WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Bakersfield Roadrunners (3-1, 0-0 WAC)
Bakersfield starts 2-1 for the second time in three seasons under head coach Rod Barnes ... the win against Sacramento State was the 800th for the program (800-422 all-time) ... Bakersfield improved its Icardo Center record to 182-22 all-time with the wins this past week ... senior guard Matt Ratto led Bakersfield against UC Merced, scoring 15 points in just eight minutes of play ... the senior came into the game with 13 minutes remaining and was 5-6 from three-point range ... the Roadrunners showcased their versatility this week with nine of the 11 players used scoring in double digits ... CSUB shot a combined .539 from the field (62-115) and .500 from three-point range (19-38) in two games ... CSUB also picked up a 74-66 win over Nevada on Monday, marking the first Mountain West Conference victory for the ‘Runners ... CSUB hosts Idaho State on Saturday.
Chicago State Cougars (2-3, 0-0 WAC)
Since arriving last season as a junior college transfer, senior Matt Ross has started in 36 of 37 Chicago State games ... the only game he didn’t start was Senior Night last season against Eastern Illinois when then senior Quincy Ukaigwe started for him instead ... the Cougars are forcing better than 20 turnovers per game over their first four contests ... the Cougars travel to Illinois on Friday (Nov. 22) for an 8 p.m. start ... the game will be aired live on the Big Ten Network ... the game will be the final of four straight for the Cougars in the Global Sports Invitational ... the Cougars have already had three 20-point performances this season ... last year Chicago State didn’t have a Cougar score 20 points in a game until Matt Ross scored 20 vs. DePaul (Dec. 5, 2013), 10 games into the season ... he was one of only five 20 point performances all season.
Grand Canyon Antelopes (1-2, 0-0 WAC)
Grand Canyon notched its first win as a member of Division I, defeating Western New Mexico 91-41 ... the 50 point win mark is the highest since winning by 63 on Jan. 11, 2007 vs. Southwestern ... Grand Canyon shot a season-high 51.7 percent for the game ... the team outrebounded the Mustangs 54-28 ... leading the long list of GCU players to establish career-highs was Demetrius Walker, who recorded his first-career 20-point game, finishing with 21 to surpass his previous-high of 19 points, which he had done for the third time in GCU’s last game against San Diego on Nov. 9 ... Jeremy Adams had a career-best 14 points, surpassing his previous high of 10, which he set with Colorado on Jan. 26, 2012 at USC ... this week, Grand Canyon travels to Salt Lake City to play three games in the Global Sports Hoops Showcase ... GCU will play Utah, Savannah Stae and Lamar.
Idaho Vandals (2-1, 0-0 WAC)
Idaho went 1-1 last week ... the team dropped an 85-65 decision at Oklahoma before returning home to defeat Northwest Nazarene, 78-64 ... Connor Hill had a career-high 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting with three 3-pointers in Idaho’s win over NW Nazarene, and converted his first four-point play of the season in that game ... he also went 5-for-5 from the free throw line in the game and went 6-for-7 for the week ... he averaged 14.5 points and 2.5 3-pointers made per game for the week, and shot 47.5 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from 3-point range and 85.7 percent from the free throw line as Idaho improved to 2-1 on the season ... the Vandals will play nine of their next 10 games outside of Moscow, including a home game against Idaho State at CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho ... Idaho’s only game in Moscow during that stretch will be against Washington State in the Cowan Spectrum on Dec. 7.
Kansas City Kangaroos (0-3, 0-0 WAC)
Kansas City went 0-2 last week ... the Kangaroos dropped a 96-70 decision at Creighton before falling 101-71 at Nebraska-Omaha ... the ‘Roos had five players in double figures against Creighton, led by Hall with 15, while Martez Harrison tallied 12, Frank Williams had 11, Kirksey had 10, and freshman center Isaac Kreuer had a career-best 10 points and eight rebounds ... at Omaha, the bright spot was senior Fred Chatmon on the inside, scoring a career-best 23 points and grabbing nine rebounds ... the other two players in double figures for UMKC were John Burke with 12 points and Harrison with 11 ... this week, UMKC looks to get back on track with a Wednesday game at Tennessee Martin.
New Mexico State Aggies (3-1, 0-0 WAC)
New Mexico State went 2-0 on the week with a 95-88 win at Hawai‘i and an 86-73 win at home over rival UTEP ... at Hawaii, K.C. Ross-Miller hit 10-straight free throws in the last :37 seconds of the game and Remi Barry scored a career-high 18 points to give New Mexico State the boost it needed to defeat Hawai’i 95-88 in the final game of the Outrigger Hotels and Resort Rainbow Classic ... Daniel Mullings, who earned all-tournament team honors, scored a team-high 21 points against the Rainbow Warriors ... in the win over UTEP, the Aggies were led by Mullings who finished with a game-high 26 points ... he went 9-of-14 from the field and sank eight of his 13 free-throw attempts ... Sim Bhullar also finished with double-digit points, netting 11 points while also adding six rebounds ... this week, NM State hosts Northern Colorado on Wednesday before traveling to play UTEP on Saturday.
Seattle U Redhawks (2-1, 0-0 WAC)
Seattle U rallied from an 18-point second half deficit, including a 14-point deficit with just 4:24 remaining in the second half, to defeat Cal State Fullerton, 75-71, in the Elgin Baylor Classic last Wednesday at KeyArena ... Jarell Flora led all players with a career-high 25 points, hitting five three-pointers, all of them coming in the second half ... Isiah Umipig finished with 24 points and eight assists, and Luiz Bidart made three long distance shots, including the go-ahead basket with one minute left in regulation ... Seattle U used a 21-0 run in the first half to cruise to a 100-59 victory over Evergreen State ... Umipig finished with 19 points, as did Deshaun Sunderhaus as part of a double-double, as Sunderhaus also pulled down 11 rebounds ... SU pulled down more offensive rebounds (35) than Evergreen State had total boards (28) ... SU finished with 68 rebounds, the most in a single game during Cameron Dollar’s tenure as head coach.
Texas-Pan American Broncs (2-4, 0-0 WAC)
Texas-Pan American went 2-3 last week ... the team played five games in seven days last week ... UTPA opened the week with a 77-65 loss to Houston ... the Broncs then bounced back to defeated Huston-Tillotson 81-78 and Tennessee Tech 81-78 ... the team then wrapped up play with a pair of losses, a 66-60 setback to IPFW and a 72-61 loss to Texas A&M Corpus Christi ... Javorn Farrell led UTPA over the five games ... he led the Broncs in scoring in each of the five contests ... he earned all-tournametn honors at the Holiday Inn Downtown Marina Islanders tournament after averaging 20.5 points over the four games ... Farrell hit career-high tying nine field goals vs. IPFW ... Farrell attempted career-high tying 16 field goals vs. Tennessee Tech and IPFW ... Texas-Pan Americn travels to play UTSA on Thursday.
Utah Valley Wolverines (2-1, 0-0 WAC)
Utah Valley went 1-1 in back-to-back games last week ... the Wolverines defeated 2013 NCAA Tournament team North Carolina A&T 78-71 on Monday night ... UVU then dropped a 93-40 decision at No. 8 Oklahoma State on Tuesday night ... in the win over A&T, Holton Hunsaker led UVU with 16 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists ... Ben Aird recorded his first double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Mitch Bruneel added 14 points and five boards to lift the Wolverines to their first 2-0 start since the 2008-09 season ... at OSU, Hayes Garrity and Keawe Enos both scored eight points to lead UVU with Ben Aird and Zach Nelson adding seven apiece ... Aird and Mitch Bruneel each grabbed six rebounds ... Utah Valley travels to play No. 18 Oregon on Tuesday night before playing at Pepperdine on Saturday.
WAC NOTES
NEW MEXICO STATE’S MULLINGS NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
New Mexico State’s Daniel Mullings has been named Western Athletic Conference men’s basketball Player of the Week for Nov. 11-17.
Mullings, a junior guard from Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Laurier), led the Aggies to a pair of wins last week against Hawai‘i and UTEP. Mullings scored 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting in a 95-88 win at Hawai‘i. He went 1-for-1 from beyond the arc and connected on 8-of-12 free throws. He also tallied five assists, two rebounds, one block and a steal. Mullings was named to the Rainbow Classic all-tournament team. In an 86-73 win over rival UTEP, Mullings scored a game-high 26 points. He connected on 9-of-14 shots (64.3 percent) from the field and hit 8-of-13 free throws. Mullings also registered two assists, two steals and a rebound in the win.
Overall on the week, Mullings averaged 23.5 points, 3.5 assists, 1.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 0.5 blocks per game. He shot 60 percent (15-of-25) from the field, 50 percent (1-of-2) from beyond the arc and 64 percent (16-of-25) from the free throw line.
Other nominees included: Bakersfield junior Javonte Maynor averaged 13.5 points in a pair of wins … Chicago State senior forward Matt Ross averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds as CSU went 1-1 last week … Grand Canyon senior guard Demetrius Walker scored a career-high 21 points in a win over Western New Mexico … Idaho junior guard Connor Hill scored a career-high 22 points in a win over Northwest Nazarene … Seattle U junior guard Isiah Umipig averaged 21.5 points and 5.5 assists in two wins … Texas-Pan American senior guard Javorn Farrell averaged 19.6 points and 4.0 rebounds over five games last week.
WAC RPI ON THE RISE
As of Nov. 19, the WAC’s RPI as a conference has moved up to 12 out of 32 conferences, according to WarrenNolan.com. Bakersfield holds the best RPI in the league at 82, followed by Idaho and Seattle U who are tied at 84.
UVU’S HUNSAKER NAMED ONE OF 30 CANDIDATES FOR SENIOR CLASS AWARD®
Utah Valley University senior Holton Hunsaker has been named one of 30 candidates for the men’s basketball Senior CLASS Award® for the 2013-14 season.To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition. Hunsaker is coming off of a season in which he was named the Great West Conference’s Male Scholar Athlete of the Year, to the I-AAA Athletic Director’s All-Academic Team, to the Capital One Academic All-District Team, to the Great West All-Academic Team and first-team All-Great West Conference. He is the only male athlete from the WAC to be a named a candidate. The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2014 NCAA Men’s Final Four®.
KEY NON-CONFERENCE MATCHUPS
WAC teams have several key non-conference matchups this season, including 20 games against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season. The complete list is below.
Games vs. ‘13 NCAA Tournament Teams
Nov. 8 Chicago State at Indiana, L 72-100
Nov. 11 Kansas City at Creighton, L 70-96
Nov. 11 UNC A&T at Utah Valley, W 78-71
Nov. 12 Utah Valley at Oklahoma St., L 40-93
Nov. 13 Idaho at Oklahoma, L 65-85
Nov. 19 Seattle U at Boise State
Nov. 19 Utah Valley at Oregon
Nov. 22 Chicago State at Illinois
Nov. 25 Kansas City at Iowa State
Nov. 30 New Mexico State at Colorado State
Dec. 4 Kansas City at Louisville
Dec. 4 New Mexico at New Mexico State
Dec. 7 New Mexico State at Gonzaga
Dec. 11 New Mexico State at Arizona
Dec. 17 New Mexico State at New Mexico
Dec. 23 Chicago State at Cincinnati
Dec. 23 Grand Canyon at New Mexico
Dec. 28 Montana at Idaho
Dec. 28 South Dakota State at Kansas City
Dec. 30 Chicago State at Creighton
WAC TEAMS SET TO PLAY NINE GAMES AGAINST TEAMS IN USA TODAY COACHES TOP-25 POLL
Teams from the WAC are scheduled to play nine games against teams that have been ranked in the current USA Today Coaches’ Top-25 Poll. The last time the WAC played at least nine top-25 teams was during the 2006-07 season. The WAC played four games against top-25 competition in each of the previous two seasons.
Games vs. USA Today Coaches’ Top-25 Preseason Poll Teams
Nov. 8 Chicago State at #24 Indiana - L, 72-100
Nov. 19 Utah Valley at #18 Oregon
Dec. 4 Kansas City at #3 Louisville
Dec. 4 #21 New Mexico at New Mexico State
Dec. 7 New Mexico State at #15 Gonzaga
Dec. 11 New Mexico State at #5 Arizona
Nov. 12 Utah Valley at #12 Oklahoma State
Dec. 17 New Mexico State at #21 New Mexico
Dec. 23 Grand Canyon at #21 New Mexico