WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs (2-2, 0-0 WAC)
Fresno State is 1-1 since the last WAC weekly release ... the Bulldogs defeated SMU 54-52 before falling Monday night to Manhatan, 85-83 ... against SMU, Kevin Olekaibe scored 24 points, including a 3-pointer with 26.1 seconds remaining to give Fresno State the lead for good in the win ... Olekaibe led Fresno State with his season-high 24 points to extend double-digit scoring streak to five straight games, which began March 5 when he put up 17 to fuel a 85-70 victory over Hawai’i in the Bulldogs’ regular 2010-11 season finale ... ... Olekaibe then scored 15 points in the final 3:13 to bring Fresno State back from a 14-point deficit to tie Manhattan Monday night, but a layup with four seconds remaining lifted Manhattan over the Bulldogs ... Olekaibe hit three 3-pointers in the final 1:24 and dropped in a pair of four-point plays to bring the Bulldogs back ... Fresno State plays UTSA Tuesday night in Fort Collins.
Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine (1-1, 0-0 WAC)
Hawai’i hung tough before eventually succumbing to No. 22 Gonzaga, 73-54,in the BC Basketball Classic Saturday night at the Rogers Arena ... the Rainbow Warriors were competitive for much of the game before a second-half dry spell that doomed them ... UH trailed by just one point with 12 minutes left, but Gonzaga (3-0) went on a 28-9 run the rest of the way to pull of the win ... freshman Shaquille Stokes led UH with 17 points, while Zane Johnson chipped in 12 points on four three-pointers ... Vander Joaquim recorded 12 rebounds before fouling out with a little more than five minutes left ... UH now returns home for a pair of home games beginning with a meeting versus Eastern Washington on Tuesday, Nov. 22 ... Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Idaho Vandals (1-2, 0-0 WAC)
Idaho dropped a 57-52 decision at Montana this past week ... Idaho shot just 21.4 percent in the first half against the Grizzlies and, despite dominating the second 20 minutes, couldn’t climb out of the hole ... Montana (2-1) build its early lead with an assault from the 3-point line after hitting seven of their 12 attempts in the first half ... sophomore guard Stephen Madison battled foul trouble early in the game and went scoreless in the first half, but rebounded to score all of his 14 points after the break on 5-of-5 shooting in the second half ... junior center Kyle Barone was a force in the paint on both sides throughout the game, as he posted 12 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high seven blocks ... Idaho returns to action in six days when they host a neutral-site game on Wednesday, Nov. 23, against Lewis-Clark State at CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho. That game will tip off at 6:05 p.m. (PDT).
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (1-1, 0-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech fell 68-61 to future WAC foe UT-Arlington (2-0) Saturday night at Texas Hall as senior guard Trevor Gaskins led the Bulldogs with a game-high 22 points ... after falling behind by seven, sophomore Lonnie Smith hit a three-pointer and Kyser tipped-in a missed Gaskins jumper to cut the deficit to 63-61 with 2:01 left in the game ... that would be as close as the Bulldogs would get as the Mavericks scored the final five points of the contest ... Tech was outshot 42-9 from the free throw line with 34 fouls called against the Bulldogs compared to 16 on the Mavericks ... along with Gaskin’s 22 points, sophomore Cordarius Johnson also scored in double-figures with 11 ... Gaskins also paced the Bulldogs with seven rebounds as Kyser blocked five shots ... LA Tech returns to action on Friday at the Jim Thorpe Classic against Maryland Eastern Shore at 5:30 p.m. in Laramie, Wyoming.
Nevada Wolf Pack (2-2, 0-0 WAC)
Nevada picked up a pair of wins this past week, defeating Pacific 78-54 on Thursday before downing Prairie View A&M 60-47 on Sunday ... Malik Story scored 18 points and Olek Czyz 17 against Pacific ... Jerry Evans Jr. and Kevin Panzer added 11 points each for the Wolf Pack versus Pacific ... Czyz had 15 points and Story 13 at halftime for Nevada, which shot 69 percent in the first half and finished the game at 58 percent shooting, hitting 28 of 48 shots ... Pacific was never closer than 20 points in the second half ... Dario Hunt had 13 rebounds for the Wolf Pack, which finished with a 49-25 rebounding edge ... against Prairie View, Evans, Jr. scored 11 points and Czyz added 10 ... Deonte Burton scored nine points as the Wolf Pack won the first-round Chicago Invitational game ...
Nevada will host Longwood in the second round of the Chicago Invitational while Prairie View A&M will be at BYU on Tuesday.
New Mexico State Aggies (3-0, 0-0 WAC)
New Mexico State won a pair of rivalry games this past week, winning 62-53 at New Mexico before downing UTEP 89-73 on Saturday ... at New Mexico, Wendell McKines led the way with 14 second-half points and a game-high nine rebounds ... junior forward Bandja Sy added 12 points including a late three-point play and critical blocked shot in the final 30 seconds of the game ... denior center Hamidu Rahman provided 10 points and five rebounds ... against UTEP, the Aggies improved to 3-0 for the first time since the 2003-04 season ... McKines scored a career-high 23 points along with 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the year ... Hernst Laroche, sophomore guard Christian Kabongo and Sy contributed 15 points each while sophomore center Tshilidzi Nephawe added 12 ... the Aggies now head to Anchorage, Alaska, for the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout, Nov. 24-26.
San Jose Spartans (1-3, 0-0 WAC)
San Jose State dropped a pair of games this past week, dropping an overtime thriller at San Franciso, 83-81 before falling 84-58 at Santa Clara ... at San Francisco, Keith Shamburger led all players with 23 points, 19 of them after intermission ... James Kinney added 19 points and almost won the game for San Jose State in overtime ... at Santa Clara, San Jose State struggled on both ends of the floor leading to a loss at Santa Clara ... Shamburger led San Jose State in scoring with 15 points, but was just 4-of-14 from the field ... Kinney was the only other double-figure scorer with 12 points ... unlike three nights earlier when the Spartans had a good shooting touch, San Jose State made just 29.6 percent of its field goal attempts ... the Spartans return home Tuesday, November 22, hosting Holy Names College in a 7:00 p.m. non-conference contest.
Utah State Aggies (2-1, 0-0 WAC)
Utah State split a pair of in-state games last week, falling 73-63 at Weber State before downing Southern Utah at home, 65-62 ... against Weber State, Utah State cut a Wildcat double-digit gap to six with 2:21 to play, but couldn’t get any closer ... the loss snapped the Aggies’ four-game win streak in the series with the Wildcats ... USU was led by senior forward Morgan Grim with a career-high 19 points, more than doubling his previous career-high of nine points ... senior guard Brockeith Pane added 14 points ... senior forward Brady Jardine pulled down a game and career-high 14 rebounds ... junior forward Kyisean Reed and freshman guard Steven Thornton each scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds off the bench to lead Utah State to a come-from-behind home win against Southern Utah Saturday ... Utah State returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 22 when it plays at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 6:30 p.m. (MT).
WAC NOTES
NEW MEXICO STATE’S MCKINES NAMED VERIZON WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
New Mexico State’s Wendell McKines has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 14-20. The honor marks the first career WAC Player of the Week award for McKines.
McKines, a senior forward from Oakland, Calif. (Richmond HS), led the Aggies to a pair of rivalry wins and a 3-0 start for the first time since the 2003-04 season. Scoring all 14 of his points in the second half, McKines led the Aggies to their first win in Albuquerque since 2002, defeating New Mexico 62-53. McKines had a game-high nine rebounds with two assists, a blocked shot and a steal against the Lobos. In NMSU’s 89-73 home-opening win over UTEP, McKines scored a career-high 23 points along with 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the year and 29th of his career. He was 5-of-13 from the field and a career-best 12-of-15 from the free throw line. He also had two assists and three steals.
On the week, McKines averaged 18.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 2.0 assists per game. He shot 37.0 percent (10-of-27) from the field and 75.0 percent (15-of-20) from the free throw line.
Other nominees included: Fresno State sophomore guard Kevin Olekaibe … Hawai‘i senior guard Zane Johnson … Louisiana Tech senior guard Trevor Gaskins … Nevada junior guard Malik Story … Utah State senior forward Morgan Grim.
WEEK 2 WAC RECAP
Highlighting the week two schedule was New Mexico State’s two victories over in-state rivals New Mexico and UTEP. Nevada got back on track after falling at UNLV on Monday, picking up a pair of victories at home against Pacific and Prairie View A&M.
NEW MEXICO STATE OFF TO FIRST 3-0 START SINCE 2003-04 SEASON
After a pair of rivalry wins, the Aggies improved to 3-0 for the first time since the 2003-04 season. In the home opener, NM State beat I-10 rival UTEP, 89-73, Nov. 19. The Aggies have four players in double figures with redshirt senior Wendell McKines leading the way with 18.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. Junior forward Bandja Sy and sophomore guard Christian Kabongo are adding 13.3 points and 13.0 points per game, respectively.
HOME COOKIN’
WAC teams hold a combined 10-1 record at home this season. Utah State holds the best mark at home with a 2-0 record. The WAC’s only home loss this season was a setback at Nevada by Missouri State. On the road this season, WAC teams hold a combined 2-9 mark.
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.
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.