WAC NOTES
DENVER’S O’NEALE NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Denver’s Royce O’Neale has been named the Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 10-16.
O’Neale, a sophomore forward from Killeen, Texas (Harker Heights HS), led the Pioneers to an 82-47 win at home against Nebraska-Omaha last week. O’Neale recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds against the Mavericks, his first double-double of the season and the fourth of his career. The sophomore hit 7-of-9 shots from the field, including a 1-of-1 mark from long range. He was also perfect from the free-throw line (2-of-2). O’Neale dished out four assists and tallied one steal.
Other nominees included: Idaho senior center Kyle Barone scored 15 points with six rebounds in a win over Walla Walla … Louisiana Tech sophomore forward Michale Kyser recorded a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double against McNeese State … Seattle U senior forward Chad Rasmussen averaged 17.5 points over two games last week … Utah State freshman guard Marcel Davis had 17 points and two steals in a win at Utah Valley.
WAC TOURNAMENT RETURNS TO LAS VEGAS
The 2013 WAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament will be held March 12-16 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas and will include all ten WAC teams. Ticket information and tournament format are available at www.wacbasketball.com
WEEK SIX RECAP
Idaho, Denver, UT Arlington, and Utah State each went a perfect 1-0 last week. Idaho defeated Walla Walla 91-47 behind Kyle Barone’s perfect day from the field (5-of-5) and free throw line (2-of-2). Denver downed Nebraska-Omaha 82-47 as Royce O’Neale led the Pioneers witha 17-point, 10-rebound double-double performance. UT Arlington defeated Houston Baptist 81-47 in only the team’s second home contest of the season. Jordan Reves notched his fourth double-double of the season with 13 rebounds and 10 points. Utah State’s Marcel Davis led the Aggies to a 69-63 win at Utah Valley. Davis netted a team-high 17 points in the win over the Wolverines.
WAC TEAMS/PLAYERS AMONG NATIONAL STATISTICAL LEADERS
As of Dec. 16, teams from the WAC rank in the top-10 in two team statistical categories and six individual categories. UT Arlington and Utah State hold the highest team marks. UTA ranks third nationally in field goal percentage defense, holding teams to a 33.4 percentage. Utah State ranks third in the nation in rebound margin at 15.0. Individually, Texas State’s Matt Staff holds the highest mark as he ranks first nationally with a 100 percent free-throw percentage. Staff is a perfect 33-for-33 at the charity stripe this season. San Jose State’s James Kinney ranks fifth in scoring at 22.6 points per game. UTSA’s Michael Hale III ranks second nationally with a 54.5 clip from long range. LA Tech’s Kenneth Smith ranks ninth in the nation with 3.09 steals per game. UTA’s Jordan Reves ranks seventh nationally in rebounding at 11.3 boards per game. LA Tech’s Michale Kyser ranks 10th in blocks per game at 3.18.
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Denver Pioneers (3-5, 0-0 WAC)
The Pioneers head north to take on a 10-0 Wyoming team in Laramie on Tuesday, followed by a home game against Southern Utah on Friday afternoon ... the last time the Pioneers won at Wyoming was an 86-82 victory on Nov. 17, 1998, DU’s first win after returning to NCAA Division I ... DU had six players score in double digits against future Summit League foe Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 15, the first time that has happened since Feb. 4, 2007 ... Chris Udofia had three blocks in the game, moving him past Ira Harge (1986-87) and tying Dwayne Russell (1980-82) on DU’s all-time career blocked shots list with 130 ... Royce O’Neale recorded his first double-double of the season – the fourth in his career – with 17 points and 10 rebounds ... DU shot 60.4 percent from the field in the game, marking its best shooting performance since making 62.9 percent (22-of-35) at Colorado State on Jan. 11.
Idaho Vandals (4-5, 0-0 WAC)
Idaho beat Walla Walla University on Saturday, 91-47 … it was the team’s largest win under head coach Don Verlin since a 101-47 victory over UC Irvine in 2008-09 … Idaho’s 50 first-half points and 27-point first-half lead are both highs since Verlin took over at Idaho … Idaho’s 91 points came from 12 players and no Vandal played more than 20 minutes in the game … Barone led Idaho to the win as he was perfect from the field on the day with makes on all five of his field goal and free throw attempts for a team-high 15 points … added six rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks in 17 minutes of play … Idaho had 50 rebounds in the game – their second 50-rebound game of the year and second of Verlin’s tenure … Idaho shot 52.5 percent from the floor and is now 44-6 under Verlin when shooting .500 or better from the field ... this week, Idaho travels to Boise to play Boise State at the Century Link Arena at 7 p.m. on Dec. 20.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (9-3, 0-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech dropped an 80-72 decision at McNeese State last week ... Michale Kyser recorded his first career double-double, including a season-high 10 points, in the loss to McNeese State ... Kyser registered four blocks, marking the sixth time in 11 games this season he has blocked at least four shots ... senior forward J.L. Lewis chipped in a team-high 14 points off the bench in the loss to McNeese State ... the 14 points was also a season-high ... all three of the Bulldogs losses have come on the road so far this season ... Tech also played on Monday of this week, defeating UALR 75-73 on the road ... Raheem Appleby , an Arkansas native, led the Bulldogs with a game-high 17 points ... LA Tech now heads into Christmas break having finished up their non-conference schedule with their next contest coming in 12 days on Dec. 29 at home against the Denver Pioneers at 7 p.m.
New Mexico State Aggies (5-5, 0-0 WAC)
New Mexico State fell at No. 17/20 New Mexico, 73-58 this past week ... sophomore guard Daniel Mullings scored a team-high 14 points for the Aggies ... freshman center Sim Bhullar and sophomore guard Terrel de Rouen added nine points each, while sophomore guard K.C. Ross-Miller had eight ... Cold shooting in the second half hampered the comeback as the Aggies only made three of their first 17 shots in the second period ... NM State then made 4-of-6 shots with five points from Mullings and a 3-pointer from de Rouen to cut UNM’s lead to 67-55 with 4:04 to play ... NM State shot 26.7 percent from the field in the second half (8-of-30) ... the Aggies return home for a pair of game before the WAC slate begins. NM State hosts New Mexico, Wednesday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. inside the Pan American Center in the rivalry rematch ... the Aggies also meet Missouri State, Saturday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. in Las Cruces.
San Jose State Spartans (5-4, 0-0 WAC)
San Jose State guard James Kinney led all players with 19 points, but Santa Clara University came up with a 75-54 win in the team’s lone game of the week ... the Broncos ended the Spartans’ three-game winning streak with a balanced scoring attack and a 12-0 run midway through the first half to take a double-digit that they would not relinquish the rest of the game ... Spartan forward Chris Cunningham, playing against his former team for the first time, was in early foul trouble ... Cunningham finished with 6 points and a season low 4 rebounds ending a five-game streak of double-figure rebound contests ... after Kinney, no other San Jose State player scored in double figures ... D.J. Brown managed to score 9 points, but was just 1-of-6 from the field ... San Jose State next plays Dec. 22 when the Spartans take on James Madison in a non-conference game in Las Vegas.
Seattle U Redhawks (3-5, 0-0 WAC)
It was rivalry week for Seattle U last week, as the Redhawks played two in-state foes ... Seattle U earned its first road victory of the season last Monday with a 75-69 victory at Eastern Washington ... Chad Rasmussen made his first start of the season and responded with a 16-point, four-rebound performance ... Clarence Trent contributed 11 points and nine rebounds ... Seattle U enjoyed its best shooting night of the young season, hitting 50 percent (30-of-60) of its field goal attempts ... unfortunately, the Redhawks fell victim to a season-best performance by the Washington Huskies Thursday at KeyArena, as UW won the crosstown battle, 87-74 ... Rasmussen once again led the Redhawks in scoring with 19 points ... Seattle U dropped a 81-82 decision to Jackson State at home on Monday night ... the team next hosts Northern Illinois on Wednesday.
UT Arlington Mavericks (5-2, 0-0 WAC)
UT Arlington opened with a 15-0 run and never looked back in routing Houston Baptist 81-47 in a nonconference game Thursday night at College Park Center ... the game against HBU was UTA’s lone contest of the week ... the Mavericks claimed their second consecutive victory on the strength of a stingy defense ... UTA took advantage of 15 turnovers by Houston Baptist (3-6) in the first half to build a commanding lead, capping the half with a Drew Charles buzzer-beating 3-pointer for a 47-21 edge at the break ... the 34-point spread was the biggest since UT Arlington’s 48-point blowout (96-48) against Nicholls on March 7 in the first round of last season’s Southland Conference Tournament ... Senior center Jordan Reves continues to lead the Mavericks on both ends of the floor ... Reves notched his fourth double-double on the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds ... UTA travels to play #24 Oklahoma State on Wednesday.
UTSA Roadrunners (3-6, 0-0 WAC)
UTSA did not play last week ... the team returns to play on Friday when the Roadrunners travel to play Texas A&M-Corpus Christi ... the Roadrunners last played on Dec. 8 at USC Upstate, where the team took an 88-77 loss ... the team has dropped five straight games ... UTSA’s last win came in a 67-59 win over USC Upstate at home on Nov. 17 ... the game on Friday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will be UTSA’s final non-conference game before the team opens WAC play at home against Utah State on Dec. 29.
Texas State Bobcats (4-7, 0-0 WAC)
Texas State gave Texas a good fight tonight, but the Longhorns came away with a 75-63 win at the Frank Erwin Center ... the Bobcats were down by eight points with 7:19 to go in the game, and then Reid Koenen delivered a fast break layup to the Longhorns, which forced Texas to call a timeout and talk things out ... Texas held a 58-52 edge over Texas State, but the Bobcats stayed right on their heels ... missed shots and turnovers haunted Texas State in the remaining minutes shifting the momentum to the home team ... the Longhorns were able to stay one step of the Bobcats by minimizing their turnovers in the final minutes to escape with the victory ... Matt Staff was the Bobcats’ top scorer with 15 points (6-of-6 FT) and six rebounds ... Koenen chipped in 10 points off the bench; all in the second half ... Texas State also dropped a 74-68 decision at Northwestern on Monday ... the team travels to play Central Michigan on Thursday.
Utah State Aggies (6-1, 0-0 WAC)
Utah State is now 6-1 for the first time since 2008-09 when USU also won its sixth game of the season at Utah Valley this past week ... the Aggies are now 5-0 this season when leading at the half and they have won 71 of their last 73 games (.973) when leading at intermission ... over the last 13 years, USU is 278-25 (.917) when holding a halftime lead ... Utah State is has out-rebounding its opponent in all seven games this season, improving to 6-1 when out-rebounding its opponent and the Aggies have had a double-digit rebounding margin in all seven games ... Saturday’s +15 advantage was right on their season average of +15.0 coming into the game, ranking third in the nation and one of 16 teams in the NCAA with a double-digit rebounding margin ... Utah State next hosts its annual World Vision Basketball Classic this week, welcoming Nicholls State, UC Davis and Southern Illinois.