WAC NOTES
NEVADA’S BURTON NAMED VERIZON WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Nevada’s Deonte Burton has been named the Verizon Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 5-11. The honor marks the third career WAC Player of the Week award for Burton.
Burton, a sophomore guard from Los Angeles, Calif. (Compton Centennial HS), led the Wolf Pack to a pair of road victories over Arizona State and Montana last week. Burton began the week scoring a game-high 28 points in a 69-61 victory at Arizona State, connecting on 6-of-11 field goals, 3-of-6 three-pointers and 13-of-15 free throws. It was Nevada’s second consecutive victory over a Pac-12 opponent. In a 70-64 win at Montana, Burton again posted a game-high for the third consecutive outing scoring 21 points on 5-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-6 makes from beyond the arc. He finished the night against Montana with a game-high five assists without a turnover.
On the week, Burton averaged 24.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game. He shot 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from the field, 54.5 percent (6-of-11) from three-point range and 87.5 percent (21-of-24) from the free throw line.
Other nominees included: Fresno State senior guard Jonathan Wills … Hawai‘i junior forward Vander Joaquim … Idaho sophomore guard Stephen Madison … Louisiana Tech sophomore guard Cordarius Johnson … New Mexico State senior guard Hernst Laroche … Utah State sophomore guard Preston Medlin.
WEEK 5 WAC HIGHLIGHTS
Nevada went undefeated last week, picking up a pair of road victories. The Wolf Pack defeated Arizona State and Montana on the trip. Deonte Burton was named the WAC’s player of the Week after leading the team to the two road wins, averaging 24.5 points. Idaho went 2-1 last week with a pair of road wins. The Vandals downed both Oregon State and Montana on the trip. The Vandal guard combo of Deremy Geiger and Landon Tatum combined for 40 points with Geiger connecting on seven threes. Hawai‘i, Louisiana Tech and Utah State each went 1-1 last week.
WAC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO LAS VEGAS, TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY
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. All-session tickets for the 2012 Western Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament presented by Verizon are available for purchase on Friday. All-session tickets include access to each men’s and women’s tournament game, totaling 14 games in eight sessions. All-session tickets are on sale Friday through the Orleans Arena Box Office. Tickets will also be available for purchase through each WAC school’s ticket office. Fans are strongly encouraged to purchase tickets from their institution’s ticket office or online to avoid service fees associated with ticket sales through the Orleans Arena. Single-session tickets, which allow access to the two games listed in the session will be sold only on the day of the respective game, and can only be purchased through the Orleans Arena. Fans who wish to attend only the women’s tournament games may purchase a women’s tournament all-session ticket through the Orleans Arena ticket office.
INDIVIDUAL WAC SINGLE-GAME PERFORMANCES RANK NATIONALLY
New Mexico State’s Christian Kabongo connected on a perfect 15-of-15 free throws against Southern Miss on Nov. 25 at the Great Alaska Shootout. The 15-of-15 effort ranks as the second-best single game free throw mark in the nation this season. Utah State’s Preston Medlin hit eight three-point field goals in a win at Idaho State on Nov. 26. That performance is the fourth-best mark in the nation this season.
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.
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Fresno State Bulldogs (4-6, 0-0 WAC)
Fresno State went 0-2 last week with a pair of close road losses ... the Bulldogs fell 71-64 at Colorado before taking a 74-70 setback at Oregon ... at Colorado, Kevin Olekaibe, who recorded 17 of his game-high 26 in the second-half, extended his double-digit scoring streak to 11 consecutive games on 8-of-24 shooting with five 3-pointers and a perfect 5-for-5 night at the free throw line ... Tyler Johnson chipped in 11 points and Jonathan Wills produced eight points despite limited action due to foul trouble ... at Oregon, Wills scored a game-high 20 points, including a 7-for-7 clip at the free throw line to improve his team-leading charity stripe efficiency to 93.9 percent (43-for-46) through the first 10 games ... it also marked Wills’ third 20-point outing this year ... Fresno State returns home for Finals Week to wrap up the fall semester and hosts its last home game of 2011 on Saturday against Cal Poly at 7 p.m. PT
Hawai‘i Rainbow Warriors (3-4, 0-0 WAC)
Hawai‘i went 1-1 last week with a 64-54 loss at Pacific before a 74-61 victory at home against UC Davis ... at Pacific, Joston Thomas led UH with 11 points, while Vander Joaquim came off the bench to add 10 points and six rebounds for the ‘Bows ... leading scorer Zane Johnson had another rough outing, scoring just nine points for the second straight game on 2-of-10 shooting ... in the win against UC Davis, Joaquim recorded his first double-double of the season and ninth of his career with 16 points and 15 rebounds, while Johnson regained his shooting touch with a game-high 19 points ... Jeremiah Ostrowski, got the starting nod just four days after joining the team following the conclusion of the football season, finishing with a game-high eight assists in 24 minutes played ... UH will next head to the neighbor islands to play UH Hilo at Kealakehe Gym on Dec. 16 then head to Maui against North Carolina A&T.
Idaho Vandals (6-4, 0-0 WAC)
Idaho went 2-1 last week ... the team dropped a heartbreaking 66-64 decision at home against Washington State ... Idaho then went on the road to defeat Oregon State 74-60 and Seattle U 73-62 ... versus WSU, the Cougars knocked down a shot with 0.9 seconds remaining to take the win ... Sophomore Stephen Madison led the Vandals with an 18-point, five-rebound effort on 7-of-10 shooting, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range ... at Oregon State, Deremy Geiger was the star of the show with a career-high 27 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including a blistering 7-of-9 from 3-point range ... at Seattle U, sophomore Stephen Madison led Idaho with a team-high 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting, in addition to seven rebounds, three assists and one steal ... next up for Idaho will be a matchup with CSU Bakersfield at home on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. PT.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (4-5, 0-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech went 1-1 last week with a 94-93 double overtime victory at home against Northwestern State ... the team dropped a 78-62 decision at Southern Miss ... freshman guard Raheem Appleby nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer in the second overtime to give the Louisiana Tech the win over intrastate rival Northwestern State ... Cordarius Johnson led the Bulldogs with career-high 23 points, going 4-for-8 from three-point range as five Tech players reached double-digits ... at Southern Miss, senior guard Trevor Gaskins scored 15 points to pace the Bulldogs ... Johnson and sophomore guard Lonnie Smith added 11 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench ... the Bulldogs return home to face in-state for McNeese State on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. (CT) in the Thomas Assembly Center.
Nevada Wolf Pack (7-3, 0-0 WAC)
Nevada went a perfect 2-0 last week with road victories at Arizona State (69-61) and at Montana (70-64) ... Deonte Burton scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half and Nevada knocked off its second straight Pac-12 opponent by beating Arizona State ... coming off an overtime win over Washington, Nevada grabbed the lead in a tight game with a couple of small runs in the second half and held Arizona State off down the stretch ... Burton had a career-high 31 against the Huskies and still had the touch going against the Sun Devils, hitting 6 of 11 shots from the field and 13 of 15 free throws ... Dario Hunt added 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Wolf Pack ... at Montana, Burton scored 21 points, Olek Czyz had 17 points and nine rebounds ... Malik Story added 11 points for the Wolf Pack, and he and Burton each nailed three 3-pointers ... Hunt had 10 points and 10 rebounds ... Nevada hosts UC Riverside on Dec. 17.
New Mexico State Aggies (5-4, 0-0 WAC)
New Mexico State dropped a 73-69 decision at UTEP in the team’s only game of the week ... senior guard Hernst Laroche led the Aggies with a season-high 16 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the 3-point line ... as a team, NM State hit a season-high 10 3-pointers ... junior forward Tyrone Watson was also in double figures with a season-high 11 points ... at 13:09, the Miners built an 18-point lead, 24-6, thanks to a box and one defense, which focused on Wendell McKines, who finished with 11 rebounds and four points ... at 3:37, NM State had a four-point lead, 67-63, following a lay-in from sophomore center Tshilidzi Nephawe ... the Aggies couldn’t hold off the Miners, who had a 10-2 run to end the game ... after opening the season with seven of their first nine games on the road, the Aggies begin a five-game home stand against Western New Mexico, Wednesday, Dec. 14.
San Jose Spartans (3-7, 0-0 WAC)
San Jose State went 0-2 last week ... the Spartans dropped an 81-36 decision at California before falling 47-40 at home against Cal Poly ... at California, freshman D.J. Brown had season highs of 11 points and 6 rebounds ... forward Wil Carter was the Spartans’ leading scorer with 13 points ... versus Cal Poly, Keith Shamburger was the game’s high scorer and the only Spartan in double figures with 19 points, 16 in the second half ... Shamburger scored San Jose State’s last seven points - all from the free throw line ... center Matt Ballard was the only Spartan to make more than half his field goal tries ... Ballard’s only shot attempt was San Jose State’s first basket of the game ... San Jose State’s next game is Dec. 20 at home against UC Davis.
Utah State Aggies (4-5, 0-0 WAC)
Utah State went 1-1 last week ... the team defeated Utah Valley 63-54 at home before dropping an 83-76 decision at Wichita State ... sophomore starting guard Preston Medlin netted a team-high 13 points and a career-high six assists, while Kyisean Reed added 11 points ... Danny Berger had 10 points, including seven in the second half, in only his second game of action, as USU led from start-to-finish to snap a two-game losing skid to avoid its first three-game losing streak since 2007-08 ... at Wichita State, Brockeith Pane led five Aggies in double-figures with 18 points, while Medlin added 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals ... Reed tied his season-high with 13 points, while Berger scored a season-best 12 points and sophomore forward Mitch Bruneel added a season-high 10 points ... Utah State returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 17 when it hosts future WAC member Seattle at 7 p.m.