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UT RIO GRANDE VALLEY'S McDANIEL NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
UT Rio Grande Valley freshman forward Xavier McDaniel has been named WAC Men's
Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 7-13. This is his first-ever WAC Player of the Week honor.
The Columbia, S.C., native scored a game-high 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting (68.8 percent), including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, with five rebounds and two assists in a 68-60 loss at UT Martin. McDaniel did all of that in just 26 minutes of action. He scored UTRGV's first eight points of the game to give the Vaqueros an 8-7 lead at the 16:05 mark of first half, which was the last time UTRGV led in the game.
Other nominees included: Shon Briggs of CSU Bakersfield finished with 21 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals against San Diego Christian ... Chicago State's Clemmye Owens V had 26 points, five rebounds and three assists in a win over Illinois Tech ... Shaq Carr of Grand Canyon tallied 18 points, eight assists and three rebounds in a loss at No. 1 Duke ... UMKC's Martez Harrison finished with 17 points, five steals, four assists and three rebounds in an 89-82 loss at No. 23 Creighton ... Eli Chuha of NM State averaged 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds as the Aggies went 1-1 on the week ... Seattle U's William Powell finished with 18 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in a win over Pacific Lutheran ... Conner Toolson of Utah Valley finished with 19 points, three assists and two rebounds in a loss at No. 13 Gonzaga.
WAC STAT LEADERS
CSU Bakersfield leads the WAC in scoring defense (54.0), scoring margin (42.0), field goal percentage (64.4), three-point field goal percentage (60.0), rebounding defense (15.0), rebounding margin (23.0), turnover margin (7.0) and defensive rebounds (27.0). NM State leads the league in field goal percentage defense (31.0), three-point field goal percentage defense (17.0), rebounding (44.0), blocks (6.5) and offensive rebounds (17.5). Chicago State is tops in scoring (97.0), assists (26.0), assist-turnover ratio (1.73) and three-pointers per game (12.0). UMKC leads the WAC in free throw percentage (86.7) and steals (11.0).
Individually, Chicago State's Clemmye Owens leads the WAC in scoring (26.0), while Seattle U's Scott Ulaneo and CSU Bakersfield's Shon Briggs are tops in rebounding (9.0). UMKC's Darnell Tillman and CSUB's Taze Moore are tied for the lead in field goal percentage (1.000), as are Seattle U's Brendan Westendorf and NM State's Sidy N'Dir in free throw percentage (1.000) and CSUB's Dedrick Basile and Chicago State's Alex Dubovitskiy in three-point percentage (1.000). Grand Canyon's Shaq Carr leads the WAC in assists (8.0) and minutes per game (38.0), while UMKC's Martez Harrison is tops in steals (4.0). Five players - Grand Canyon's Oscar Frayer, CSUB's James Suber, Fred Sims Jr. and Trayvon Palmer of Chicago State, and Utah Valley's Isaac Neilson - are tied for the lead in blocked shots (2.0), while CSUB's Damiyne Durham leads the league in three-pointers per game (6.0). NM State's Eli Chuha is tops in offensive rebounds (4.0), while Ulaneo leads the conference in defensive rebounds (6.5).
HARRISON APPROACHES UMKC CAREER ASSISTS RECORD
UMKC senior guard Martez Harrison dished out four assists in the Roos season-opening loss at No. 23 Creighton on Nov. 23, bringing his career total to 373. He is now four shy of the UMKC program career record of 377 held by Quinton Day (2005-07).
CSUB'S DURHAM SCORES SIX THREE-POINTERS IN 11 MINUTES
CSU Bakersfield's Damiyne Durham came up one three-point basket shy of tying CSUB's Division I single-game record when he made six three-pointers against San Diego Christian on Nov. 12. The redshirt sophomore drained his six threes in the last 10:42 of the game and four in a span of 2:27.
THREE WAC PLAYERS NAMED TO LOU HENSON AWARD WATCH LIST
Three WAC men's basketball players - NM State's Ian Baker, CSU Bakersfield's Dedrick Basile and Grand Canyon's Joshua Braun - have been named to the Lou Henson Award Preseason Watch List, given to the nation's top Division I mid-major player.
Baker, a Preseason All-WAC honoree, was a first team All-WAC pick last year after averaging 13.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He also shot 43 percent from the floor.
A Preseason All-WAC selection, Basile helped lead the Roadrunners to their first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament appearance and was named WAC Tournament MVP after hitting a buzzer-beating three-pointer to win the WAC Tournament last year as a junior. He was named second team All-WAC, to the WAC All-Defensive Team and to the WAC All-Newcomer Team after averaging 12.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game last year.
The WAC Preseason Player of the Year, Braun averaged 16.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and led the league in both three-point field goal percentage (41.7) and free throw percentage (87.3) last year as a sophomore. He was also a first team Academic All-American®, was named to the Lou Henson All-America Team and was named to the NABC All-Region 6 Team.
Lou Henson coached for 41 years. When he left the game in 2005, he was sixth all-time in career Division I wins with 779. He is the winningest coach at both Illinois and NM State and is one of only 12 coaches in the history of the game to take two schools to the Final Four.
RETURNING ALL-CONFERENCE PLAYERS
Of the five first team All-WAC players in 2015-16, two return for the 2016-17 season in Ian Baker of NM State and Joshua Braun of Grand Canyon. Three one of the five second team honorees return in Dedrick Basile of CSU Bakersfield, Martez Harrison of UMKC and Brendan Westendorf of Seattle U.
Three of the five All-Defensive Team honorees from last year return - Baker, Basile and Westendorf. Meanwhile, three of the five All-Newcomer Team honorees from a year ago return in Basile, Westendorf and LaVell Boyd of UMKC.
KEY NON-CONFERENCE MATCHUPS
WAC teams have several key non-conference matchups this season, including 30 games against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament or NIT last season. The complete list is below.
Games vs. 2016 NCAA Tournament Teams
Nov. 11 Grand Canyon at Duke
Nov. 11 Utah Valley at Gonzaga
Nov. 14 Seattle U at Colorado
Nov. 15 CSU Bakersfield at Arizona
Nov. 16 Seattle U at Notre Dame
Nov. 17 Chicago State at Wisconsin
Nov. 20 UT Rio Grande Valley at Iowa
Nov. 21 UMKC vs. Green Bay
Nov. 22 Fresno State at CSU Bakersfield
Nov. 26 Chicago State at Notre Dame
Dec. 3 UMKC at South Dakota State
Dec. 6 UMKC at Kansas
Dec. 6 Utah Valley at Utah
Dec. 14 Grand Canyon at Arizona
Dec. 17 UMKC at West Virginia
Dec. 17 Utah Valley at Weber State
Games vs. 2016 NIT Teams
Nov. 11 UMKC at Creighton
Nov. 26 Utah Valley at Brigham Young
Nov. 26 CSU Bakersfield vs. North Florida
Dec. 3 San Diego State at Grand Canyon
Dec. 12 North Florida at UT Rio Grande Valley
Dec. 17 UT Rio Grande Valley at Houston
Dec. 22 Washington at Seattle U
Dec. 28 Chicago State at Valparaiso