This Week in WAC Men's Basketball - Dec. 23
This Week in WAC Men's Basketball - Dec. 23
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GRAND CANYON'S LEVER NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Grand Canyon junior forward Alessandro Lever has been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 16-22. This is his first WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and the second of his career.
The Bolzano, Italy native averaged 21.0 points on 82.6 percent shooting, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists last week as the Lopes went 1-1. Last Tuesday, Lever logged his fifth career double-double with 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting to go along with a career-high 11 rebounds in a loss at New Mexico. He followed it up with 24 points, seven rebounds, four assists and a steal in a win over Eastern Illinois. For the week, Lever was 19-of-23 from the field.
Other nominees included: California Baptist's Milan Acquaah averaged 21.5 points, 8.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds as the Lancers went 2-0 on the week ... Taze Moore of CSU Bakersfield averaged 11.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists as the 'Runners went 2-0 on the week ... Kansas City's Jordan Giles averaged 15.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals as the Roos went 2-0 on the week ... Johnny McCants of NM State averaged 10.5 points and 3.0 rebounds as the Aggies went 2-0 on the week ... UT Rio Grande Valley's Quinton Johnson II finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and two assists in a loss at Texas Tech ... Isaiah White of Utah Valley averaged 20.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1,5 steals on the week.
QUICK HITS
NM State picked up its first win over an SEC program since Dec. 29, 1994 when it beat Mississippi State on Dec. 22. It was also the first victory for a WAC squad over a Power Six team this season ... Kansas City's Jordan Giles shot 10-of-11 from the field en route to a career-high 25 points in Kansas City's first road win of the year at South Dakota on Dec. 22 to help the Roos shoot over 63 percent as a team, which is the highest since November of 2011 ... Grand Canyon's Alessandro Lever grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds at New Mexico on Dec. 17 en route to his fifth career double-double ... Utah Valley's Isaiah White scored the game-winning field goal with just five seconds to play at Wyoming on Dec. 18 and finished with a team-high 19 points ... NM State's Johnny McCants scored 10 of his game- and career-high 18 points during the Aggies' 12-2 run to open the second half and gave his team the lead by drilling a deep step-back two-pointer with 2:02 left that sealed the 58-52 win over Mississippi State ... California Baptist's De'jon Davis finished with 16 points on a perfect 7-of-7 from the field to go along with 13 rebounds in the Lancers' win over Bethune-Cookman on Dec. 14 ... CSU Bakersfield's Ronne Readus posted his first double-double of the season with 11 points and a WAC season-high 16 rebounds in an overtime loss at Idaho on Dec. 14 ... UT Rio Grande Valley's Javon Levi finished with a career-high 21 points and a career-high-tying eight field goals at Omaha on Dec. 15 ... Utah Valley's Trey Woodbury tallied his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 boards against Northern Arizona on Dec. 14 ... Grand Canyon's Lever became just the second active player in the WAC with 1,000 or more points against Liberty on Dec. 8 ... UTRGV's Lesley Varner II posted career highs in points (33), field goals made (10), three-pointers made (4), rebounds (13) and minutes played (43) against Sam Houston State on Dec. 3 ... NM State's C.J. Bobbitt sunk three free throws to hand UTEP its first loss of the season on Dec. 3 as the Aggies defeated the Miners for the 10th time in the last 11 meetings ... Seattle U's Morgan Means scored his 1,000th career point against Western Michigan on Nov. 26 ... CSU Bakersfield's Taze Moore tallied his first collegiate double-double against Hampton, posting 16 points and 10 rebounds to go with four assists and two blocks ... Seattle U's Terrell Brown finished just shy of a triple-double (17 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) in a win over Western Michigan ... NM State's Jabari Rice was named to the 2019 Cayman Classic All-Tournament Team after averaging 16.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game over the three games ... Turnovers (27) proved costly for CSU Bakersfield, which fell on the road against 8th-ranked Gonzaga, 77-49, despite out-rebounding the Bulldogs 37-27 ... GCU's Lever had 19 points and 10 rebounds against Fordham for his fourth career double-double and first this season ... The Wolverines have been hit by the injury bug as the team dressed just eight players in a win at North Dakota State ... CBU's Davis was named to the 2K Empire Classic All-Tournament Team after averaging a team-best 17.0 points per game and 9.0 rebounds per game ... Kansas City's Rob Whitfield was named to The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase All-Tournament Team after scoring a career-high 29 points vs. East Carolina and tying the most three-pointers for a Roo in that game since he had seven in December of 2018 ... Kansas City posted a three-game win streak, the longest in two years ... GCU's Lever had the second-most first-half points of his career (18) in the win over UAPB ... UTRGV's Jordan Jackson earned all-tournament team honors at the Islander Invitational after averaging 19.0 points, 1.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game ... Seattle U's Myles Carter poured in a career-high 37 points on 11-of-12 shooting and 15-of-17 from the free throw line against Pacific (Ore.). He also matched his career high with 15 rebounds in the game ... Kansas City's Brandon McKissic scored a career-high 27 points in win against Avila, including 23 in the first half ... Against Western New Mexico, NM State's Rice topped his career-high in points before the first half came to a close and ended the night with a team-high 21 points ... Utah Valley's White scored a career-high 25 points with a career-high 13 rebounds for his first-ever double-double against Westminster ... CSU Bakersfield's Shawn Stith racked up 26 points and eight boards against South Dakota State. He got to the free throw line 25 times and sank 22 of his attempts ... Seattle U's Brown was just shy of a triple double with a 16-point, 8-rebound, 9-assist effort against Pacific Lutheran. He then scored a career-high 31 points against Eastern Washington on Nov. 9 for the first 30-point game by a Redhawk since Dec. 4, 2017 ... in UTRGV's loss to South Dakota State, Levi had four steals, as many steals as SDSU's entire team.
WAC STAT LEADERS
California Baptist leads the WAC in scoring (81.9), scoring margin (11.2), free throw percentage (77.1), field goal percentage defense (41.3), three-point field goal percentage (38.7), three-point field goal percentage defense (29.5), rebounding (41.5), assists (15.0), assist-turnover ratio (1.1), defensive rebounds (30.5) and three-pointers per game (10.4), while CSU Bakersfield is tops in, rebounding margin (9.7) and offensive rebounds (13.9). NM State leads the WAC in scoring defense (61.8) and rebounding defense (29.1), while UT Rio Grande Valley is tops in steals (8.8) and turnover margin (5.2). Kansas City leads the WAC in field goal percentage (45.9), while Utah Valley is tops in blocks (5.9).
Individually, Seattle U's Terrell Brown leads the WAC in scoring (20.7), while California Baptist's De'jon Davis is tops in rebounding (8.4), offensive rebounds (2.7) and defensive rebounds (5.8). NM State's Ivan Aurrecoechea leads the WAC in field goal percentage (59.0), while UT Rio Grande Valley's Javon Levi is tops in assists (7.9), steals (3.1) and assist-turnover ratio (3.0), and teammate Connor Raines leads the league in three-point field goal percentage (52.2). California Baptist's Ty Rowell and Ferron Flavors Jr. are tops in free throw percentage (90.0) and three-pointers per game (3.3), respectively. Utah Valley's Emmanuel Olojakpoke leads the league in blocks (2.8), while Grand Canyon's Jovan Blacksher Jr. is tops in minutes per game (35.9).
UTRGV'S LEVI CLIMBING PROGRAM STEALS LIST
UT Rio Grande Valley junior Javon Levi currently ranks fifth in program history in career steals with 169. He is seven shy of third place and 14 away from second.