THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE MEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Thu., Jan. 5 – 6:30 pm AST – Big Bend CC Gymnasium – Moses Lake, Wash.
Alaska Anchorage (7-5, 1-2 GNAC) at Central Washington (4-9, 0-4 GNAC)
&
Sat., Jan. 7 – 5:30 pm AST – Johnson Sports Center – Nampa, Idaho
Alaska Anchorage at Northwest Nazarene (4-8, 1-3 GNAC [Thu. vs UAF])
 
LIVE VIDEO: Thursday at youtube.com/@cwuathletics
                       Saturday at youtu.be/YpQqpN0eR_k
LIVE STATS: Thursday at wildcatsports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
                      Saturday at nnusports.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
SOCIAL MEDIA: Check the @UAAMBB Twitter feed for in-game updates.
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2022-23)
G—Da'Zhon Wyche, 5-10, Sr. (16.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 4.9 apg, 2.7 spg, .800 FT)
G—Tyson Gilbert, 6-2, Jr. (8.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.1 apg, 1.2 spg, .368 3FG, 1.000 FT)
G—Dathan Satchell, 6-3, Jr. (9.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.0 spg, .400 FG, .375 3FG)
F—Jaedon Bradley, 6-5, Jr. (9.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.7 apg, .400 3FG, .875 FT)
F—Sawyer Storms, 6-7, Jr. (11.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 2.3 apg, .581 FG, .618 FT)
 
GNAC ROAD SLATE BEGINS: After playing their first three league games at home, the nine-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference road slate begins this week with contests against Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene ... Thursday's game will be played at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, Wash., due to CWU's continuing renovation of Nicholson Pavilion.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: Central Washington has dropped its first four GNAC encounters and gone just 1-9 against NCAA Div. II opponents this season, although seven of its losses have come by 10 points or less ... the Wildcats are led by Camron McNeil (15.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg, .506 FG, .438 3FG) and Matt Poquette (13.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.7 apg, .558 FG, .737 FT) ... Northwest Nazarene earned its lone GNAC win thus far on Dec. 3 (62-54 vs WOU) and brings a 2-7 mark against D-II opponents into its Thursday game with UAF ... the Nighthawks are led by Tru Allen (13.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.5 apg, 2.1 spg, .750 FT) and Gabriel Murphy (11.7 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 1.6 apg, .595 FG).
 
THE SERIES...
vs CWU: UAA leads 24-21 overall; CWU leads 14-9 at home
Streak: CWU 1
Last: CWU 81-80, OT (2/12/22 at CWU)
Notes: Teams played only once last year due to the pandemic ... the last two meetings and four of the last 10 contests have gone to overtime ... UAA leads 21-18 in GNAC regular-season meetings (since 2001-02) ... first meeting was in Feb. 1979, although programs did not play again until Jan. 2000.
 
vs NNU: UAA leads 25-16 overall; NNU leads 12-8 at home
Streak: NNU 1
Last: NNU 70-66 (2/10/22 at NNU)
Notes: Teams have split the last 10 games ... home teams have won nine straight since UAA's 74-61 victory, Feb. 25, 2016 in Nampa ... the Seawolves have lost five straight and six of the last seven in Nampa ... the last 18 meetings have been decided by 13 points or less, including three overtime
contests ... UAA leads 23-16 in GNAC regular-season meetings (since 2001-02) ... first and only meeting as non-GNAC members was a 93-66 UAA home win, Feb. 3, 2001, when both teams were in the Pac West Conference.
 
HAPPY HOLIDAYS AT HOME: The Seawolves closed the 2022 calendar with their first three-game winning streak of the season, taking care of non-conference foe Portland Bible twice and beating rival Alaska Fairbanks in a four-day period (Dec. 28-31) at the Alaska Airlines Center ... in the first game, Jr. F Jaron Williams led six double-digit scorers with a career-high 19 points (7-12 FG, 4-4 FT) in a 108-36 win ... So. G Lachlan Viney added 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals as UAA recorded the fourth-largest victory margin in program history and held the Flames to a GNAC-record-low 9 field goals ... the next day, Jr. G Tyson Gilbert delivered 18 points (6-8 FG, 4-5 3FG) and So. F Luke Devine had 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals to help the Seawolves set a program record for points allowed in an 87-28 win over PBC ... the Seawolves got back to D-II action on New Year's Eve as Sr. PG Da'Zhon Wyche led the way with 24 points (8-14 FG, 4-6 3FG) and 5 steals in an 81-59 thumping of UAF ... Williams added 16 points (4-8 FG, 2-3 3FG, 6-7 FT) as UAA forced 30 Nanook tunovers and won its 19th straight home game in the series.
 
'WOLF BITES: Sr. G Da'Zhon Wyche has shown the scoring touch that earned him nearly 1,500 career points at his previous collegiate stops, averaging a team-high 16.4 points in his first 11 games in Green & Gold ... the former West Anchorage HS star ranks 3rd in the GNAC stats in scoring, 3rd in assists (4.9 apg, 27th nationally) and 2nd in A/T ratio (3.3, 16th nationally), plus a league-leading 2.7 steals per game (4th nationally) ... Jr. G Sawyer Storms has been a consistent force since transfering from regional rival Chaminade, producing double-figure scoring eight times, including 23 points in the win over Westminster ... the Idaho native is UAA's second-leading scorer with 11.0 ppg, along with GNAC ranks of 9th in FG% (.581), 10th in blocks (0.8 bpg), 16th in A/T ratio (1.7) and 20th in rebounding (4.8 rpg) ... Sr. G AJ Garrity leads the GNAC with a blazing .625 3FG% ... the SoCal native went 6 of 6 from deep over a 5-game stretch Nov. 14-Dec. 3, with two-game totals of 15 points (4-4 FG, 3-3 3FG, 4-5 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals and no turnovers in UAA's wins over Westminster and TAMIU in Fairbanks ... Jr. F Jaedon Bradley premiered with double-figure scoring in his six of his first nine games as a Seawolf, including 16 points against MSUB ... the CSU-Pueblo transfer ranks 3rd in the GNAC in FT% (.875) and 13th in 3FG% (.400) ... other Seawolves among the current GNAC leaders include Jr. G Jaron Williams at 5th in A/T ratio (2.6) and 8th in steals (1.5 spg), Jr. G Dathan Satchell at 2nd in 3FGs per game (2.3) and 18th in 3FG% (.375), and So. G Lachlan Viney at 7th in steals (1.6 spg), 16th in FG% (.547) and 17th in assists (2.5 apg).
 
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves lead the nation with a +11.6 turnover margin and rank top 10 in the NCAA Div. II national stats in four additional categories – turnovers forced per game (2nd, 22.1), assist/turnover ratio (4th, 1.78), steals per game (4th, 11.3) and assists per game (9th, 18.7) ...  UAA leads the GNAC stats in turnover margin, A/T ratio, steals, assists and scoring margin (+16.8), while ranking 2nd in scoring defense (65.8 ppg) ... this year's club is aiming for the 16th winning record in the program's last 17 seasons (the other was .500) and the 37th in 45 seasons of program history ... UAA also boasts 32 winning league records 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 (321-194) 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 by associate head coach Ryan Orton (8th season/9th year), Jalon McCullough (2nd season) and volunteer assistant Ryan Engebretsen (2nd season/3rd year).
 
2022-23 Seawolf Individual Honors
SAWYER STORMS
Mt. McKinley North Star Bank Invitational All-Tournament Team
DA'ZHON WYCHE
Mt. McKinley North Star Bank Invitational MVP
Preseason All-GNAC Team
 
UAA School Records Broken/Tied in 2022-23
TEAM
Game
Fewest Points Allowed — 28 vs Portland Bible, Dec. 29 (old record: 30 vs Lancaster Bible, 11/5/06 & at Carver Bible, 12/30/99)