THIS WEEK IN SEAWOLF BASKETBALL...
Sat., Jan. 12 ? 7 pm AST ? Wells Fargo Sports Complex (1,250) ? Anchorage
Alaska Fairbanks (4-7, 1-1 GNAC) at #19 Alaska Anchorage (11-3, 2-0 GNAC)
RADIO: Live in Anchorage on AM-1080 KUDO via the Alaska Sports Broadcasting Network.
TV: Delayed on KCFT Ch. 35 (GCI cable 19) ? 10:30 p.m. Saturday & 11 a.m. Monday
INTERNET: GoSeawolves.com hosts live video (sign up through Penn Atlantic) and live audio (sign up through ?Splash Zone') broadcasts for all men's basketball home games. Free live stats are also available.
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2007-08 stats)
PG?Luke Cooper, 6-0, Sr (6.7 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 8.4 apg, 1.0 spg, .492 FG, .333 3FG, .694 FT)
SG?Chris Bryant, 6-4, Sr (13.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.1 spg, .467 FG, .435 3FG, .750 FT)
SF?Cameron Burney, 6-7, Jr (6.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.4 apg, .571 FG, .517 3FG, .750 FT)
PF?Carl Arts, 6-6, Sr (17.9 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.4 spg, .475 FG, .377 3FG, .779 FT)
C?McCade Olsen, 6-8, Sr (15.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.0 spg, .566 FG, .400 3FG, .768 FT)
SCOUTING THE NANOOKS: Alaska Fairbanks snapped a 6-game losing streak with an 85-79 win at Western Oregon on Saturday. The Nanooks are 1-4 against Division II opposition, while posting wins against Div. I Oregon State and twice against NAIA Simpson. UAF is led by 6-6 So. F Kevin Atkins (15.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg, .484 FG) and 6-5 Jr. F Mladen Begojevic (13.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg, .467 FG, .413 3FG).
THE SERIES
All-Time vs UAF: UAA leads 60-21 / At UAA: UAA 35-5
Last Meeting: UAA 85, UAF 75 (Mar. 3, 2007 at UAF)
Streak: UAA 3 / Notes: UAA has won 4 straight and 6 of the last 7 at home ... UAA won 78-69 at home last season ... UAF's last win in Anchorage came 73-70 on Jan. 22, 2003 ... in GNAC games (since 2001-02), UAA leads 7-5 ... the teams have met at least twice per year every season since 1975-76, before UAA became a Div. II program.
TEAM COMPARISONS UAA UAF
Overall Record 11-3 4-7
Conference Record 2-0 1-1
Points per Game 73.9 70.4
Points Allowed/Game 58.8 77.4
Rebounding Diff. +3.0 -1.4
Assists per Game 18.0 10.5
Turnovers per Game 14.1 16.1
Steals per Game 7.3 7.6
Blocks per Game 2.0 2.5
FG% .493 .414
3-pt FG% .411 .378
FT% .718 .664
SEAWOLVES SWEEP GNAC OPENERS: The Seawolves ran their winning streak to nine games with road victories Jan. 3 at Western Oregon (68-62) and Jan. 5 at Saint Martin's (66-42) ... in the first game, Sr. forwards Carl Arts and McCade Olsen combined for 45 points (17-31 FG, 9-12 FT), 13 rebounds, two assists, three blocks and two steals as UAA's starters outscored their counterparts 60-31. Sr. PG Luke Cooper had seven points, nine assists and no turnovers in 37 minutes, while holding WOU's Brad Krichevsky (15.0 ppg) to six points on 2-of-10 shooting ... on Saturday, UAA jumped to a 34-16 halftime lead and shot 55 percent to complete its second-ever GNAC road sweep ('02-03 at CWU, SMU). Arts posted 19 points (8-13 FG, 3-5 3FG), seven rebounds and a career-high five steals, and Olsen tallied 14 points (6-10 FG, 2-3 FT) and six boards. Sr. G Chris Bryant had 12 points (5-8 FG), while Cooper (7 asst), Jr. F Cameron Burney (3-5 FG, 6 reb) and Fr. G Kevin White (2-3 3FG) all notched six points. No Saint scored more than seven points as UAA set a new GNAC standard for points allowed in a league game (46 by SPU vs SMU 12-8-01).
OLSEN EARNS WEEKLY HONOR: Sr. F McCade Olsen earned his first career GNAC Player of the Week award for his performance last week. The Riverton, Utah, native scored 36 points (14-23 FG, .607), grabbed 12 rebounds and dished three assists as the Seawolves swept road games at Western Oregon and Saint Martin's. In Thursday's game, he scored 22 points, while on Saturday he keyed UAA's record-setting defensive effort by holding SMU center Bill Richardson to just four points, nine below his average. The 42 points allowed against SMU marked the fewest given up in a GNAC game in the 7-year history of the league. Olsen joins fellow seniors Carl Arts and Chris Bryant as the third Seawolf to earn POW honors this season.
TEAM NOTES: UAA's 9-game winning streak equals the third-longest (1996-97) in program history. The 1981-82 squad won 11 straight, and the 1985-86 team holds the record with 14 consecutive victories ... despite playing three Division I teams, UAA leads the GNAC and ranks 7th nationally in scoring defense (58.8); against Division II opponents, UAA is allowing just 55.8 ppg ... the Seawolves rank 25th nationally in scoring margin (+15.1) ... UAA is 8-0 when scoring 70 or more ... the 42 points allowed at Saint Martin's tied for the fifth-best showing in school history and was the second-best ever against a Division II team (35 at W. New Mexico, Feb. 1999) ...the 45 points allowed against Texas-Permian Basin and Ferris State tied for the 9th-fewest ever ... UAA's 16 points allowed against Brevard (Nov.16) and Saint Martin's (Jan. 5) matched the 6th-fewest ever given up by a Seawolf team in the first half ... the Seawolves finished the non-conference portion of their schedule with a perfect 9-0 mark against Division II squads ... UAA's perfect showing in Hawaii gave it a 6-game win streak in the Islands, combining with another 3-0 trip in the 2003-04 season.
PLAYER NOTES: Sr. F Carl Arts showed why he is a postseason honors candidate on the first weekend of GNAC play, tallying 42 points, 14 rebounds and six steals in UAA's wins. He has scored in double digits in all but one game, including seven showings of 20 or more ... the Valdez product ranks 3rd in the GNAC in scoring (17.9 ppg), 1st in rebounding (8.4 rpg), 1st in defensive rebounding (6.9 drpg) and 2nd in minutes per game (34.5) ... Arts moved into 4th place (601) on UAA's career rebounds list last week and needs just two more to pass Dale Bartley (1985-88) for No. 3 ... currently 9th on the scoring list (1,148), Arts needs 20 more to tie Chris Hamey (1,168, '95-00) for 8th and 25 to equal former teammate Mark Drake (1,173, '01-05) for 7th ... Arts ranks in UAA's career top 10 in nine categories ? rebounds, points, blocks (7th, 59), 3FG% (4th, .441), FT% (9th, .834), FG made (9th, 436), games started (8th, 69), games played (t-10th, 100) and double-doubles (t-9th, 10) ... Sr. PG Luke Cooper dished 16 assists last week to push his GNAC and UAA career record to 688 ... Cooper's current 8.4 assists average ranks third in NCAA Div. II, while his assists and assist-to-turnover ratios (3.19-to-1) lead the GNAC. He is also playing a league-high 35.1 minutes per contest ... the Australian ranks in UAA's career top 10 in assists, assists per game (1st, 6.9), steals (3rd, 130), games started (t-5th, 76) and games played (t-10th, 100) ... Cooper's 12 assists against Christian Brothers on Dec. 29 was his 23rd career double-digit assist showing ? including six this year ? also a school record ... Cooper's 12 assists and 12 points against CBU was his fifth career double-double... Sr. F McCade Olsen has scored in double digits 11 times and is shooting 45 of 73 (.616) since Dec. 17 ... the Utah native ranks in the GNAC's top 15 in scoring (10th, 15.2), rebounding (12th, 5.6), FG% (9th, .566) and blocks (11th, 0.71) ... Sr. G Chris Bryant is close to school-record pace and ranks 2nd in the GNAC with 2.86 3FGs made per game ... Bryant also ranks 16th in the GNAC in scoring (13.1) and 8th in 3FG% (.435) ... Jr. F Cameron Burney rates 3rd in the GNAC with .517 3FG shooting. In 35 career games, he is shooting .551 (27-49) from long range.
TOP 25 RANKINGS: UAA made its reappearance ? at No. 19 ? in this week's National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II top 25 poll after starting the season at No. 16. The poll is conducted by eight members of the NABC Division II Congress, one representing each of the eight NCAA Division II regions. Here is an abbreviated look at the most recent poll:
NABC/Division II Men's Basketball Poll
Jan. 8, 2008 (Regular-season poll #5)
(West Region teams in italics; UAA opponents in bold)
Rk Team Record Pts Last Wk
1. Bentley (6) 12-0 198 1
2. Grand Valley State (2) 16-0 194 2
3. South Dakota 14-0 184 3
4. Winona State 16-1 173 5
5. Rollins 11-1 164 4
6. Cal St. San Bernardino 11-1 160 10
7. Drury 11-1 149 6
8. South Carolina-Aiken 10-1 131 13
9. Findlay 12-2 116 15
10. West Liberty State 9-0 112 19
17. Seattle 8-2 60 7
19. ALASKA ANCHORAGE 11-3 46 NR
23. BYU-Hawaii 9-2 28 9
ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: t27) Humboldt State 13; t27) Seattle Pacific 13.
INJURY REPORT: The Seawolves are healthy.
