WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos (9-5, 2-0 WAC)
Boise State opened WAC play with a perfect 2-0 record, picking up wins at home against Louisiana Tech (71-60) and New Mexico State (81-78) ... Paul Noonan scored a season-high 23 points to lead the Broncos to the victory over Louisiana Tech ... Noonan tied his career high with six 3-pointers en route to his second 20-point game of the season ... La’Shard Anderson had 11 points and eight assists for Boise State, and tied his career high with seven rebounds ... against New Mexico State, Daequon Montreal had 21 points and 12 rebounds ... Anderson scored 17 points for the Broncos while Robert Arnold and Noonan added 13 apiece ... this week, Boise State travels to play San Jose State and Hawai‘i.
Fresno State Bulldogs (6-6, 2-0 WAC)
Fresno State opened WAC play with a 75-62 victory over San Jose State in the Dogs’ only game of the week and 2010 finale ... sophomore Greg Smith and junior Tim Steed consistently attacked the basket as the duo both scored a game-high 16 points while senior Nedeljko Golubovic netted 13 points ... junior Steven Shepp dished out five assists with no turnovers ... since returning to the Fresno State lineup, Shepp has recorded eight assists and committed zero turnovers ... the Bulldogs improved to 8-1 against San Jose State in the Save Mart Center ... the 13-point victory marked the Dogs’ fourth win this season by 10 or more points ... this week, Fresno State travels to play LA Tech and New Mexico State.
Hawai‘i Rainbows (9-5, 0-2 WAC)
Hawai‘i opened WAC play with a pair of road losses at Utah State (74-66) and Nevada (86-69) ... against the Aggies, Zane Johnson tied his career-high with 24 points, including 17 in the second half to keep UH close Thompson finished with 13 points and tied his career high with nine assists before fouling out with 1:48 remaining in the game ... at Nevada, Vander Joaquim led UH with a career-high 22 points and added 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the season ... Thompson chipped in 14 points, while leading scorer Johnson was held to 10 points on five field goal attempts ... this week, Hawai‘i hosts Idaho and Boise State.
Idaho Vandals (7-6, 1-1 WAC)
Idaho lost a WAC opener for the first time under Don Verlin against New Mexico State on Wednesday, but followed it up with a 77-47 win over Louisiana Tech on Friday – the team’s largest margin of victory ever in a WAC game, and biggest conference win since beating Cal Poly 102-71 on Jan. 10, 1998 … Idaho has had seven different leading scorers in its 13 games this season … Friday’s game was the 26th time Idaho has shot 50 percent or better from the field under Don Verlin (77 games) … The Vandals shot a season-high 81.5 percent (22-27) from the free throw line against Louisiana Tech ... this week, Idaho travels to play Hawai‘i on Saturday.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (9-7, 0-2 WAC)
Louisiana Tech finished the week 0-2 with losses at Boise State and Idaho ... it is the first time Tech has started conference play 0-2 since the 2007-08 season ... senior guard DeAndre Brown scored 24 points at Boise State, 21 of which came in the second half ... he has now scored at least 10 points in all but two games ... junior forward Olu Ashaolu had his double-double streak end at four at Idaho ... his nine double-doubles this season ranks among the best in the country ... with sophomore guard Tevin Hall earning the start at Idaho, Tech has used eight different starting lineups this season ... this week, Tech hosts Fresno State on Thursday.
Nevada Wolf Pack (4-11, 1-1 WAC)
Nevada opened conference play with a 1-1 record, defeating Hawai‘i 86-69 at home before dropping an 80-74 decision at Fresno State ... in the win over UH, Olek Czyz and Dario Hunt scored 23 points apiece to lead Nevada ... Malik Story added 18 points for the Wolf Pack, including four 3-pointers in the opening minutes of the second half, when Nevada put the game away ... Deonte Burton added 11 points against UH ... at Fresno State, Czyz scored a game-high 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting for the Wolf Pack ... Burton added 16, and Hunt had 13 points and 12 rebounds ... this week, Nevada hosts Utah State on Saturday.
New Mexico State Aggies (7-9, 1-1 WAC)
New Mexico State opened 2010-11 WAC play with a 74-69 win at Idaho … Troy Gillenwater led the Aggies with 22 points after missing the last five games due to an injury … NM State improved to 6-0 in WAC openers … Tyrone Watson and Hernst Laroche added 12 points while freshman center Tshilidzi Nephawe scored 10 … the Aggies said goodbye to 2010 with an 81-78 setback at Boise State ... NM State had four players in double-figures with Gillenwater scoring a game-high 24 points ... Gordo Castillo had 14 points, while sophomore forward Bandja Sy and Laroche supplied 11 and 10 points, respectively ... this week, New Mexico State hosts Fresno State on Saturday.
San Jose Spartans (8-5, 0-2 WAC)
San Jose State opened conference play with a pair of road losses at Fresno State (75-62) and Utah State (80-71) ... at Fresno State, the Spartans had four players in double-figure scoring, but made just 33.3 percent of their field goal tries and had one of their poorer nights at the free throw line making just 17-of-26 ... the Bulldogs also outrebounded the Spartans, 52-41, despite Wil Carter pulling down 11 rebounds to go along with his 11 points and reserve center Joe Henson grabbing a career high nine ... despite missing practice the day before with flu-like symptoms, Adrian Oliver was in the starting lineup and led San Jose State in scoring with 18 points at Utah State ... this week, SJSU hosts Boise State and Idaho.
Utah State Aggies (13-2, 2-0 WAC)
Utah State opened WAC play with a pair of home wins over Hawai‘i (74-66) and San Jose State (80-71) ... against Hawai‘i, forward Tai Wesley recorded a double-double with a career-high tying 27 points along with a game-best 13 rebounds ... two other Aggies netted double-digits, as senior guard Pooh Williams scored 14 points while junior backcourt mate Brockeith Pane posted 11 ... against SJSU, junior guard Brockeith Pane paced USU with 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds as the Aggies won their eighth-straight game ... Pane was joined in double-digits by Wesley’s 16 points while senior guard Tyler Newbold added 11 points ... this week, Utah State travels to play at Nevada on Saturday.
WAC NOTES
UTAH STATE’S WESLEY NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Utah State’s Tai Wesley has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 27-Jan. 2. The honor marks the fourth career WAC Player of the Week award for Wesley.
Wesley, a senior forward from Provo, Utah (Provo HS), led Utah State to a pair of WAC home wins last week against Hawai‘i (74-66) and San Jose State (80-71). Against the Rainbow Warriors, Wesley posted his fourth double-double of the season and 13th of his career as he tied his career-high with 27 points to go along with 13 rebounds. Wesley, who played a career-high 38 minutes in the game, was 8-of-12 from the field and a perfect 11-of-11 at the free throw line, tying a single-game school record for free-throw percentage. Against the Spartans, Wesley added 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks as he was 5-of-6 from the field and 6-of-8 at the free throw line.
On the week, Wesley averaged 21.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game. He shot 72.2 percent (13-of-18) from the field and 89.5 percent (17-of-19) from the free throw line.
Other nominees included: Boise State senior guard La’Shard Anderson … Fresno State sophomore center Greg Smith … Idaho sophomore center Kyle Barone … Louisiana Tech senior guard DeAndre Brown … Nevada junior forward Dario Hunt … New Mexico State junior forward Troy Gillenwater.
WAC-OPENERS IN THE BOOKS
Home court advantage ruled the headlines after the first week of conference play. Home teams went 8-1 to open conference play, while road teams went 1-8. Utah State, Boise State and Fresno State opened WAC play with 2-0 records, while Idaho, New Mexico State and Nevada each went 1-1. Hawai‘i, San Jose State and Louisiana Tech opened conference play with a combined six road games, going 0-6 in those matchups.
WAC TEAMS AMONG NATIONAL STAT LEADERS
As of Jan. 1, teams from the WAC rank in the top-25 in six team statistical categories. Individual WAC players rank in the top-25 in ninie individual categories. Utah State holds the highest team mark as it ranks ninth in the nation in rebound margin (9.9). Individually, Utah State’s Tai Wesley leads the nation in field goal percentage at 65.5 percent. Teammate Tyler Newbold leads the nation in assist turnover ration at 4.7. Adrian Oliver of San Jose State ranks fourth in the nation in scoring (24.4)., while Louisiana Tech’s Olu Ashaolu ranks fifth in the nation with nine 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 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 24-game home winning streak is the fourth-longest active winning streak in the nation. Kansas has the nation’s longest home winning streak (66), followed by Duke (27), Kentucky (26), Murray State (24) and Utah State (24). The Aggies have won 26 straight WAC home games.
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 307-101 directing the Aggie program and is the winningest coach in school history and is first all-time in games coached with 408. All-time, Morrill is now 525-239 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.