THIS WEEK IN SEAWOLF BASKETBALL...
Thu., Mar. 5 ? 7 pm AST ? Wells Fargo Sports Complex (1,230) ? Anchorage, AK
Saint Martin's (21-7, 9-5 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (13-14, 7-7 GNAC)
&
Sat., Mar. 7 ? 7:30 pm ? Wells Fargo Sports Complex (1,230) ? Anchorage, AK
Western Oregon (9-16, 3-11 GNAC [3/5 @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
RADIO: Live locally on AM-1080 KUDO
TV: Tape delayed on KCFT Ch. 35 (GCI cable 19) ? Thursday at 11 pm and Saturday at 10 am.
ONLINE VIDEO: Live through GoSeawolves.com & greatnorthwest.tv ($5.95)
ONLINE AUDIO: Radio broadcasts for all UAA games are available to ?Splash Zone' subscribers at GoSeawolves.com.
LIVE STATS: Free at GoSeawolves.com
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS
G?Kenny Barker, 6-3, 210, Sr. (18.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.9 apg, 1.3 spg, .840 FT, 36.1 mpg)
G?Brandon Walker, 6-3, 195, So. (11.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, .473 FG, .424 3FG, .761 FT)
G?Kevin White, 6-4, 195, So. (7.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.9 apg, .437 FG, .415 3FG, .743 FT)
G?Darren Nye, 6-1, 175, Jr. (4.8 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 2.0 apg, .516 FG, .474 3FG)
C?Jeremiah Trueman, 6-9, 210, Sr. (15.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.6 apg, .599 FG, .881 FT)
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: With a 4-game winning streak and seven wins in its last eight games, Saint Martin's is in search of its first-ever NCAA playoff berth ... the Saints were No. 7 in last week's West Region poll and may improve after a win over SPU on Saturday ... SMU is led by the impressive trio of 5-11 Sr. G Jake Linton (GNAC-best 23.4 ppg, 4.9 apg, .913 FT [230-252]), 6-8 Sr. C Bill Richardson (16.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.3 bpg, .571 FG) and 6-5 So. F Blake Poole (15.1 ppg, GNAC-best 10.6 rpg, 1.3 bpg, .596 FG) ... Western Oregon heads to Fairbanks on Thursday with a 3-game losing skid and a 2-11 mark since Jan. 15 ... the Wolves feature four double-digit scorers, including 6-8 Sr. F Travis Kuhns (17.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.9 apg, .796 FT) and 6-7 Sr. F Mike McLaughlin (11.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg, .517 FG, .786 FT).
THE SERIES vs SMU: UAA leads 17-4 (11-1 in Anchorage)
Last Meeting: SMU 66, UAA 62 (1/24/09 at SMU)
Streak: SMU 1 / Notes: UAA has won six of the last eight meetings, including the last three in Anchorage ... UAA won 100-98 in OT last March in Anchorage to clinch a share of the league title that evening ... UAA leads 11-4 in GNAC meetings (since 2001-02) ... first meeting as Div. II programs came in 1978-79.
THE SERIES vs WOU: UAA leads 9-7 (5-2 in Anchorage)
Last Meeting: UAA 75, WOU 54 (1/22/09 at WOU)
Streak: UAA 3 / Notes: UAA is aiming for its second straight season sweep and its third ever against WOU ... UAA's 90-60 win on the final day of the 2008 regular season clinched the outright GNAC title ... UAA leads 9-6 in GNAC meetings ... first meeting as Div. II programs came in 1998-99.
TEAM COMPARISONS UAA SMU WOU
Overall Record 13-14 21-7 9-16
Conference Record 7-7 9-5 3-11
UAA Home/Opp. Road 8-6 6-4 1-8
Points per Game 72.2 85.0 75.2
Points Allowed/Gm 67.4 78.5 83.4
Rebounding Diff. +2.8 +2.4 -4.7
Assists per Game 16.3 14.9 14.4
Turnovers per Game 13.9 15.3 15.3
Steals per Game 5.7 7.8 6.2
Blocks per Game 2.7 4.6 3.1
FG% .493 .471 .465
3-pt FG% .406 .347 .337
FT% .778 .756 .714
ROAD RECAP: The Seawolves dropped a pair of GNAC road contests last week to finish the season with an 3-5 road record ... on Thursday, an early lead and an impressive offensive performance from Sr. C Jeremiah Trueman were not enough as the Seawolves fell victim to Central Washington, 76-65, and were officially eliminated from defending their GNAC title ... Trueman had his best-ever GNAC outing with 27 points (9-10 FG, 8-8 FT), and So. G Lonnie Ridgeway had 11 points (5-7 FG) as UAA split the season series with the regionally 4th-ranked Wildcats ... Sr. G Kenny Barker and So. G Kevin White tallied 9 points apiece and combined for 10 assists ... Barker ? who entered as the GNAC's second-leading scorer (21.1 ppg) in league games ? was held under double figures for the first time in 13 contests ... two nights later, UAA battled to the final seconds before falling 76-71 at Northwest Nazarene ... Trueman led the way with 23 points (11-19 FG) and 3 assists, Barker had 18 points (6-12 FG, 5-7 FT), 9 rebounds and 6 assists, and So. G Brandon Walker came one board short of his fourth double-double with 11 points (5-8 FG) and 9 rebounds ... Fr. G Steve White came off the bench to tie his career-high with 9 points (3-3 FG, 1-1 3FG, 2-2 FT).
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves can finish no worse than 5th in the 9-team GNAC standings; UAA can still tie for 4th with two wins and an SMU loss at UAF on Saturday ... UAA needs two victories this week to avoid its first losing season since 2004-05 and just the seventh in the program's 32 years ... UAA was back at No. 2 in the NCAA Div. II free-throw statistics (.781) of last week, trailing only GNAC rival Northwest Nazarene (.797) ... UAA is still on pace to edge the school-record FT% of .775, set in 2005-06 ... at .410 last week (now .406), the Seawolves were ranked No. 9 in the NCAA Div. II 3FG% rankings, giving UAA a chance to finish in the top 10 in that stat for the fourth straight season (2nd in '05-06; 5th in '06-07 & '07-08) ... in the GNAC rankings (all current), UAA is No. 1 in 3FG% and scoring defense (67.4 ppg allowed), and No. 2 in FT% ... as far as significant single-game performances, UAA's .765 3FG shooting against CWU on Jan. 10 was a school record and tied for the second-best percentage in GNAC history, while the 6 turnovers committed at WOU are tied for the lowest in a league game this season.
BEWARE OF BARKER: In his lone season as a Seawolf, Sr. G Kenny Barker leads the team in scoring (18.3 ppg), rebounding (6.3 rpg), assists (3.9 apg) and steals (1.4 spg) ... in the overall GNAC stats, Barker is the only player to rank in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding and assists ... he also ranks 2nd in minutes per game (36.1), 7th in FT% (.840), 8th in steals, and 9th in 3FGs per game (1.8) ... in league games only, Barker ranks 2nd in scoring (20.0 ppg) and minutes (36.9 mpg), and 5th in assists (4.5) ... on UAA's single-season lists, he ranks 17th in scoring average, 11th in FT% and 3rd in minutes per game; he is currently No. 31 on the single-season scoring list (476), leaving him 50 points shy of a spot in the top 20 with two games remaining ... a 3-year letterwinner at UAF before transferring to UAA, Barker will also finish in the top 20 on several GNAC career lists, currently at 6th in games started (107), 7th in minutes played (3,495), 13th in scoring (1,454 pts) and games played (113), 14th in steals (131) and FTs made (336), 15th in rebounds (575), 16th in assists (326), 3FGs made (156) and FG made (481), and 18th in FT% (.816) ... on Jan. 31 against UAF on Saturday, Barker burned his former team for a GNAC-season-high 38 points, equaling Andre Boudreaux (Feb. 13, 1993) for the most a Seawolf has scored against the Nanooks and the 9th-highest single-game total in program history; it was the most points by a Seawolf since Peter Bullock had 40, Jan. 26, 2002 (vs. St. Martin's).
MORE PLAYER NOTES: Ranked No. 29 nationally with a .588 FG% as of last week, Sr. C Jeremiah Trueman should improve in those rankings after his 20-of-29 marksmanship last week ... Trueman should also stay among the top 25 in FT%, improving from .878 to .881 ... the New Zealander has scored double figures in 10 straight games, including 23 or more in the last three outings; he has 10 total 20-point games this year after posting a season-best of 15 points in his first season in 2007-08 ... in the GNAC stats, Trueman is 4th in FT%, 6th in FG%, 8th in blocks (0.9 bpg), 11th in scoring (15.6 ppg) and 16th in rebounding (5.5 rpg) ... on UAA's career lists, he is No. 2 in FG% (.605) and No. 10 in FT% (.820) ... So. G Kevin White owns UAA's best assist-turnover ratio (1.5-to-1), including a solid 2.0-to-1 figure in GNAC play ... the Aussie has also been clutch from the 3FG line as well, shooting 36 of 77 (.468) since Jan. 3 ... White now ranks 10th on UAA's career 3FG% list (.420) and 21st in 3FGs made (81) ... in the GNAC overall season stats, White ranks 7th in 3FG% (.415), 8th in 3FGs per game (1.9) and 14th in assists (2.9 apg) ... So. G Brandon Walker ranks 6th in the GNAC with his .424 3FG%, while holding other league ranks of 10th in rebounding (6.0 rpg), 13th in blocks (0.7) and 19th in FT% (.761) ... the Div. I transfer from Loyola Marymount is UAA's third-leading scorer at 11.7 ppg ... So. G Lonnie Ridgeway Ridgeway has 12 double-digit scoring efforts after posting none as a redshirt freshman last year ... the Anchorage native ranks 20th in the GNAC with his .502 FG%.
SENIOR FAREWELL: Saturday's game will be the final collegiate contests for UAA's two seniors, Jeremiah Trueman and Kenny Barker ... there will be a brief pregame ceremony to honor both players.
INJURY REPORT: UAA has been hit hard by the injury bug thus far, losing Jr. F Casey Robinson (knee) for the year and Jr. G/F Chris Neal (back) indefinitely ... Robinson, who led UAA with 15.0 ppg through the first three contests, hurt his MCL in a mid-November practice and had surgery Nov. 26.
