WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos (11-5, 4-0 WAC)
Boise State went a perfect 2-0 last week on the road, defeating San Jose State (102-101, 4OT) and Hawai‘i (79-55) ... the two wins marks Boise State’s first conference road sweep since the 2007-08 season ... the Broncos are now 4-0 in WAC play for the first time since joining the league prior to the 2001-02 season ... in the quadruple overtime win, La’Shard Anderson scored a career-high 31 points ... Anderson scored each of the Broncos’ four points in the fourth overtime period, including a pair of free throws with 35 second remaining ... he then recorded a steal on SJSU’s final possesion to secure the victory ... Anderson also led BSU at Hawai‘i, scoring 20 points ... this week, BSU hosts Utah State and Nevada.
Fresno State Bulldogs (7-7, 3-1 WAC)
The Bulldogs went 2-1 last week with a win at home over Nevada (80-74), a road win at Louisiana Tech (63-56) and a road loss at New Mexico State (80-68) ... versus Nevada, Tim Steed scored a career-high 20 points and Greg Smith pounded the low post for 15 points and nine rebounds in the win ... at LA Tech, Smith dominated the nets and glass for 14 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, marking his fifth career double-double, which marked the sophomore’s first this season ... at NM State, Kevin Olekaibe scored a career-high 23 points ... Olekaibe’s outing featured the netting of five 3-pointers and nine field goals over 26 minutes ... this week, Fresno State hosts Utah State on Saturday.
Hawai‘i Rainbows (9-7, 0-4 WAC)
Hawai‘i went 0-2 at home last week with setbacks to Idaho (59-44) and Boise State (79-55) ... against Idaho, the Rainbow Warriors shot just 29 percent from the field, including just 3-of-22 from three-point territory ... the team’s offensive woes negated a solid defensive effort by the Bows who forced 21 turnovers and held the Vandals to 59 points ... Bill Amis returned to the lineup after a 10-game absence and finished with six points, two blocks and two steals in 29 minutes ... Hiram Thompson led UH with nine points in the game ... against Boise State, Zane Johnson led UH with 18 points while Vander Joaquim had 12 points and eight rebounds ... this week, UH travles to play NM State and LA Tech.
Idaho Vandals (9-6, 3-1 WAC)
Idaho produced its first road sweep since 2007-08 and got off to its best-ever WAC start (3-1) with wins at Hawai‘i and San Jose State … the Vandals held UH to season-lows of .294 shooting and 44 points on Thursday, then pulled away from San Jose State with a late 17-2 run on Saturday … with its defensive effort against UH, Idaho held successive opponents under 50 points for the first time since 2004 … Saturday’s game at San Jose State was the second time this season that Idaho has had five individuals with double-digit point totals … through four games this season, Idaho is holding WAC opponents to just .354 shooting overall, .212 from 3-point range, and 58.0 points per game, all of which lead the conference.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (9-8, 0-3 WAC)
Louisiana Tech has lost four straight games after a 63-56 loss to Fresno State on Thursday ... junior forward Olu Ashaolu recorded his 10th double-double in the loss in which Tech shot season low percentages from the free throw line and three-point range ... he is among the nation’s leaders in double-doubles and is second in the WAC in rebounding and fourth in scoring ... senior guard DeAndre Brown is second in the WAC in scoring with an average of 16.4 ... Tech is 0-3 in the WAC for the first time since the 2007-08 season when the Bulldogs started 0-9 ...Tech has used nine different starting lineups this season and all but two players on the roster have started at least one time ... Tech hosts San Jose State and Hawai’i this week.
Nevada Wolf Pack (4-12, 1-2 WAC)
Nevada played just one game last week, falling 81-67 at home to Utah State ... Olek Czyz scored 25 points and Malik Story added 18 for the Wolf Pack ... Nevada led 49-39 with 13:54 to play before Utah State went on a 15-3 run to pull ahead 54-52 with 9:24 remaining ... he Wolf Pack then tied it on two free throws by Deonte Burton, but the Aggies answered with a 7-2 run to go up 61-54 ... Nevada pulled to within 71-67 with 2:58 left after a jumper by Burton and three free throws by Czyz but did not score again. Utah State hit 7-of-8 free throws, and Pane made a 3-pointer in the final minutes to seal the victory ... this week, Nevada travels to play at Idaho on Wednesday before heading to play Boise State on Saturday.
New Mexico State Aggies (8-9, 2-1 WAC)
New Mexico State went 1-0 last week with an 80-68 win at home against Fresno State ... junior forward Troy Gillenwater recorded his third double-double of the season to lead NM State to the win over Fresno State, Jan. 8, in the Aggies’ WAC home opener ... Gillenwater scored 19 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds ... the Aggies had four players in double-figures with junior guard Hernst Laroche and junior center Hamidu Rahman each scored 11 points and freshman center Tshilidzi Nephawe added 10 ... the Aggies shot 58 percent for the game ... this week, New Mexico State hosts Hawai‘i on Thursday before welcoming San Jose State on Saturday.
San Jose Spartans (8-7, 0-4 WAC)
San Jose State went 0-2 at home last week with losses to Boise State (102-101, 4OT) and Idaho (75-67) ... the four overtimes against Boise State match a 1985 four-overtime win at Cal State Fullerton as the longest San Jose State men’s basketball game ... Justin Graham was the one player for both teams to play all 60 minutes as he matched his career high of 29 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and handed out 7 assists ... holding a two-point lead, San Jose State went scoreless for a three-minute stretch late in the second half in the loss to Idaho ... Adrian Oliver led all players in scoring with 25 points, but was just 2-of-11 from the field in the second half ... Oliver was 7-of-22 for the game ... this week, SJSU travels to LA Tech and New Mexico State.
Utah State Aggies (14-2, 3-0 WAC)
Utah State went 1-0 last week with an 81-67 win at Nevada ... senior forward Tai Wesley scored 15 of his team-high 21 points in the second-half and Utah State shot a season-high 62 percent from the field in a come-from-behind win at Nevada in a nationally televised game on ESPNU ... trailing 49-39 with 14:11 to play in the game, Utah State went on a 22-5 run over the next 7:17 to take a 61-54 advantage following a Wesley layup ... Nevada got back within four at 71-67 with 2:26 to play, but USU finished the game on a 10-0 run for the 14-point victory ... during the final 9:40, Utah State held the Wolf Pack to 1-of-8 shooting from the field ... this week, Utah State travels to play Boise State on Thursday and Fresno State on Saturday.
WAC NOTES
BOISE STATE’S ANDERSON NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Boise State’s La’Shard Anderson has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 3-9. The honor marks the first career WAC Player of the Week award for Anderson.
Anderson, a senior forward from San Diego, Calif. (Juniperro Serra HS), led Boise State to a pair of WAC road wins at San Jose State (102-101, 4OT) and Hawai‘i (79-55). The two wins marks Boise State’s first conference road sweep since joining the league prior to the 2001-02 season. Anderson scored a career-high 31 points in Boise State’s quadruple overtime win at San Jose State. He scored 17 of his 31 points during the four overtime periods and scored each of the Broncos’ four points in the fourth overtime. Anderson also made a pair of free throws with 35 seconds remaining and stole the ball on SJSU’s final possession to secure the victory. Anderson scored 20 points in BSU’s win at Hawai‘i, connecting on 7-of-12 shots from the field, including a career-best 5-of-6 effort from three-point range.
On the week, Anderson averaged 25.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game. He shot 55.2 percent (16-of-29) from the field and 75.0 percent (6-of-8) from three-point range. He also hit 72.2 percent (13-of-18) of his shots at the free throw line.
Other nominees included: Fresno State freshman guard Kevin Olekaibe … Idaho senior guard Jeff Ledbetter … Nevada junior forward Olek Czyz … New Mexico State junior forward Troy Gillenwater … Utah State senior forward Tai Wesley.
EARLY SHOWDOWN FOR FIRST PLACE
4-0 Boise State hosts 3-0 Utah State on Thursday night at Taco Bell Arena. The winner will take over sole possession of first place in the league’s standings.
BOISE STATE AND SAN JOSE STATE TIE WAC RECORD WITH FOUR-OVERTIME GAME
Boise State defeated San Jose State 102-101 in four overtimes on Jan. 6. The four overtime game ties the WAC record for most overtimes played in a single game. The only other time two teams played a game that went into four overtimes was on March 3, 1983 when New Mexico defeated Hawai‘i 63-61 in Honolulu.
WAC TEAMS AMONG NATIONAL STAT LEADERS
As of Jan. 9, teams from the WAC rank in the top-25 in six team statistical categories. Individual WAC players rank in the top-25 in six individual categories. Utah State holds the highest team mark as it ranks seventh in the nation in rebound margin (9.5). Individually, Utah State’s Tai Wesley leads the nation in field goal percentage at 66.7 percent. Adrian Oliver of San Jose State ranks third in the nation in scoring (24.2)., while Louisiana Tech’s Olu Ashaolu ranks seventh in the nation with 10 double-doubles.
UTAH STATE HOLDS NATION’S FOURTH-LONGEST HOME WIN STREAK
Utah State has won 24 straight home games and 76 of its last 78 overall with its only losses 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. USU has also won 25 straight WAC games at home and 34 of its last 35 overall. USU’s 24-game home winning streak is tied for the fourth-longest active winning streak in the nation. Kansas has the nation’s longest home winning streak (68), followed by Duke (29), Kentucky (26), Utah State (24) and Morehead State (24).
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 308-101 directing the Aggie program and is the winningest coach in school history and is first all-time in games coached with 409. All-time, Morrill is now 526-239 in 25 years as a collegiate head coach.
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.