WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs (1-1, 0-0 WAC)
Fresno State is 1-1 after its first two games of the season ... the Bulldogs defeated Illinois State 55-47 at home in the team’s season-opener ... Fresno State then dropped a 75-59 decision at Stanford in the NIT Season Tipp Off on Monday night ... against Illinois State, sophomore guard Kevin Olekaibe scored 14 of his game-high 18 points in the second half to help make Bulldogs’ coach Rodney Terry a winner in his debut as a Division I head coach ... junior forward Kevin Foster, who also made his Fresno State debut, added eight points and six rebounds for the Bulldogs ... at Stanford, Olekaibe scored 19 points to lead the Bulldogs ... senior Jonathan Wills added 11 points and seven rebounds ... Fresno State will next face the SMU Mustangs, who are coached by former North Carolina Tar Heel Matt Doherty, on Tuesday evening at 5 p.m.
Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine (1-0, 0-0 WAC)
Hawai‘i opened its 2011-12 campaign with an impressive 86-67 win over Cal State Northridge Monday night at home ... the Rainbow Warriors led by just three points at halftime, but absolutely dominated after the break to win for the third time in four all-time appearances in ESPN’s College Hoops Tipoff Marathon event ... senior Zane Johnson picked up right where he left of last year, scoring a game-high 24 points, including six three-pointers ... Trevor Wiseman enjoyed his best game yet as a Rainbow Warrior, recording his first career double-double (19 points, 16 rebounds) while leading the team with his hustle and energy ... junior center Vander Joaquim had 12 points and eight rebounds and freshman point guard Shaquille Stokes finished with 14 points and five assists in his collegiate debut ... UH now heads to the road for a showdown in Vancouver with No. 22 Gonzaga on Saturday, Nov. 19.
Idaho Vandals (1-1, 0-0 WAC)
Idaho is 1-1 after its first two games of the season ... the Vandals opened the season on the road with a 69-61 setback at Long Beach State ... the team then returned home to defeat Concordia 77-61 on Monday ... Idaho entered Saturday’s season-opener as 13-point road underdogs in front of a packed house at Long Beach State, but the young Vandals battled for 40 minutes in a 69-61 loss ... a pair of seniors led Idaho in scoring, as guard Deremy Geiger put in 13 points, while forward Djim Bandoumel came off the bench and hit 5-of-6 from the floor, 3-of-3 from the free throw line for 13 points and added four rebounds ... versus Concordia, Geiger led UI with 19 points and five assists ... Geiger hit five three-point field goals in the game ... Idaho now travels to Missoula to take on Montana Thursday night at 7 p.m. MT
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (1-0, 0-0 WAC)
Senior Trevor Gaskins scored 17 points and sophomore Cordarius Johnson added 16 points to lead Louisiana Tech to a 92-70 win over Mississippi College in the season opener for the Bulldogs Sunday afternoon at the Thomas Assembly Center ... the victory opened the Michael White era at Tech as the first year head coach saw his team shoot 47 percent (37-78) from the field in the game, including an impressive 55 percent (21-38) in a second half where the Bulldogs pulled away for the win ... sophomore Lonnie Smith added 13 points while junior J.L. Lewis chipped in with 10 points and a career-high four assists as Tech shot 12-of-34 from the three-point line and outrebounded Mississippi College 50-37 ... the Bulldogs return to action Saturday when the team travels to Texas-Arlington.
Nevada Wolf Pack (0-2, 0-0 WAC)
Nevada is 0-2 to start the season with a pair of losses to Missouri State at home and Nevada in Las Vegas ... Kevin Panzer scored 10 points to lead the Wolf Pack in the 68-46 loss to Missouri State ... Nevada shot 13-of-50 from the field, including 5-of-25 from 3-point range against Missouri State ... in the 71-67 loss at UNLV, sophomore guard Deonte Burton led Nevada with a career-high 28 points, 20 of which came in the first half ... Burton’s 3-pointer from the right sideline with 22 seconds left in the game cut the Rebels’ lead to 68-67 ... Malik Story, who had 19 points, missed a potential tying 3-pointer from the left sideline with five seconds left ... next up for Nevada will be a home matchup with Pacific on Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. PT
New Mexico State Aggies (1-0, 0-0 WAC)
New Mexico State had a strong second-half effort to collect an 89-75 win at Northern Colorado in the season opener last week ...the Aggies had four players in double-figures ... redshirt senior forward Wendell McKines posted his 28th career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds in his return ... sophomore guard Christian Kabongo scored a game-high 20 points, while senior guard Hernst Laroche added 13 ... junior forward Bandja Sy also contributed to the offense with 13 second-half points including a 3-for-4 showing at the 3-point line ... the Aggies avenged last season’s ESPNU BracketBuster loss to the Bears with a 14-point second-half advantage ... the Aggies travel to Albuquerque for the first in-state rivalry game of the season against New Mexico, Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 8 p.m.
San Jose Spartans (1-1, 0-0 WAC)
San Jose State is 1-1 through its first two games of the season ... the Spartans dropped a 79-52 decision at Cal Poly before returning home to beat UC Irvine 51-50 ... at Cal Poly, Keith Shamburger and Wil Carter paced the Spartans offense with 13 and 12 points, respectively ... versus UC Irvine, Shamburger converted two free throws with 6.2 seconds left and San Jose State was the beneficiary of a UC Irvine basket overturned at the buzzer by replay as the Spartans came away with a victory ... Shamburger led SJSU in scoring with 12 points and made all four of his second-half free throws ... the Spartans hit their last 12 free throw tries, were 15-of-17 from the free throw line in the last 20 minutes and 16-of-20 for the game ... San Jose State has a day to get ready for a Nov. 16 game at the San Francisco. Game time at the Hilltop will be 8:20 p.m. PT
Utah State Aggies (1-0, 0-0 WAC)
Senior guard Brockeith Pane netted 17 second-half points and spearheaded an 11-0 Utah State run to lead the Aggies to a 69-62 win over Brigham Young Friday night at a loud, packed Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in both teams’ season-opening game ... down 42-38 after two free throws by BYU’s Brandon Davies at the 11:03 mark, USU reeled off 11 unanswered points, as freshman guard Steven Thornton hit a driving lay-up, followed by a Pane jumper to knot the score at 42-all, forcing a BYU timeout ... it was to little avail as senior forward Morgan Grim had back-to-back blocks and sophomore guard Preston Medlin hit a three-pointer from the left wing at the 9:02 mark and USU never looked back ... Pane capped the spurt with a jumper for a 49-42 lead with 6:57 to play and the Cougars never got within five points from there on out ... Utah State continues in-state against Weber State on Tuesday night in Ogden, Utah.
WAC NOTES
UTAH STATE’S BROCKEITH PANE NAMED VERIZON WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Utah State’s Brockeith Pane has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 7-13. The honor marks the first career WAC Player of the Week award for Pane.
Pane, a senior guard from Dallas, Texas (Oak Ridge HS), led Utah State to a season-opening 69-62 win against in-state rival Brigham Young. Pane scored a game-high 21 points with five assists, four rebounds and three steals. He connected on 6-of-10 field goals and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. For Pane, it is his fourth-career 20-point game and 23rd career double-figure scoring game.
Other nominees included: Fresno State sophomore guard Kevin Olekaibe … Idaho senior forward Djim Bandoumel … Louisiana Tech sophomore guard Cordarius Johnson … Nevada sophomore forward Kevin Panzer … New Mexico State sophomore guard Christian Kabongo.
WEEK 1 WAC RECAP
The WAC holds a 7-5 record in non-conference play through Monday night. Four WAC teams (UH, LT, NMSU, USU) have opened the season with perfect 1-0 records. Fresno State, Idaho and San Jose State have split their first two contests of the season, while Nevada is 0-2 in its first two games.
UTAH STATE HOLDS NATION’S THIRD-LONGEST HOME WIN STREAK
Utah State has now won 32 straight home games to extend the third-longest home winning streak in the nation trailing Duke (37) and Kentucky (34). Overall, USU has won 84 of its last 86 home games and is 194-13 in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum under Morrill which includes a 94-5 record against non-conference opponents.
WAC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO LAS VEGAS
The 2012 WAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament will be held March 7-10 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas and will include all eight WAC teams. Ticket information and tournament format will be available soon at www.wacsports.com.
WAC RELEASES 2011-12 TELEVISION SCHEDULE
This season’s television schedule includes 20 total WAC games to be broadcast by either the ESPN family of networks and the WAC Sports Network (WSN). In all, one game will be shown on ESPN, two on ESPN2, two on ESPNU and five on ESPN Regional Television (ERT). In addition, the WAC Tournament championship game will also be shown on ESPN2. Additionally, games determined by ESPN’s BracketBuster could increase the number of WAC games broadcast by ESPN. WSN will broadcast a total of nine WAC regular season games.
ESPN SEARS BRACKETBUSTERS
For the 10th year in a row, the WAC has partnered with ESPN and several other top college basketball conferences for ESPN Sears BracketBusters, a weekend men’s basketball event matching potential NCAA tournament hopefuls against each other. All eight WAC teams will be a part of this year’s pool of teams. The event will be held February 18. The match-ups for Sears BracketBuster Saturday will be determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences about three weeks before the event.
TOURNAMENT OPPONENTS
WAC teams will play at least 10 non-conference games against opponents that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Nevada leads the conference with four games scheduled against last year’s NCAA Tournament opponents. Utah State will play two games against 2011 NCAA Tournament teams.