WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos (17-11, 9-6 WAC)
Boise State went 2-0 on the road this past week with a 70-56 victory at Fresno State before a 72-66 win at Nevada ... at Fresno State, La’Shard Anderson scored a career-high 33 points, leading the Boise State to its win ... Anderson, who scored his 33 points on just 14 attempts, knocked down 11 field goals – including four 3-pointers – and went 7-of-8 from the free throw line ... at Nevada, Anderson scored a team-high 23 points ... Daequon Montreal added 16 points – all in the second half – and Robert Arnold chipped in 12 and a team-high eight rebounds ... this week, Boise State will close out regular season play at home against Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday before closing WAC play at home against San Jose State on Saturday.
Fresno State Bulldogs (13-15, 5-9 WAC)
Fresno State went 0-1 last week with a 70-56 loss at home to Boise State ... Fresno State couldn’t find an answer for La’Shard Anderson or a nasty BSU full-court press ... at the end of the night, the Dogs could not get in sync and were outgunned by the Bronco sharpshooter in the loss ... the Dogs were coming off consecutive dominating wins and looking to build some momentum heading into the final three WAC games ... despite a solid first half in which they lead for nearly 19 minutes, the Dogs could not handle a 17-3 Bronco run to open the second half that put the game out of reach ... Kevin Olekaibe was Fresno State’s only consistent scoring threat, sclring 16 of the first 34 points by the Dogs and finished the game with 23 points.
Hawai‘i Rainbow Warriors (17-10, 7-7 WAC)
Hawai‘i wrapped up its regular season home slate with a pair of wins last week ... the Rainbow Warriors defeated Louisiana Tech 71-58 before downing New Mexico State 76-60 ... versus LA Tech, Bill Amis led four ‘Bows in double figures with 18 points ... Zane Johnson filled the scoring column again with 16 points ... against NM State, UH sent its three departing seniors—Bill Amis, Douglas Kurtz and Hiram Thompson—out as winners in their final home appearance ... Johnson led the way with 22 points, including a critical three pointer late in the game to seal the win ... Vander Joaquim recorded 18 points and 15 rebounds ... Amis put together a double-double of his own with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Idaho Vandals (16-12, 8-7 WAC)
Idaho went 1-1 during the week with a 67-59 road win at Nevada and an 84-68 loss at RV/No. 23 Utah State … Idaho’s win gave the Vandals their first sweep of the Wolf Pack in 12 years … Thursday’s game at Reno marked the 10th time this year that Idaho has held an opponent below 40 percent shooting – all wins … Idaho is now 23-1 under Don Verlin when holding its opponents under 60 points … Thursday’s win at Nevada was its eighth road victory of the season, which is the most since 1989-90 ... this week, Idaho hosts Fresno State on Thursday (WAC Sports Network) before stepping out of conference to host Seattle on Saturday.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (12-18, 2-12 WAC)
Louisiana Tech went 0-2 this past week with a 71-58 loss at Hawai’i and a 72-60 loss at San Jose State ... with the loss at San Jose State, Tech finished the season with a 2-14 road record and will finish in ninth place in the WAC ... Olu Ashaolu recorded his 16th double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds against the Spartans ... he currently ranks 11th in the nation in double-doubles and 32nd in rebounds with 9.5 ... with CJ Scott making his first start of the season against the Spartans, every Bulldog has now started at least one game ... Tech has now had 13 different starting lineups this season ... Scott, a junior walk-on, made the most of his start, scoring a career-high 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Nevada Wolf Pack (11-17, 7-7 WAC)
Nevada went 0-2 this past week with a 67-59 setback at home to Idaho before a 72-66 loss to Boise State ... Olek Czyz had his second double-double of the season with 25 pts and 11 rebounds vs. Boise State ... the 11 rebounds tied his career high ... Nevada lost consecutive home games for the first time this season falling to Idaho and Boise State last week ... junior forward Dario Hunt tied his career high with 19 rebounds in the Idaho game which is also the high in the WAC
this season ... earlier this year he had 19 rebounds against San Jose State ... the 19 rebounds was his 14th double figure rebounding game of the season, 21st time he led the Pack in rebounding this season and 18th game high total of the year.
New Mexico State Aggies (14-15, 8-6 WAC)
New Mexico State went 0-2 on its final WAC road trip of the season ... the Aggies dropped a 72-70 overtime decision at San Jose State before taking a 76-70 setback at Hawai‘i ... at SJSU, the Aggies had four players in double-figures with Troy Gillenwater posting a team-high 18 points ... Tyrone Watson and Christian Kabongo supplied 11 each, while B.J. West scored a career-high 10 points ... at UH, Kabongo scored a career-high 22 points ... Hernst Laroche scored 15 points and senior guard Gordo Castillo added 14 for the Aggies ... this week, New Mexico State wraps up regular season play at home against Utah State on Wednesday and Nevada on Saturday.
San Jose Spartans (15-12, 5-9 WAC)
San Jose State went 2-0 at home last week ... the Spartans defeated New Mexico State 72-70 in overtime before downing Louisiana Tech 72-60 ... against NM State, SJSU students rushed the floor after a home game at The Event Center, celebrating Adrian Oliver scoring a game-high 36 points, Justin Graham setting the school career assist record and center Matt Ballard making one-of-two free throws with 0.7 seconds left at the end of the second half as San Jose State defeated the Aggies ... versus LA Tech, Adrian Oliver scored 16 of his game-high 23 points in an 8:04 span of the first-half to leads SJSU to the win ... San Jose State forward Wil Carter was the only other player in the game to score in double figures with 10 points.
Utah State Aggies (26-3, 13-1 WAC)
Utah State went 1-0 last week with an 84-68 victory over Idaho in the team’s final home game of the season ... USU had a lot to celebrate Saturday night at a packed Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, honoring its six seniors in a pre-game ceremony, then the 23rd-ranked Aggies went out and routed Idaho ... after the game, USU cut down the nets for its fourth-straight WAC regular-season championship .... the six Aggie seniors, who are the winningest senior class in school history with a four-year record of 106-27, combined to score 58 points Saturday, led by forward Tai Wesley’s game-high 22 points, his seventh 20-point outing of the season ... this week, USU closes out regular season play at New Mexico State Wednesday night and at LA Tech 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 Feb. 21–27. The honor marks the second WAC Player of the Week award of the season for Anderson.
Anderson, a senior guard from San Diego, Calif. (Irvine Valley College), led Boise State to a pair of road wins last week at Fresno State (70-56) and Nevada (72-66). With the team’s road sweep last week, Boise State moved from fourth place to second place in the conference standings.
Anderson scored a career-high 33 points at Fresno State on 11-of-14 shooting (.786), including 4-of-6 from three-point range (.667) and 7-of-8 from the free throw line (875). He also recorded a game-high four assists and a team-high three steals. He scored a team-high 23 points at Nevada, going 7-of-11 from the floor. He was 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and 7-of-10 from the charity stripe against the Wolf Pack. His five assists and three steals tied for the game highs in both categories.
For the week, Anderson averaged 28.0 points, 4.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game. He shot 18-of-25 (72.0 percent) from the field, 6-of-10 (60.0 percent) from three-point range and 14-of-18 (77.8 percent) from the free throw line.
Other nominees included
: Hawai‘i junior Zane Johnson … Idaho senior Jeff Ledbetter … Nevada junior Olek Czyz … San Jose State senior Adrian Oliver … Utah State senior Tai Wesley.
WAC TOURNAMENT HEADS TO LAS VEGAS NEXT WEEK, 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.
UTAH STATE SECURES FOURTH-STRAIGHT WAC REGULAR SEASON TITLE
Utah State won its third-straight outright WAC regular season championship and fourth-straight league title overall without even playing as New Mexico State, the WAC’s second-place team, lost at San Jose State (72-70 OT) Wednesday night. Utah State has now won the last four regular season WAC titles as it shared the regular season championship in 2008 with a 12-4 mark, and won the conference outright in 2009 and 2010 with identical 14-2 league records. With its regular season WAC Championship, Utah State is guaranteed a bid to the National Invitation Tournament, extending its current school record run of consecutive postseason appearances to 12 straight as the Aggies have played in the NCAA Tournament seven times and the NIT four times in the past 11 years. Along with securing its 12-straight postseason appearance, Utah State is also one of just two teams in the nation to win at least 23 games in each of the last 12 seasons along with Kansas.
SECOND PLACE UP FOR GRABS AS REGULAR SEASON HEADS INTO FINAL WEEK
With the WAC regular season heading into its final week of play, only two things are clear. Utah State has secured the top seed at next week’s tournament and Louisiana Tech has been eliminated from tournament play.The other seven WAC teams are fighting on improving their seeds for next week’s event. Only 1.5 games separates second place from sixth place.
UTAH STATE MOVES UP TO NO. 21 ESPN/USA TODAY COACHES’ POLL, NO. 25 IN AP POLL
For the sixth straight week, Utah State maintained its top 25 ranking and is now 21st in the nation in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll released Monday and 25th in the latest Associated Press Poll. Utah State was ranked 23rd in last week’s coaches’ poll and 26th in last week’s AP poll. Overall, it is the second time in the last three years and the third time in the past eight seasons that Utah State has been nationally ranked. Its current run of being ranked for six consecutive weeks in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll is a school record, bettering the 2003-04 team that was ranked for five straight weeks. Prior to this season, the last time a USU team was ranked for more than six straight weeks was during the 1970-71 season when that team was ranked in the Associated Press poll for 11 straight weeks.
WAC WEDNESDAY NIGHTS ON ESPN2
ESPN2 hosts WAC basketball games on Wednesday nights hoops five times this season. Wednesday night, March 2, will mark the final contest of five Wednesday night WAC games featured on ESPN2 when New Mexico State hosts Utah State at 9 p.m. (MT).
WAC TEAMS AMONG NATIONAL STAT LEADERS
As of Feb. 27, teams from the WAC rank in the top-25 in nine team statistical categories. Individual WAC players rank in the top-25 in seven individual categories. Utah State holds the highest team mark as it ranks sixth in the nation in rebound margin at 8.7. Individually, San Jose State’s Adrian Oliver ranks third nationally in scoring at 24.3 ppg.
WAC AND THE RPI
After starting the season with a conference RPI of 22, the WAC has climbed its way to the No. 13 spot, one position ahead of the WCC and just behind the Missouri Valley. Utah State hold’s the league’s top team RPI, coming in at No. 18 this week, according to collegerpi.com.
WAC TEAMS GO A COMBINED 8-1 IN ESPN SEARS BRACKETBUSTERS
For an ninth-straight year, the WAC participated in BracketBusters -- a two-day men’s college basketball event pitting NCAA Tournament hopefuls. WAC teams went a combined 8-1 in those matchups. Utah State won the event’s featured game, defeating 23rd-ranked Saint Marys, 75-65 on ESPN2.
WAC Televised BracketBusters Games
Sat., 2/19, #17 Utah State def. #23 Saint Mary’s, 75-65 (ESPN2 HD)
WAC Non-Televised BracketBusters Games
Boise State def. UC Santa Barbara, 78-76 (OT)
Hawai‘i def. UC Davis, 83-69
Idaho def. Montana State, 65-50
Fresno State def. UC Riverside, 68-49
Louisiana Tech def. Georgia State, 51-45
Nevada def. UC Irvine, 74-63
Northern Colorado def. New Mexico State, 82-80
San Jose State def. Weber State, 62-46
IDAHO UPSETS UTAH STATE, ENDS AGGIES RECORD-SETTING WIN STREAKS
Idaho junior Deremy Geiger had a team-high 12 points, leading the Vandals to a 64-56 victory over No. 21/17 Utah State at the Cowan Spectrum on Feb. 10. Utah State entered the game with a 17-game overall winning streak and a WAC-record 25 consecutive conference wins. That 17-game winning streak for Utah State ranked as the third-longest winning streak in the nation and was tied with the 2003-04 and 2009-10 teams for the third-longest winning streak in school history.
UTAH STATE BREAKS WAC RECORD FOR CONSECUTIVE WAC GAMES WON
Utah State won a WAC record 25 straight league games before losing at Idaho on Feb. 10. USU’s 25-game WAC win streak breaks Utah’s mark of 19 straight during the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons.
UTAH STATE HOLDS NATION’S THIRD-LONGEST HOME WIN STREAK
Utah State has won 31 straight home games, which is the third-longest active winning streak in the nation behind Duke (35) and Kentucky (33). Overall, USU has won 83 of its last 85 home games, including 15 straight non-conference games at home. The Aggies last home loss came against Saint Mary’s (68-63) on Dec. 5, 2009 as the Gaels snapped USU’s school-record 37-game home winning streak.
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.
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 320-102 directing the Aggie program and is the winningest coach in school history and is first all-time in games coached with 422. All-time, Morrill is now 538-240 in 25 years as a collegiate head coach.