WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos (7-4, 0-0 WAC)
Boise State went 1-1 last week with an 86-84 setback at Utah before a 91-62 win at home over Texas-Pan American ... in the loss at Utah, Daequon Montreal scored a career-high 28 points, but a Utah 3-pointer from Utah’s with 10 seconds remaining gave Utah the 86-84 victory ... Robert Arnold added 16 points and Ryan Watkins chipped in 10 points and tied Montreal for the team-high with eight rebounds ... against UT-Pan Am, Paul Noonan scored 13 points and had three 3-point baskets to help the Broncos snap a four-game losing streak ... after four-straight losses of three-or-fewer points, the Broncos’ 29-point victory tied a season high for largest margin ... this week, BSU will play at Portland on Wednesday.
Fresno State Bulldogs (4-5, 0-0 WAC)
With the game on the line in the closing minutes of the game, Fresno State scored 15 unanswered points to seal an 82-69 victory over North Dakota State ... the result gave Fresno State its third straight win and snapped NDSU’s four-game winning streak ... Nedeljko Golubovic notched season-highs with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Bracken Funk also provided his best outing of the year with 14 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three blocks ... Fresno State improved to 2-0 on the season when four Bulldogs score 10 or more points ... Steve Cleveland earned his 220th career victory in his 14th season as a Division I head coach ... Fresno State will continue its holiday homestand on Tuesday night against the Pacific Tigers.
Hawai‘i Rainbows (7-2, 0-0 WAC)
Making its first neighbor island appearance in seven years, Hawai‘i blew past Chicago State, 86-57, Friday night at the Lahaina Civic Center ... the Rainbow Warriors improved to 7-2 overall with their second straight win ... an energetic crowd filled much of the Civic Center to cheer on a UH squad that led from nearly wire-to-wire ... Zane Johnson scored a career high 21 points to lead four Rainbow Warriors in double-figures ... the junior also added seven rebounds and four assists ... Bo Barnes chipped in 17 points, Joston Thomas added 15 and Doug Kurtz set a new career-best with 12 points ... this week, UH will host the second annual Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, Dec. 22, 23 & 25 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Idaho Vandals (5-5, 0-0 WAC)
In a game that featured 20 lead changes and 10 ties, the University of Idaho came up just short at the buzzer in a 64-63 loss to Montana in the team’s lone game of the week last week ... senior Deremy Geiger, who led Idaho with 14 points on the day, had a good look at the buzzer, but his jumper bounced high off the back of the rim as time expired ... senior forward Brandon Wiley and sophomore center Kyle Barone each scored 12 on combined 11-of-18 shooting ... Wiley grabbed a game-high seven rebounds, along with two steals and one block, while Barone had six boards, one block and one steal ... neither team led by more than five points all night ... Idaho plays at Oregon on Tuesday night.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (9-4, 0-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech finished the week 2-0 with a win at Houston Baptist and at home against UT Arlington ... the win over UTA was Tech’s 12th win in its last 13 tries over a school from the state of Texas ... junior forward Olu Ashaolu recorded back-to-back double-doubles for the third time this season as he averaged 16.5 points and 11.5 rebounds for the week ... he now has seven double-doubles on the season, one of the best marks in the country ... Ashaolu also is second in the WAC in rebounding with 9.0 boards per game ... Tech next plays at Iowa on Tuesday before starting WAC play on Dec. 29 at Boise State.
Nevada Wolf Pack (3-8, 0-0 WAC)
Nevada went 1-1 last week with a 78-75 setback to Arizona State before a 79-73 win over Portland State on Monday night ... Malik Story had 18 points and Deonte Burton 16 for the Wolf Pack against Arizona State ... the Sun Devils led 77-70 with 4.8 seconds left, but Jerry Evans Jr. was fouled on a 3-point attempt, made two free throws, then tipped in his own miss of the third to make it 77-74 ... in the win over Portland State, Story scored 20 points to lead Nevada over Portland State 79-73 on Monday night ... Burton added 13 points, Jerry Evans Jr. scored 12, Kevin Panzer 11 and Derrell Conner 10 for the Wolf Pack, who scored the final 10 points on free throws ... Nevada travels to play Washington on Wednesday night.
New Mexico State Aggies (5-7, 0-0 WAC)
The Aggies are in the midst of a five-game home stand, the longest of the season, and won the first three games of the stint ... NM State defeated Pacific, 69-64, Dec. 18, Oklahoma Panhandle State, 78-46, Dec. 16, and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 83-49, Dec. 13 ... Gordo Castillo scored a season-high 17 points in the win over Pacific ... Renaldo Dixon added a career-high 13 points for the Aggies that recorded their first home of the season after trailing at halftime ... in the win over Oklahoma Panhandle State, Bandja Sy posted 12 points and Dixon added 10 ... Tyrone Watson, Christian Kabongo and Castillo each scored nine ... four Aggies finished in double figures to lead NM State over Arkansas-Pine Bluff ... NM State hosts Louisiana on Tuesday.
San Jose Spartans (7-3, 0-0 WAC)
Guards Justin Graham and Keith Shamburger each had season scoring highs of 24 and 22 points, respectively, leading San Jose State University to an 86-70 win over Seattle University this past week ... the Spartans won their second in a row and moved four games above the .500 mark for the first time this season ... San Jose State became just the ninth NCAA Division I team to pick up its fourth road win of the season and matched its 2009-10 total of road victories ... Adrian Oliver scored 13 points .... forward Wil Carter and reserve swingman Chris Jones each scored 12 points giving San Jose State five double-figure scorers in the Spartans’ highest scoring output of the season ... SJSU hosts Puget Sound on Wednesday night.
Utah State Aggies (8-2, 0-0 WAC)
Brockeith Pane scored 19 points, including 12 in the second half, and senior forward Tai Wesley recorded his third-straight double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds to lead Utah State to a convincing 76-58 win at Utah Valley Saturday ... Pane, who added three assists in the game to go along with his 19 points, was 5-of-7 from the field, 3-of-4 from three-point range and a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line, while Wesley was 4-of-7 from the field and 6-of-7 at the free throw line to account for his 14 points ... Wesley also added five assists and two blocks to go along with his 11 boards for his 12th career double-double ... USU hosts Idaho State, Troy and Western Michigan in the World Vision Invitational, sponsored by Gossner Foods this week.
WAC NOTES
LOUISISNA TECH’S ASHAOLU NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Louisiana Tech’s Olu Ashaolu has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 13-19. The honor marks the second career WAC Player of the Week award for Ashaolu.
Ashaolu, a junior forward from Toronto, Canada (Christian Life Center Academy), recorded back-to-back double-doubles for the third time this season and helped LA Tech to a 2-0 record last week. Ashaolu scored 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds in an 80-57 win at Houston Baptist. He then recorded 12 points and 10 rebounds in a 62-61 win at UT Arlington. Ashaolu also tallied two blocks in each game.
On the week, Ashaolu averaged 16.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 1.5 assists per game. He shot 68.4 percent (13-of-19) from the field and 75.0 percent (6-of-8) from the free throw line.
Other nominees included: Boise State senior forward Daequon Montreal … Fresno State freshman forward Bracken Funk … Hawai‘i junior guard Zane Johnson … Idaho junior guard Deremy Geiger … Nevada sophomore guard Malik Story … New Mexico State senior guard Gordo Castillo … San Jose State freshman guard Keith Shamburger … Utah State junior guard Brockeith Pane.
WAC TEAMS AMONG NATIONAL STAT LEADERS
As of Dec. 19, teams from the WAC rank in the top-25 in four team statistical categories. Individual WAC players rank in the top-25 in five individual categories. Hawai‘i holds the highest team mark as it ranks ninth in the nation in rebound margin (10.16). Individually, Utah State’s Tai Wesley ranks second nationally in field goal percentage at 64.6 percent. Adrian Oliver of San Jose State ranks sixth in the nation in scoring (24.2)., while Louisiana Tech’s Olu Ashaolu ranks sixth in the nation with seven double-doubles.
ROAD WARRIORS
San Jose State is one of the 11 out of 336 NCAA Division I teams with four or more road wins and a winning road record in games played through December 18. The Spartans have road wins at EasternWashington (Nov. 12), Oregon (Nov. 20), UC Irvine (Dec. 4) and Seattle U. (Dec. 18).
UTAH STATE HOLDS NATION’S SEVENTH-LONGEST HOME WIN STREAK
Utah State has won 19 straight home games and 71 of its last 73 overall with its only losses during that stretch coming against Saint Mary’s (68-63) on Dec. 5, 2009 and against Fresno State (71-66) on March 3, 2007. Saint Mary’s snapped USU’s school-record 37-game home winning streak. Utah State’s 19-game home winning streak is the sixth-longest active winning streak in the nation. Kansas has the nation’s longest home winning streak (65), followed by Xavier (29), Duke (26), Kentucky (23), Murray State (23), Northern Iowa (21), Morehead State (19) and USU (19). The Aggies have won 24 straight WAC home games.
HOME COOKING
Of the 46 home games played on WAC home floors this season, teams from the WAC have lost just nine of those contests (80.4 percent). Hawai‘i leads the league with a perfect 6-0 mark at home this season, followed by Utah State (5-0) and Louisiana Tech (5-0).
HEAD COACH STEW MORRILL COLLECTS 300th USU WIN
With an 81-53 victory over Long Beach State on Dec. 7, Utah State head coach Stew Morrill collected his 300th win at the helm of the Aggies. The USU head coach is now 302-101 directing the Aggie program and is the winningest coach in school history and is first all-time in games coached with 403. All-time, Morrill is now 520-239 in 25 years as a collegiate head coach.
IDAHO WINS BASKETBALL TRAVELERS CLASSIC TITLE
Idaho extended its winning streak to four games with a 75-60 victory over Eastern Michigan on Sunday, capping off an exciting Basketball Travelers Classic tournament, which was the first regular-season tourney in Moscow since 1989. Idaho (5-3) went 3-0 at the tournament to claim the title.
LOUISIANA TECH CLAIMS 2K SPORTS COACHES VS. CANCER IRVINE SUBREGIONAL
Behind a career-high 26 points by senior guard DeAndre Brown, Louisiana Tech beat UC-Irvine 76-72 Nov. 21 at the Bren Center in Irvine, Calif. The win marked Tech’s fourth win in five days and third win in the three games in the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer and was named MVP of the Irvine subregional.
HAWAI‘I WINS 2010 RAINBOW CLASSIC TITLE
Hawai‘i captured the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic title with a hard-earned 65-62 victory over Central Michigan in the championship game on Nov. 15. With the win, UH improved to 3-0 on the season for its best start in six years. The nationally-televised game—which tipped of at 11:00 p.m. local time—was emotionally charged from the get-go with the Rainbow Warriors eventually grinding out the win. The lead changed hands 11 times, including seven times in the second half, before UH took the lead for good at the four-minute mark and held off the Chippewa squad. Senior guard Hiram Thompason was named the Tournament MVP. The win gave UH its 12th all-time Rainbow Classic title and first since the tournament went to a four-team, round-robin format in 2009.
ESPNU BRACKETBUSTERS
For the ninth 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 February 19. 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 HEADS TO LAS VEGAS, TICKETS NOW ON SALE
The 2011 WAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament will be held March 9-12 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas and will include the top eight teams in the regular-season standings. Ticket information is available at www.wacbasketballtournament.com.
WAC ANNOUNCES TOURNAMENT FORMAT CHANGE
The WAC will change its postseason men’s and women’s basketball tournament format, effective for the 2011 tournament. The change was recommended by both the WAC men’s and women’s basketball coaches and approved by the WAC Board of Directors. The change will reward teams based on regular season success, giving the top two teams byes into the tournament semifinals. Under the format, the tournament will begin on Wednesday with two men’s and two women’s games featuring the No. 5 seed against the No. 8 seed and No. 6 versus No. 7. The winners then advance to Thursday’s quarterfinal matchups to play the No. 4 and No. 3 seeds. The winners of those games then advance to Friday’s semifinals against the top two seeds. The change also results in two men’s and two women’s games being played each day of the tournament except for Saturday, which will feature the men’s and women’s championship games.