This Week in WAC Men's Basketball - Dec. 9
This Week in WAC Men's Basketball - Dec. 9
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CALIFORNIA BAPTIST'S MILAN ACQUAAH NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
California Baptist junior guard Milan Acquaah has been named Western Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for Dec. 2-8. This is his second WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and the fourth of his career.
The Bakersfield, Calif. native led the Lancers to a 2-0 record last week, averaging 25.0 points on 50 percent shooting, 7.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Acquaah opened the week with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists in a 12-point win over UC Riverside. He followed it up with 26 points, seven rebounds and two assists in a road win at UC Irvine, a team with a NET of 71. The UCI win marks the Lancers' biggest Division I road win since joining the WAC.
Other nominees included: Czar Perry of CSU Bakersfield averaged 19.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game last week ... Grand Canyon's Alessandro Lever averaged 15.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game ... C.J. Bobbitt of NM State averaged 10.0 points and 3.0 rebounds as the Aggies went 1-1 on the week ... Seattle U's Terrell Brown of averaged 17.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game to lead the Redhawks to a 2-0 record last week ... Lesley Varner II of UT Rio Grande Valley averaged 21.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 steals as the Vaqueros went 2-0 on the week ... Utah Valley's Trey Woodbury averaged 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals in a pair of losses.
QUICK HITS
Grand Canyon's Alessandro 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 De'jon 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 Isaiah 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, Javon Levi had four steals, as many steals as the entire SDSU team.
WAC STAT LEADERS
California Baptist leads the WAC in scoring (79.4), free throw percentage (77.2), three-point field goal percentage (36.9), rebounding (40.1), defensive rebounds (29.1) and three-pointers per game (9.9), while UT Rio Grande Valley is tops in scoring defense (62.6), scoring margin (9.2), assists (15.2), turnover margin (6.9) and assist-turnover ratio (1.2). CSU Bakersfield leads the WAC in field goal percentage (46.4), rebounding margin (10.2) and offensive rebounds (13.5), while Seattle U is tops in field goal percentage defense (40.5) and three-point field goal percentage defense (28.3). Kansas City leads the WAC in and steals (9.3), NM State is tops in rebounding defense (29.0) and Utah Valley leads the WAC in blocks (6.1).
Individually, Seattle U's Terrell Brown leads the WAC in scoring (20.9) and defensive rebounds (5.9), while California Baptist's De'jon Davis is tops in rebounding (8.0) and field goal percentage (55.2). UT Rio Grande Valley's Javon Levi leads the WAC in assists (8.4), steals (3.8) and assist-turnover ratio (4.7), while teammate Connor Raines is tops in three-point field goal percentage (61.1). California Baptist's Ty Rowell and Ferron Flavors Jr. are tops in free throw percentage (90.0) and three-pointers per game (3.0), respectively. Utah Valley's Emmanuel Olojakpoke leads the league in blocks (3.0), while Kansas City's Javan White leads the WAC in offensive rebounds (2.9) and Grand Canyon's Jovan Blacksher Jr. is tops in minutes per game (36.2).
UTRGV'S LEVI CLIMBING PROGRAM STEALS LIST
UT Rio Grande Valley junior Javon Levi currently ranks fifth in program history in career steals with 163. He is 13 shy of third place and 20 away from second.