THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE MEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Sat., Feb. 19 - Alaska Airlines Center - Anchorage, Alaska - 7 pm AST
Alaska Fairbanks (7-11, 4-9 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (12-7, 7-5 GNAC)
 
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 (masks required) ... special deals for UAA alumni with code ALUMNI at bit.ly/3BoSAxG
 
PROMOTIONS: The first 200 fans at Saturday's game will receive free t-shirts courtesy of game-night sponsor ConocoPhillips Alaska.
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2021-22 stats)
G—David Rowlands, 6-0, Sr. (12.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 4.8 apg, .353 3FG, .745 FT)
G—Tobin Karlberg, 6-0, Jr. (17.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.6 spg, .385 3FG, .788 FT)
F—Hunter Sweet, 6-4, Sr. (14.7 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.8 apg, .398 3FG, .712 FT)
F—Keegan Crosby, 6-6, Jr. (3.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.6 apg, 2.6 A/T ratio, .422 FG)
C—Oggie Pantovic, 6-7, Sr. (15.9 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.1 bpg, .558 FG, .419 3FG, .760 FT)
 
BIG DIPPER BATTLE: The Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team returns home for its final three regular-season games of the 2021-22 campaign, starting with an in-state showdown against Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center ... UAA's first meeting against UAF in Fairbanks was postponed and will likely not be played, meaning Saturday should mark the first time the rivals have played only once in a regular season.
 
SCOUTING THE FOES: Alaska Fairbanks is trying to snap a 9-game road losing streak, although the last six of those setbacks came by eight points or fewer ... ... the Nanooks are led by Shadeed Shabazz (19.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.6 apg, 2.9 spg, .830 FT) and Coleman Sparling (10.2 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.6 apg, .377 3FG).
 
THE SERIES...
vs UAF: UAA leads 84-23 overall, 48-5 in Anchorage
Streak: UAA 3
Last: UAA 94-81 (2/18/20 at UAF)
Notes: UAA has won 27 of the last 29 meetings, with UAF's victories coming by a combined three points, both in Fairbanks ... UAA has won 17 straight in Anchorage (6-0 at the Alaska Airlines Center) since a 73-70 Nanooks victory, Feb. 22, 2003 ... 10 of the last 18 games have been decided by six points or less, or in overtime … UAA leads 31-7 in GNAC meetings (since 2001-02) … teams have met at least twice each year (with the exception of 2020-21, when neither played) since both became NCAA Div. II programs in 1977-78.
 
WILD RIDE ENDS WITH WIN: UAA earned its second 1-2 record on a three-game GNAC trip this season, capping the regular-season road slate with a satifying victory over Simon Fraser on Monday ... UAA's lost its first two contests at Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington by a combined five points, including one overtime game ... on Thursday, Jr. G Tobin Karlberg scored a career-high 24 points (8-15 FG) and Sr. C Oggie Pantovic tallied 22 points (8-10 FG, 3-3 3FG) and 10 rebounds, but UAA could not overcome an early 20-point deficit, falling 70-66 at NNU ... on Saturday, Karlberg had 21 points, 10 rebounds and 5 steals, but CWU hit a bank-in trey to force OT and won 81-80 on a baseline jumper with 3.2 seconds remaining ... Pantovic had 17 points (8-13 FG), 9 rebounds and 4 assists, and Jr. G A.J. Garrity tallied a career-high 12 points in the setback ... on Monday, Karlberg scored 15 of his 17 points (7-12 FG, 2-4 3FG) in the second half to beat SFU 75-70, teaming with Sr. PG David Rowlands (16 points, 4 assists) to spark a game-ending 18-3 run ... Jr. F Keegan Crosby had a career-high 14 points (5-8 FG, 2-5 3FG), 7 rebounds and 3 assists as UAA won despite the absence of Pantovic.
 
PLAYOFF PICTURE: The Seawolves were not among the 10 teams in today's initial version of the NCAA Div. II West Region rankings (which only included results through Sunday), although it's reasonable to believe they aren't far out of the playoff picture, with three regular-season games and the GNAC Tournament remaining ... going into the Simon Fraser game, UAA was fifth in the 'points ranking system' that will determine this season's GNAC regular-season champion and GNAC Tournament seeding, thanks to an unbalanced league schedule ... the top six teams will receive byes to the GNAC Tournament quarterfinals, while the 7- through 10-seeds will have to play first-round qualifiers on Mar. 2.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA leads the GNAC stats in assists per game (16.8), A/T ratio (1.5) and 3FGs per game (10.3) ... of 297 teams nationally, the Seawolves rank among the top 50 in five categories, including top-25 marks in A/T ratio (13th), 3FGs per game (12th) and assists per game (22nd) ... with the unliklihood of any further makeup games, the Seawolves have clinched their 15th winning record in their last 16 seasons (the other was .500) and the 36th in 44 seasons of program history ... UAA needs just one win in the next three games to clinch its 32nd winning league record in 40 years of conference play, including 16 of 20 years in the GNAC.
 
'WOLF BITES: A First Team All-GNAC performer as a junior in 2019-20, Sr. F/C Oggie Pantovic is well on his way to repeat honors, twice earning GNAC Player of the Week, while holding league ranks of 7th in scoring (15.9 ppg), 3rd in rebounding (8.8 rpg), 7th in blocks (1.1 bpg), 7th in FG% (.558), 14th in assists (2.6 apg) and 20th in FT% (.760) ... the Serb has posted five double-doubles to raise his career total to 14, and he's posted double-figure scoring in 32 of his last 35 contests ... on UAA's career lists, Pantovic ranks 14th in scoring average (15.6 ppg), 6th in rebounding average (8.0 rpg), 8th in blocks per game (0.8) and 7th in FG% (.574) ... a Preseason All-GNAC pick alongside Pantovic, Jr. G Tobin Karlberg ranks 5th in the GNAC with 17.6 ppg, producing seven 20-plus efforts thus far ... the local Grace Christian HS star has scored double figures in 18 of 19 games this year and 37 of his last 43 outings, establishing a new career high with 24 points at NNU last week ... among the other GNAC stats categories, Karlberg ranks 4th in 3FGs per game (2.6), 13h in FT% (.788), 5th in steals (1.6 spg), 12th in assists (2.6 apg), and 12th in A/T ratio (2.2) ... among UAA's career leaders, Karlberg stands 20th in points (868), 9th in 3FG% (.437) and 13th in 3FGs made (146), while his current streak of 34 straight games with a three-pointer is 4th-longest in program history ... Sr. F Hunter Sweet has improved the skills that made him an honorable mention All-GNAC selection as a junior at Concordia-Portland in 2019-20, scoring at least double figures in 16 of 19 games, and becoming the first Seawolf since Suki Wiggs in 2016-17 to post multiple 30-point efforts in the same season (Nov. 16 at UHH, Nov. 27 vs. Quincy) ... in the GNAC stats, the Portland native ranks 11th in scoring (14.7 ppg), 17th in rebounding (5.4 rpg), 8th in 3FGs per game (2.1), 15th in 3FG% (.398) and 5th in minutes (34.9) ... on Feb. 5, Sweet surpassed the 1,000 career points plateau at UAA and Concordia combined, entering the UAF game now with 1,047 ... Sr. PG David Rowlands has delivered as UAA's new floor general, ranking 2nd in the GNAC with 4.8 assists per game (37th nationally), plus 7th in A/T ratio (2.4, 38th nationally), 6th in 3FGs per game (2.2) and 8th in minutes (33.6) ... the grad transfer from Hawaii Pacific has scored double figures in 15 of 19 outings and has dished at least three assists in all but two games ... Jr. F Keegan Crosby has moved into the starting lineup this season and emerged as one of the top role players in the GNAC ... the Seattle native has grabbed at least 5 rebounds in 13 of 19 games and has recorded a positive or even assist/TO ratio in all 12 GNAC games ... in the GNAC stats, Crosby is 9th in rebounding (6.2 rpg) – boosted by a career-high 15 boards in the win over Quincy – plus 19th in assists (2.2 apg) and 4th in A/T ratio (2.6) ... another Concordia-Portland transfer, So. G Caleb Larsen has displayed a sharp-shooting stroke thus far, ranking 8th in the GNAC with team-best .436 3FG shooting, along with a rank of 13th in A/T ratio (2.1) ... since overcoming an early-season injury, Jr. G A.J. Garrity has emerged as a solid option off the bench, averaging 6.1 ppg (.451 FG, .364 3FG, .789 FT) in GNAC games ... Garrity scored at least 5 points in all 10 games since Dec. 30 and is averaging 8.2 ppg since the calendar turned to February.
 
TRUST IN RUSTY: In his 17th season (18th year) at the helm, head coach Rusty Osborne (311-187) 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 Ryan Orton (7th season/8th year), Jalon McCullough (1st season) and volunteer assistant Ryan Engebretsen (1st season/2nd year).
 
2021-22 Seawolf Individual Honors
KEEGAN CROSBY
GNAC All-Academic Team
AJ GARRITY
GNAC All-Academic Team
TOBIN KARLBERG
GNAC All-Academic Team
Seawolf Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team
Pac West/GNAC Challenge All-Tournament Team
Preseason All-GNAC Team
CALEB LARSEN
GNAC All-Academic Team
OGGIE PANTOVIC
GNAC Player of the Week, Jan. 31-Feb. 6
GNAC Player of the Week, Nov. 22-28
Seawolf Thanksgiving Classic Most Outstanding Player
Preseason All-GNAC Team
DAVID ROWLANDS
Pac West/GNAC Challenge All-Tournament Team
GNAC Player of the Week, Dec. 27-Jan. 2
DAVID RILEY
GNAC All-Academic Team
VOJTECH RUZEK
GNAC All-Academic Team
HUNTER SWEET
GNAC All-Academic Team
Seawolf Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team
 
UAA School Records Broken/Tied in 2021-22
TEAM
None
INDIVIDUAL
Game
Most Steals vs Div. II Opponent & vs Conference Opponent – 7, Tobin Karlberg at MSU Billings, 1/27 (ties record by Kevin Smith vs Puget Sound, 1/27/85, and by Jim Hajdukovich vs Seattle Pacific, 1/31/98