THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE MEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Thur., Oct. 27 – 7 pm ADT – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, Alaska
Midway (0-0) at Alaska Anchorage (0-0)
&
Fri., Oct. 28 – 7 pm ADT – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, Alaska
Midway at Alaska Anchorage
 
LIVE VIDEO: Free at youtube.com/c/UAASeawolves
LIVE STATS: goseawolves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
SOCIAL MEDIA: Check the @UAAMBB Twitter feed for in-game updates.
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com
 
2022-23 SEASON PREVIEW: The Seawolves embark on the season with no returning starters from last year's 15-9 squad, and only five players with playing experience in a UAA uniform ... Sr. G AJ Garrity (6.2 ppg) and Jr. G Caleb Larsen (5.1 ppg) are the Seawolves' leading returning scorers, while 18th-year head coach Rusty Osborne has reloaded with eight transfers, including former local prep stars Da'Zhon Wyche (West Anchorage/UT-Tyler) and Jaron Williams (East Anchorage/Spokane CC) ... the Seawolves were picked to finish sixth of 10 teams in the annual GNAC preseason coaches' poll.
 
2021-22 SEASON RECAP: After seeing its previous campaign wiped out by the pandemic, UAA returned to the court in 2021-22 to post a 15-9 overall record and place third in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a 9-6 mark ... despite playing a shortened schedule because of five canceled games and going through a 4-week stretch without a game, the Seawolves managed a sweep of GNAC regular-season champion Saint Martin's and suffered seven of their losses by single digits ... UAA was seeded third for the GNAC Tournament and advanced to the semifinals for the second time in a row ... Sr. F Oggie Pantovic was a second-team All-West Region and unanimous First Team All-GNAC selection, while Jr. G Tobin Karlberg was a Second Team All-GNAC pick.
 
EAGLE WATCH: Located just northwest of Lexington, Ky., in a town of less than 2,000, Midway plays in the NAIA's River States Conference ... the Eagles are coming off a 16-10 season and are picked to finish ninth of 13 teams in the RSC's preseason poll.
 
IN WITH THE OLD: Despite entering 2022-23 with only three players who logged more than 40 total minutes last season, the Seawolves will still be a mature squad, with every player on the roster at least 21 years old ... Jr. G Caleb Larsen displayed a sharp-shooting stroke off the bench in 2021-22, ranking 8th in the GNAC with team-best .426 3FG shooting, and 6th in A/T ratio (2.2) ... Sr. G AJ Garrity emerged as a solid option off the bench in his first season as a Seawolf, averaging 7.3 ppg (.473 FG, .403 3FG, .818 FT) in GNAC games ... Garrity scored at least 5 points in all 13 games from Dec. 30 through Feb. 26 and averaged 9.4 ppg in February ... after averaging just 1.0 ppg through Jan. 31, Sr. F Vojtech Ruzek came on strong to end last season ... the Czech totaled 31 points on 12-of-14 FG shooting over his last seven contests, made at least one steal in the last four of the final five games, and delivered two crunch-time free throws late in UAA's 75-70 road win over Simon Fraser.
 
STRONG LIKE TYSON: Jr. G Tyson Gilbert is finally ready to make his Seawolf debut after spending two years with the program ... a starter in 32 of 56 career games at CSU-Pueblo, Gilbert missed the 2020-21 campaign along with his teammates, then was forced into a redshirt season after tearing his Achilles in April 2021 ... the Colorado native averaged 11.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg and 1.4 apg as a sophomore at CSUP in 2019-20, shooting .470 FG and .437 3FG.
 
LOOK TO THE SEVEN: After losing all five starters, the Seawolf staff has bolstered its roster with seven transfers who bring extensive junior-college or NCAA Div. II playing experience ... a two-time Alaska 4A Player of the Year from West Anchorage High School, Sr. G Da'Zhon Wyche returns home from fellow D-II program Texas-Tyler, where he was his team's second-leading scorer in each of the last two seasons ... Wyche averaged 12.1 ppg and 4.1 apg in 2021-22, with his 102 assists ranking second on UTT's all-time list ... a former teammate of Tyson Gilbert's at CSU-Pueblo, Jr. F Jaedon Bradley spent the 2021-22 campaign at Laramie County CC in Wyoming, where he averaged 17.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg and scored double figures in 27 of 29 games ... Bradley averaged 8.1 ppg as a true freshman at CSUP in 2019-20 ... UAA gets two former West Region rivals on its side this year as So. G Lachlan Viney (Hawaii Pacific) and Jr. F Sawyer Storms (Chaminade) join the fold ... Viney averaged 7.3 ppg and 1.7 apg in 36 career games with the Sharks, earning All-Pac West honors in the Covid-shortened season ... Storms comes north after two seasons in Honolulu, where he averaged 4.3 points and 2.6 rebounds as a sophomore last year ... another local product from East High, Jr. G Jaron Williams spent three seasons at Spokane CC, scoring 919 points in 65 career games ... Williams was named to the NWAC East Region All-Defensive Team and helped SCC to the second round of its league playoffs with six 20-plus scoring efforts last year ... So. G/F Jack Chlumak (pronounced KLOO-mock) is coming off a well-balanced stat line of 11.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.7 apg and 1.1 spg at Central Wyoming College last year, while Jr. G Dathan Satchell averaged 13.8 ppg with impressive shooting numbers of .478 FG, .434 3FG and .862 FT at Las Positas College.
 
TEAM NOTES: The 2021-22 Seawolves went 10-1 at the Alaska Airlines Center to earn their best home record since 2016-17 and their second-best in the arena's seven seasons ... UAA led the GNAC stats in assists per game (16.8), A/T ratio (1.5) and 3FGs per game (10.8) ... of 297 teams nationally, the Seawolves ranked among the top 50 in six categories – 6th in 3FGs per game, 10th in A/T ratio, 16th in assists per game, 25th in 3FG% (.383), 35th in fewest turnovers per game (11.0) and 47th in FT% (.752) ... the Seawolves recorded their 15th winning record in their last 16 seasons (the other was .500) and the 36th in 44 seasons of program history ... UAA also secured its 32nd winning league record in 40 years of conference play, including 16 of 20 years in the GNAC.
 
TRUST IN RUSTY: In his 18th season (19th year) at the helm, head coach Rusty Osborne (314-189) has now led the Seawolves to 15 straight seasons of .500-plus records, along with five NCAA Tournaments and a trip to the 2008 NCAA D-II Semifinals … the longest tenured coach in program history and in the GNAC, he became the first UAA basketball coach to reach 200 career victories when the Seawolves beat Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 10, 2015 … 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 2021-22 by associate head coach Ryan Orton (8th season/9th year), Jalon McCullough (2nd season) and volunteer assistant Ryan Engebretsen (2nd season/3rd year).