THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
February 22 (Monday)
Seattle at San Jose State, 7:00 p.m. PT
February 23 (Tuesday)
Cal State Bakersfield at Fresno State, 7:00 p.m. PT
February 24 (Wednesday)
*Idaho at New Mexico State
Television: ESPN2, ESPN360.com
February 25 (Thursday)
*Boise State at Louisiana Tech, 7:00 p.m. CT
*Nevada at San Jose State, 7:00 p.m. PT
Television: KAME-TV 21, Comcast SportsNet California, ESPN Full Court
*Utah State at Hawai‘i, 7:00 p.m. HT
Television: KFVE
February 27 (Saturday)
*Idaho at Louisiana Tech, 7:00 p.m. CT
*Fresno State at San Jose State, 7:00 p.m. PT
Television: ESPNU
*Boise State at New Mexico State, 7:00 p.m. MT
Television: KTVB-Boise, AggieVision, ESPN Full Court
*Nevada at Hawai‘i, 7:00 p.m. HT
Television: KFVE, KAME-TV 21, Comcast SportsNet California
* denotes WAC game
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos (12-15, 2-10 WAC)
Boise State stepped out of conference play last week and went 1-1 ... the Broncos defeated Cal State Bakersfield 81-62 before falling in its BracketBusters matchup to UC Davis, 82-74 ... Anthony Thomas scored 15 points and Robert Arnold added 14 to lead BSU to the win over CSUB ... the win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Broncos ... against UC Davis, Daequon Montreal led Boise State with 15 points, and Paul Noonan added 14 ... UC Davis led by 16 after a 3-pointer by Adam Malik made it 50-34 with 15:25 remaining. Boise State trimmed its deficit to 74-67 with 1:38 left on a three by Robert Arnold but got no closer ... this week, Boise State heads out on the road to take on Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State.
Fresno State Bulldogs (13-15, 6-7 WAC)
On the week, Fresno State dropped a pair of four-point losses to Nevada and UC Santa Barbara … in Fresno State’s only WAC game of the week, sophomore Paul George neared a school record at the free throw line and scored a team-high 26 points on the road against the Nevada … Sylvester Seay added 22 points … later in the week in the ‘Dogs eighth BracketBusters appearance, George and fellow sophomore Ladd mounted a fearless late comeback and freshman Jerry Brown intercepted one of his career-high five steals with only seven seconds left before the UCSB Gauchos held on for a 64-60 advantage … Ladd scored a team-high 16 points on a trio of 3-pointers while George added 13 points, seven rebounds and three steals.
Hawai‘i Rainbow Warriors (9-17, 2-10 WAC)
Hawai‘i suffered a pair of losses last week to New Mexico State and Cal Poly ... the Rainbow Warriors dropped an 88-64 decision at NM State before taking a 102-89 setback at home to Cal Poly ... Roderick Flemings led UH with 25 points and 11 rebounds against NM State for his fifth double-double of the season and 10th of his career ... Adhar Mayen finished with 11 points, while Brandon Adams added 10 ... Flemings had another impressive night with a career-high 39 points versus Cal Poly ... it was the highest point total by a Rainbow Warrior in the Stan Sheriff Center and the fourth highest single-game total in program history ... Flemings shot 15-of-30 from the field and added five rebounds.
Idaho Vandals (13-13, 4-8 WAC)
Idaho completed a season sweep over Seattle on Thursday by an 82-72 margin before falling to Long Beach State, 77-66 on Saturday … the Vandals tied a season high with 44 points in the paint against Seattle … Idaho has 67 dunks so far this year through 26 games ... in 33 games last year, the Vandals had 47 … when Mac Hopson went 11-of-11 from the free throw line on Saturday, it marked the third 11-of-11 or better performance from the stripe by a Vandal this year ... Hopson also went 12-of-12 earlier this year against Eastern Oregon, while fellow senior Kashif Watson went 15-of-15 at Cal State Northridge … Idaho is 10-4 this year when scoring 70 or more points, but just 3-9 when scoring below 70.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (21-6, 8-4 WAC)
Louisiana Tech went 1-1 this past week with a loss at Utah State and a win at Northeastern … Tech’s 21 wins are the most in a season since the 2001-02 season when the team finished 22-10 … LA Tech is 26-9 in its last 35 games … DeAndre Brown hit a deep three-pointer with 22 seconds left to break a tie and give Tech a 70-67 win at Northeastern in a ESPN BracketBusters television game … the win gave the Bulldogs their 13th non-conference win, the most NCAA Division I non-conference wins in a season since 1985-86 … Kyle Gibson ranks among the NCAA leaders in points per game at 20.3, free-throw percentage at 86.0 and free throws made with 178.
Nevada Wolf Pack (16-10, 8-4 WAC)
Nevada split a pair of games last week, defeating Fresno State 74-70 before dropping a 62-60 decision at Missouri State in an ESPN BracketBusters game ... Luke Babbitt scored 27 points and junior Armon Johnson had 19 to lead Nevada past Fresno State ... Babbitt hit two free throws with 8.7 seconds left to seal the victory for the Wolf Pack ... in the two-point loss at Missouri State, Babbitt led Nevada with 16 points and 12 rebounds ... Johnson added 15 points ... this week, Nevada travels to play San Jose State and Hawai‘i.
New Mexico State Aggies (17-9, 9-3 WAC)
The Aggies won a pair of games over Pacific, 84-78, Feb. 20, in the BracketBuster game, and Hawai’i, 88-64, Feb. 15 ... the Aggies improved to 5-0 in BracketBuster contests with the victory at Pacific ... in their first BracketBuster road game since the 2005-06 season, the Aggies scored a season-high 55 points in the second half ... Jahmar Young paced the team with 22 points and 18 scored in the second half ... Jonathan Gibson contributed 20 points while sophomore forward Troy Gillenwater added a double-double 18 points and 11 rebounds ... Young, Gibson and Gillenwater each scored 18 points for the Aggies in the 88-64 win over Hawai’i ... the victory gave NM State its ninth WAC win, a mark that ties last year’s win total in league play.
San Jose Spartans (13-12, 5-7 WAC)
Balanced scoring, effective contributions from several reserves and its best field goal defense in two months resulted in San Jose State University’s 77-66 win over Montana State this past week ... Adrian Oliver made just 6-of-18 from the field and still scored 18 points to lead all players in scoring as the Spartans ended a four-game losing streak and won for the first time on the road in seven tries ... Chris Oakes and guard Mac Peterson both had their best offensive outputs in recent outings with 16 and 14 points, respectively ... Robert Owens added 15 including three three-point baskets in the first 10 minutes of the second half as the Spartans captured a road win for the first time since defeating Santa Clara on December 23.
Utah State Aggies (22-6, 11-2 WAC)
Utah State won a pair of games last week, defeating Louisiana Tech 67-61 before downing Wichita State 68-58 in a BracketBusters ESPN2 television game ... for the second straight week, Utah State’s men’s basketball team is the top three-point shooting team in the nation according to the latest NCAA statistics released Monday ... Utah State also received votes in both national polls this week and is ranked 29th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll with 18 votes, and tied for 35th along with Oklahoma State in the Associated Press poll with four votes ... this week, Utah State travels to play Hawai‘i on Feb. 25.
WAC NOTES
HAWAI‘I’S FLEMINGS NAMED VERIZON WIRELESS WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Roderick Flemings has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Feb. 15-21. The honor marks the second WAC Player of the Week award this year for Flemings and third of his career.
Flemings, a senior forward from Dallas, Texas (Weatherford College), led the Rainbow Warriors in a pair of games last week, including a record-setting performance. Flemings tallied 25 points and 11 rebounds against New Mexico State on Feb. 15 for his sixth double-double of the season. He followed up that performance with a career-high 39 points versus Cal Poly on Feb. 20. The effort marked the most points ever by a UH player in the Stan Sheriff Center and the fourth-highest point total in program history. Flemings hit 15-of-30 shots for his 39 points and recorded five rebounds, two assists and a steal.
On the week, the 6-7 senior averaged 32.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. He also shot 45.1 percent (23-of-51) from the field and 82.4 percent (14-of-17) from the free throw line.
Other nominees included: Boise State junior forward Robert Arnold … Fresno State sophomore forward/guard Paul George … Idaho senior center Marvin Jefferson … Louisiana Tech junior guard DeAndre Brown … New Mexico State junior guard Jahmar Young … San Jose State senior center Chris Oakes … Utah State junior forward Tai Wesley.
NEVADA’S BABBITT NAMED ESPN THE MAGAZINE ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN
Wolf Pack sophomore forward Luke Babbitt has been named an ESPN the Magazine second-team Academic All-American, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced tonight. Babbitt holds a 3.51 grade-point average and is majoring in pre-business administration. He leads the Wolf Pack and ranks in the top 30 in the country in scoring and rebounding this season. The preseason pick for Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year, the Reno native and graduate of Galena High School earned Academic All-WAC honors last year.
UTAH STATE HOLDS NATION’S FIFTH-LONGEST WIN STREAK
Utah State has now won 12 straight games, which is a season-high, and 16 of its last 18 overall. That 12-game winning streak is tied for the fifth-longest in school history and tied for the third-longest active winning streak in the nation. It is also the fifth time under Coach Morrill that USU has won at least 12 games in a row.
WAC WINS THREE OF FOUR BRACKETBUSTERS TELEVISION GAMES
For an eighth-straight year, the WAC is participated in BracketBusters -- a two-day men’s college basketball event pitting NCAA Tournament hopefuls. WAC teams secured four of the 11 televised games and was victourious in three of them.
WAC Televised BracketBusters Games
Sat., 2/20, Louisiana Tech def. Northeastern, 70-67 (ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com)
Sat., 2/20, Missouri State def. Nevada, 62-60 (ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com)
Sat., 2/20, New Mexico State def. Pacific, 84-78 (ESPNU)
Sat., 2/20, Utah State def. Wichita State, 68-58 (ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com)
WAC Non-Televised BracketBusters Games
UC Santa Barbara def. Fresno State, 64-60
San Jose State def. Montana State, 77-66
Long Beach State def. Idaho, 77-66
UC Davis def. Boise State, 82-74
Cal Poly def. Hawai‘i, 102-89
LOUISIANA TECH AND UTAH STATE HIT 20-WIN MARK
Louisiana Tech now holds a 21-6 record. LA Tech’s 21 wins mark the most victories through 27 games since the 1984-85 season. Utah State also hit the 20-win mark and now owns 22 victories. USU has now won 20 or more games in each of the last 11 seasons to extend its current school record.
WAC WEDNESDAYS ON ESPN2
A WAC game will be featured each Wednesday night in February on the ESPN2 network. The WAC is also a fixture on ESPNU and ESPN Regional Television as 11 games will be broadcast this season on those networks.
WAC TEAMS AMONG NATIONAL STATISTICAL LEADERS
As of Feb. 21, teams from the WAC rank in the top-25 in 11 team statistical categories. Individual players rank in the top-25 in seven individual categories. Utah State holds the highest team mark as it leads the nation in three-point field goal percentage at 42.7 percent. The Aggies also rank second nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.58). Individually, San Jose State’s Adrian Oliver holds the highest national mark, ranking sixth in scoring at 22.3 points per game.
WAC AND THE RPI
The WAC’s RPI stays steady at 10 this week as a conference. The WAC has four teams in the top-75, including Utah State (34), Louisiana Tech (64), New Mexico State (66) and Nevada (73) according to the CollegeRPI.com.
WAC BOASTS FOUR OF THE TOP SCORERS IN THE NATION
As of Feb. 21, four players in the WAC rank in the top-21 nationally in scoring. All four players hold scoring averages of 20.0 or better. San Jose State’s Adrian Oliver holds the top scoring mark in the league at 22.3 points per game, ranking him sixth nationally. Nevada’s Luke Babbitt averages 21.6 points per contest and ranks 11th nationally while New Mexico State’s Jahmar Young averages 20.9 points per game and ranks 18th nationally. Louisiana Tech’s Kyle Gibson is 21st at 20.3 points a contest.
UTAH STATE’S STEW MORRILL REACHES 500 WINS
Utah State’s Stew Morrill achieved a coaching milestone on Jan. 23 as the Aggies defeated Idaho 60-48 to give Morrill his 500th career victory and become one of just 19 active coaches and just the 73rd coach in Division I history to record 500 career wins. Among his now 507 wins, Morrill has posted a 289-97 mark in 12 seasons at Utah State as he is the school’s all-time winningest coach. He recently tied E. Lowell Romney (1920-41) for the most games coached in school history at 384.
FIVE WAC PLAYERS BECOME MEMBERS OF 1,000 POINT CLUB THIS SEASON
Below is a list of current career scoring leaders in the WAC.
Player
Kyle Gibson, Sr, Louisiana Tech, 1,654
*Jonathan Gibson, Sr., NM State, 1,418
*Armon Johnson, Jr., Nevada, 1,337
*Jahmar Young, Jr., NM State, 1,334
*Tai Wesley, Jr., Utah State, 1,140
*Luke Babbitt, So., Nevada, 1,134
*Brandon Fields, Sr., Nevada, 1,129
*denotes that player reached 1,000 points during the 2009-10 season.
SJSU’S OLIVER NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR JAN. 18-24
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected San Jose State guard Adrian Oliver as its Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week for games ending the week of Sunday, Jan. 24. The USBWA’s weekly honor is presented by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and will be handed out each Tuesday through Feb. 23 this season.
As the WAC Player of the Week, Oliver was nominated for the weekly award, which was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors from a list of Division I conference players of the week. Oliver had a career-high 39 points in an 87-76 win over Louisiana Tech that ended the Bulldogs’ 10-game winning streak. He followed that up with 22 points in a 93-84 win against New Mexico State. In both games, he played 38 minutes and had five assists. For the week, Oliver shot 54.3 percent from the field (19-for-35) and was 19-for-20 from the free-throw line. He also averaged three rebounds and two steals in the two San Jose State wins. Oliver now has four straight 20-plus point efforts and the Spartans boast their best conference record (4-3) since 1999.
NEVADA’S JOHNSON AND IDAHO’S HOPSON CANDIDATES FOR COUSY AWARD
Idaho senior guard Mac Hopson and Nevada junior guard Armon Johnson ire among the candidates for the 2010 Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford Financial Services, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts announced. The annual award, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes college basketball’s top point guard. 73 candidates have been nominated for the 2010 award. Nominations were solicited from all Division I, II and III schools across the country. A 2009 first-team All-WAC selection, Johnson is averaging 15.8 points and 5.3 assists per game this season. Hopson, also a first team all-WAC selection in 2009, is averaging 12.8 points and 4.7 assists per game this year. Previous winners of the Bob Cousy Award have included: Jameer Nelson (St. Joseph’s), Raymond Felton (North Carolina), Dee Brown (Illinois), Acie Law (Texas A & M), DJ Augustin (Texas) and Ty Lawson (North Carolina). For more information on the 2010 Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford, log onto www.cousyaward.com.
IDAHO, UTAH STATE AND FRESNO STATE PICK UP WINS AGAINST TEAMS FROM LAST YEAR’S NCAA TOURNAMENT
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. Utah State downed Brigham Young 71-61 on Dec. 2, while Fresno State defeated North Dakota State 68-54 on Dec. 19.
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.
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.
TOP WAC TEAMS OVER LAST SIX YEARS
Over the last six seasons dating back to 2003-04, Utah State leads current WAC teams with an overall record of 171-55. In conference games, Nevada has won 88 games, the most in that same time period.
The top three teams in wins (both overall and WAC) over the last six seasons:
Overall Record (Pct.)
1. Utah State 171-55 (.757)
2. Nevada 165-60 (.733)
3. Boise State 126-94 (.573)
WAC Record (Pct.)
1. Nevada 88-25 (.779)
2. Utah State 56-20 (.737)
3. Boise State 62-68 (.477)