN TO RENO IN 2010
The Western Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments return to the University of Nevada and the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority in 2010. The tournaments will be held in the 11,485-seat Lawlor Events Center, located on the campus of the University of Nevada. This year’s tournament will feature eight men’s and eight women’s teams.