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Oregon road tilts start with battle at #8 WOU

Men's Basketball UAA Media Relations

Oregon road tilts start with battle at #8 WOU

THIS WEEK IN SEAWOLF MEN'S BASKETBALL

Thursday, Jan. 21 – 6:30 pm AST – New P.E. Building – Momouth, Ore.
Alaska Anchorage (15-4, 8-0 GNAC)
at #8 Western Oregon (14-2, 7-1 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Jan. 23 – 6:30 pm AST – Cavalier Gym – Portland, Ore.
Alaska Anchorage at Concordia, Ore. (5-10, 3-5 GNAC [1/21 vs UAF])

TV/RADIO: None

LIVE VIDEOSTREAM & STATS: Both games free at portal.stretchinternet.com/uaa

UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2015-16 stats)
G—Diante Mitchell, 6-1, Jr. (11.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.2 apg, .516 FG, .473 3FG, .846 FT)
G—Sekou 'Suki' Wiggs, 6-4, Jr. (24.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 4.1 apg, 1.5 spg, .446 FG, .321 3FG, .761 FT)
G—Spencer Svejcar, 6-4, Jr. (13.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.4 apg, .455 FG, .385 3FG, .851 FT)
F—Corey Hammell, 6-6, Jr. (13.1 ppg, 9.9 rpg, 1.5 apg, .450 FG, .796 FT)
F—Travis Parris, 6-4, Jr. (1.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 0.8 apg, .458 FG, 10.8 mpg)

SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @UAAMBB (for in-game updates) and @UAASeawolves
Facebook: Alaska Anchorage Seawolves
Instagram: UAA_Seawolves
YouTube & SnapChat: UAA Seawolves
Hashtags: #SeawolfHoops #UAASeawolves

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Defending GNAC regular-season champion Western Oregon has recovered solidly from its lone Div. II loss (81-77 at CWU, Dec. 31) by winning five in a row, including an overtime home win against SPU on Jan. 7 and a 78-58 road thumping of Western Washington on Saturday ... ranked as high as No. 3 nationally this season, the Wolves are led by reigning GNAC Player of the Year Andy Avgi (21.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, .588 FG, .438 3FG) – a 6-6 Sr. F – and 6-2 Sr. PG Julian Nichols (11.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 4.8 apg, .375 3FG, .737 FT) ... GNAC newcomer Concordia has won only one of its first four league home games as it prepares to welcome UAF to Portland on Thursday ... the Cavaliers, formerly of the NAIA ranks, are led by 6-8 Jr. F Drew Martin (15.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 2.1 apg) and 6-3 Jr. G Latrell Wilson (14.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg, .400 3FG, .813 FT).

TEAM COMPARISONS     UAA   WOU    CU
UAA Road/Opp. Home   3-0   5-0   3-3
Points per Game     86.6  80.9  71.9
Points Allowed/Game 72.1  68.7  85.7
Rebounding Diff.    +6.8  +1.8  -7.3
Assists per Game    17.2  14.8  12.9
Turnovers per Game  11.8  10.0  16.8
Steals per Game      5.6   9.4   6.6
Blocks per Game      2.7   2.6   2.8
FG%                 .473  .486  .432
3-pt FG%            .367  .391  .351
FT%                 .789  .703  .676

THE SERIES vs WOU: UAA leads 20-10
In Monmouth: UAA leads 9-6
Last Meeting: UAA 80-78 (2/26/15 at UAA)
Streak: UAA 1
Notes: WOU has taken two of the last three meetings after UAA won nine straight from 2010-14 ... WOU snapped a 7-game home losing skid against UAA with last season's 87-66 win in Monmouth ...  UAA leads 20-8 in GNAC regular-season meetings (since 2001-02) … first and only non-GNAC meeting came when both teams were Pac West foes, with WOU winning 91-81, Jan. 28, 1999.

THE SERIES vs CONCORDIA: CU leads 2-0
In Portland: First meeting
Last Meeting: CU 75-73 (11/8/14 at UAA)
Notes: CU surprised UAA in back-to-back non-conference meetings last season, including a 79-74 win in the first-ever men's basketball game at the Alaska Airlines Center, Nov. 7, 2014.

STREAK REACHES 9 WITH RIVARLY WINS: The Seawolves stayed perfect in GNAC play with wins over their two oldest rivals last week, knocking off Montana State Billings 81-61 on Jan. 12, followed by a 100-91 overtime victory at Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 16 ... on Tuesday, Jr. G Suki Wiggs collected 21 points (6-14 FG, 7-8 FT), 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals to pace UAA past MSUB for the third straight time ... Jr. G Spencer Svejcar tallied 19 points (6-10 FG, 5-8 3FG), 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Sr. F Christian Leckband added 16 points (6-10 FG, 2-4 3FG) and 2 blocks, and Jr. F Corey Hammell had a game-high 10 rebounds as UAA led by double figures for the entire second half ... on Saturday night, Wiggs led a late comeback with 30 points (10-24 FG, 7-11 FT), 11 rebounds and 3 assists, and Sr. G Brian McGill had 25 points (4-7 FG, school-record 16-16 FT), 6 rebounds and 3 assists to win a thrilling showdown between teams at the top of the GNAC standings ... Svejcar scored a career-high 22 points (7-13 FG, 4-6 3FG, 4-4 FT) and committed no turnovers in a UAA season-high 42 minutes, while nailing the game-tying 3FG with 3 seconds left in regulation and the go-ahead trey in the extra session ... Hammell totaled 11 points (3-6 FG, 5-6 FT) and 9 rebounds, and Leckband had 9 points (4-8 FG) as five players combined for 97 of UAA's 100 points.

TEAM NOTES: UAA has equaled its second-best GNAC start in the league's 15-year history, trailing only the 2007-08 Final Four squad that won its first 11 league contests ... the Seawolves' current 9-game winning streak is tied for the 6th-longest in program history and is the longest since winning 10 straight early in the 2011-12 campaign ... the Seawolves remained in the D2SIDA NCAA West Region poll, slipping one spot to No. 7 (see pg. 5) ... UAA leads the GNAC in both scoring margin (+14.5) and free throw percentage (.789), along with top-3 league ranks in scoring offense (2nd, 86.6 ppg), offensive rebound pct. (2nd, .346), rebound margin (2nd, +6.8), 3FG% defense (3rd, .329), FG% defense (3rd, .410) and assists (3rd, 17.2 apg) ... UAA ranks 4th in the NCAA Div. II national stats in FT pct., along with top-50 marks in scoring margin (14th),  assist/turnover ratio (16th, +1.46), rebound margin (26th), FG pct. defense (37th), scoring offense (32nd) and defensive rebounding (33rd, 28.3) ... UAA needs three more wins to clinch the program's 11th straight winning season and the 33rd in 39 years … last year's Seawolves earned the the program's fifth straight top-4 GNAC finish and plus-.500 league record ... UAA has qualified for the GNAC Tournament each year since the event was instituted in 2011.

SUKI SMOOTH: Jr. G Sekou 'Suki' Wiggs has made a strong push for All-America honors in his first season since transfering from Div. I Idaho, leading the GNAC in scoring (24.0 ppg, 9th nationally) and defensive rebounding (6.2 drpg), along with league ranks of 2nd in rebounding (7.3 rpg), 5th in steals (1.5 spg), 8th in assists (4.1 apg) and 9th in A/T ratio (1.6) ... Wiggs has set a Seawolf program record by scoring at least 20 points in 19 straight games – both overall and to start a season – including four 30-plus efforts ...  the former Seattle O'Dea High star started early by setting the CCA Div. II Tip-Off Classic single-game scoring record with 34 points against Cal Baptist on Oct. 31, and he tallied a combined 50 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists in UAA's 2- and 4-point wins over Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific in November ... more recently, Wiggs posted his fourth and fifth double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds in UAA's 61-59 road win over then-No. 8 Seattle Pacific, and a 30-point, 11-rebound effort in the OT win at UAF ... at his current pace of 7.4 FTs made per game (140 of 184), Wiggs is on pace to break Jesse Jackson's single-season UAA record of 167 FTs made (1986-87) on Jan. 30 ... in late November, he earned GNAC Player of the Week and GCI Great Alaska Shootout all-tourney honors after breaking the 38-year-old tournament's scoring record with 98 points, surpassing the 97 by Purdue legend Glenn Robinson from 1993; Wiggs tied for the 2nd-highest scoring game by a Seawolf in Shootout history with 35 in the opener against eventual champ Middle Tennessee, and he led the tourney in scoring by more than 10 ppg, becoming first player to tally at least 30 in all three games ... the Preseason All-GNAC selection was a double-digit career scorer in two seasons at Idaho, winning the Western Athletic Conference's Sixth Man of the Year as a freshman in 2013-14.

HAMMELL TIME: Jr. F Corey Hammell has shown why he averaged a double-double last season at Santa Rosa Junior College, leading the GNAC and ranking 6th nationally with nine  such performances ... Hammell is also 2nd in the nation in offensive rebounds per game (4.5) and 17th in rebounds per game (9.9) ... the Californian is nearly on pace to become the fifth Seawolf to average a double-double and the first since Peter Bullock in 2002-03 ... Hammell is also on pace for one of the most productive free-throw campaigns in program history, getting to the line 147 times in his first 19 games and ranking 13th in the GNAC with a .796 FT%; he has made at least 3 FTs in every game and had a streak of 27 in a row from Nov. 28-Dec. 14 ... the 6-6, 225-pounder leads the GNAC by 2.6 rebounds per game and ranks 20th in scoring with 13.1 ppg ... Hammell scored a season-high 24 points and matched UAA's best rebounding total of 2014-15 with 15 boards in the 69-65 win over Hawaii Pacific, converting a key three-point play with 15 seconds left ... in the GNAC openers against Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene, he averaged a crazily efficient 19.5 ppg, 14.5 rpg and 2.5 apg in 26 minutes per contest, shooting 12-15 FG, 2-2 3FG and 15-17 FT ... with 17 points and 17 rebounds against NNU, Hammell grabbed the most boards for a Seawolf since 2009 and matched UAA's program-best in a GNAC game (Bullock, twice, 2002-03), while his 17 rebounds and 15 rebounds at Saint Martin's marked his third '15/15' outing.

B-MAC IN TOWN: Sr. G Brian McGill – the Seawolves' leading returning scorer and assist man from 2014-15 – hasn't taken long to make an impact since returning to the lineup on Dec. 31, averaging 14.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and a team-high 4.3 assists in six GNAC games ... in the GNAC-only stats, he ranks 12th in scoring, 13th in FG% (.509), 8th in assists and 2nd in FT% (.931)  ... the Oregon native has scored double figures in five of his six appearances and is connecting at .647 (22-34) from inside the arc, including the game-winning layup at Seattle Pacific with 5 seconds left ... after tallying 25 points at UAF – including a school-record 16-of-16 FT performance – McGill has now scored double figures in 24 of his last 34 outings dating to last year, including nine times with 20-plus ...  after just 64 games, the former Western Oregon transfer is already 4th on UAA's career list with 352 assists, just six short of No. 3 (358, Bryan Anderson, 1991-94) and 19 shy of No. 2 (371, Jim Hajdukovich, 1995-99) ... on UAA's other career lists, he is 3rd in assists per game (5.5), 16th in scoring average (14.7 ppg), 9th in FTs made (241), 12th in 3FG% (.419), 11th in FT% (.831) and 10th in FTs per game (3.8) ... a 2015-16 Preseason All-GNAC pick, McGill garnered All-GNAC Second Team honors in 2013-14 and was honorable mention last year.

TERRIFIC TRANSFERS: Junior college rivals for the past two seasons, Jr. G Diante Mitchell (Western Nebraska CC) and Jr. G/F Spencer Svejcar (Larmie County [Wyo.] CC) have been critical additions to UAA's starting lineup this year, combining to average 24.3 ppg and 5.5 apg, with both shooting 85 percent from the foul stripe ... a former NJCAA Academic All-American, Mitchell ranks 2nd in the GNAC in 3FG% (.473), along with 5th in FT% (.846), 10th in assists (3.2), 8th in A/T ratio (1.7) and 13th in FG% (.516) ... Mitchell had perhaps his most solid week in UAA's GNAC-opening wins over CWU and NNU, totaling 41 points (15-20 FG, 6-8 3FG, 5-6 FT) and 10 assists ... Svejcar was an NJCAA All-Region IX First Team selection as a sophomore after averaging 16.0 ppg, 3.9 rpg and 2.5 apg, while shooting .405 3FG last year ... the Colorado native has tallied double figures in 15 of 19 games as a Seawolf, including 22 points (7-13 FG, 4-6 3FG) at UAF, 18 points (8-9 FT) against Chaminade and 18 points (7-11 FG)/5 assists against Western Washington ... after starting the year 20 of 70 (.286) from 3FG range, he has nailed 20 of his last 34 (.588), including the game-tying trey at UAF on Saturday ... Svejcar has a solid 45/21 assist/turnover ratio in 581 minutes (30.6 mpg), and he holds GNAC overall ranks of 19th in scoring (13.2 ppg), 8th in 3FGs per game (2.1) and 17th in 3FG% (.385).

LECKBAND TOGETHER: Sr. F Christian Leckband is the most experienced Seawolf on the roster, with his 102 career games now 16th in program history ... coming off the bench in 18 of 19 contests this year, he has improved on his career scoring (10.8 ppg from 5.3 ppg) and rebounding (4.2 rpg from 3.2 rpg) averages, boosted by his 21 points against Simon Fraser and 16 points against MSUB ... last week he shot 10-18 FG to rise to 14th in the GNAC in FG% (.513), while he has also cracked the top 20 in 3FG% (19th, .384) and blocks per game (18th, 0.5) ... the Nome native has 10 double-figure scoring efforts this year, and he equaled the second-most rebounds of his career with 9 in the win over Hawaii Pacific.

BERG SIDELINED: UAA suffered a blow Nov. 6 when So. F Sjur Berg suffered a broken elbow in the Seawolves' home opener ... following surgery, Berg is expected to miss at least two months and possibly the rest of the season ... the Norwegian ranked second on the team (15th GNAC) last year with 5.2 rpg and was averaging 7.0 rpg through the first three games this year.

THE OSBORNE FILE: Now in his 12th year as head coach, Rusty Osborne (223-123) has led the Seawolves to 10 straight winning seasons, along with five NCAA Tournaments and a trip to the 2008 NCAA D-II Semifinals in his tenure at the helm … with UAA's victory over Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 10, 2015, he became the first UAA basketball coach to reach 200 career victories … Osborne captured his first career GNAC and NABC West District coach-of-the-year awards in 2008 after becoming the second coach to lead UAA to three consecutive NCAA berths (2006-08), and in 2011-12 his Seawolves posted a 24-10 record to equal the 2nd-most victories in program history; Osborne's 2007-08 club holds that record with a 29-6 mark … before taking over the head job in 2004-05, the Texas native previously served 13 seasons (1991-04) as a UAA assistant, including 11 years as the top assistant … the Seawolves have won over 60 percent of their games with Osborne on the staff, claiming four conference titles and eight trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament. Osborne is assisted in 2015-16 by Cameron Turner (5th season) and Kasey Riley (1st season).

SEAWOLVES TABBED 4TH: The Seawolves were picked to finish fourth in the 2015-16 Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason coaches' poll, released Oct. 15.

2015-16 Great Northwest Athletic Conference
Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches' Poll
Rk  Team (1st-pl. votes)   '14-15 Records     Pts
 1. Western Washington (5) 20-11/11-7 (t-5th) 114
 2. Western Oregon (4)     23-7/15-3 (1st)    106
 3. Seattle Pacific (2)    24-8/13-5 (2nd)    100
 4. Alaska Anchorage       16-13/12-6 (t-3rd)  92
 5. Central Washington     17-9/12-6 (t-3rd)   80
 6. Alaska Fairbanks       7-19/4-14 (8th)     63
 7. Saint Martin's         6-22/3-15 (t-9th)   41
    Montana State Billings 5-23/3-15 (t-9th)   41
 9. Northwest Nazarene     14-16/11-7 (t-5th)  37
10. Concordia, Ore.        25-7 1st Yr in GNAC 32
11. Simon Fraser           11-15/6-12 (7th)    20
(Votes awarded on 11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis)

2015-16 Seawolf Individual Honors
Corey Hammell
GCI GNAC/Pac West Challenge All-Tournament Team
Seawolf Jamboree All-Tournament Team
Brian McGill
Preseason All-GNAC Team
Spencer Svejcar
GNAC Player of the Week, Jan. 11-17
Suki Wiggs
Preseason All-GNAC Team
GCI GNAC/Pac West Challenge All-Tournament Team
Seawolf Jamboree Most Outstanding Player
GCI Great Alaska Shootout Player of the Game vs Middle Tennesssee
GCI Great Alaska Shootout Player of the Game vs Drexel
GCI Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament Team
GNAC Player of the Week, Nov. 23-29

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Players Mentioned

Christian Leckband

#1 Christian Leckband

F
6' 5"
Freshman
Brian McGill

#RS Brian McGill

G
6' 2"
Sophomore
Sjur Berg

#2 Sjur Berg

F
6' 7"
Freshman
Corey Hammell

#25 Corey Hammell

F
6' 6"
Junior
Diante Mitchell

#11 Diante Mitchell

G
6' 1"
Junior
Spencer Svejcar

#20 Spencer Svejcar

G
6' 4"
Junior
Sekou

#2 Sekou 'Suki' Wiggs

G
6' 4"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Christian Leckband

#1 Christian Leckband

6' 5"
Freshman
F
Brian McGill

#RS Brian McGill

6' 2"
Sophomore
G
Sjur Berg

#2 Sjur Berg

6' 7"
Freshman
F
Corey Hammell

#25 Corey Hammell

6' 6"
Junior
F
Diante Mitchell

#11 Diante Mitchell

6' 1"
Junior
G
Spencer Svejcar

#20 Spencer Svejcar

6' 4"
Junior
G
Sekou

#2 Sekou 'Suki' Wiggs

6' 4"
Junior
G