THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE MEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Thur., Jan. 11 – 7 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, Alaska
Central Washington (9-4, 2-2 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (11-3, 1-2 GNAC)
&
Sat., Jan. 13 – 7:30 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, Alaska
Northwest Nazarene (7-5, 3-1 [Thu. @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
 
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com
LIVE VIDEO: youtube.com/UAASeawolves
LIVE STATS: GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/mbball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2023-24 stats)
G—Dathan Satchell, 6-3, Sr. (7.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.9 apg, 2.1 A/T)
G—Tyson Gilbert, 6-2, Sr. (13.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.9 spg, .379 3FG, .732 FT)
G—Dillon Barrientos, 6-1, Jr. (9.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.5 apg, 2.3 A/T)
F—Sawyer Storms, 6-7, Sr. (10.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.3 apg, 1.2 spg, .462 FG, .750 FT)
C—Sloan Lentfer, 6-7, Fr. (4.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg, .462 FG)
 
LONG-AWAITED LEAGUE HOME GAMES ON TAP: After 42 days and six games away from the Alaska Airlines Center, the Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team returns this week for its Great Northwest Athletic Conference home openers, facing Central Washington on Thursday (7 pm) and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday (7:30 pm) ... the Seawolves are the last of the GNAC's 10 teams to host a league game this year, leaving UAA with nine of its final 15 contests at the Alaska Airlines Center.
 
KNOW THE FOES: Coming off a home split against MSU Billings (74-59 loss) and Seattle Pacific (73-66 win) last week, Central Washington heads north with four victories in its last five contests ... picked third in the GNAC preseason coaches' poll, the Wildcats are led by Samaad Hector (13.4 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 1.3 bpg, .529 FG, .792 FT) and Anjaylo Lloyd (12.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg, .958 FT) ... Northwest Nazarene also went 1-1 against MSUB and SPU last week, and trails MSUB by just one game for the early league lead, heading into Thursday's contest at UAF ... the Nighthawks, from Nampa, Idaho, are led by returning vets Gabe Murphy (13.3 ppg, 8.3 rpg, .556 FG) and Tru Allen (13.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.0 apg, 2.7 spg).
 
THE SERIES...
vs CWU: UAA leads 26-21 overall, 15-6 in Anchorage
Streak: UAA 2
Last: UAA 76-66 (2/4/23 at UAA)
Notes: UAA has won eight of the last 11 meetings ... UAA has six straight at the Alaska Airlines Center since CWU took a 77-68 victory in the arena's inaugural season in 2014-15 ... four of the last 12 contests have gone to overtime ... UAA leads 23-18 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 25-18 overall, 16-5 in Anchorage
Streak: NNU 3
Last: NNU 74-71 (2/2/23 at UAA)
Notes: NNU would match its longest win streak against UAA with a victory Saturday ... the Nighthawks have won the last three games by a combined eight points ... NNU's victory in the last meeting snapped a 10-game win streak for the home team in the series ... the last 20 meetings have been decided by 13 points or less, including three overtime contests ... UAA leads 23-17 in GNAC regular-season meetings ... 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.
 
'WOLVES GO EXTRAS TO SURVIVE 'NOOKS: Jr. G Dillon Barrientos scored six of his game-high 19 points (4-8 3FG) in the extra session as the Seawolves earned their first GNAC win with a 64-58 overtime decision at Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday ... UAA also got 12 points, (5-10 FG), 8 rebounds and 5 assists from Sr. F Sawyer Storms and 12 points and career-high 7 rebounds from Sr. F Jaron Williams as they won despite shooting .338 (22-65) from the field and .385 (10-26) on free throws ... Sr. G Tyson Gilbert added 11 points, 4 assists, 3 steals and no turnovers to help UAA offset its accuracy with a plus-9 turnover differential.
 
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves rank among the top 20 in four NCAA Div. II national stats categories – 2nd in scoring defense (59.9 ppg), 2nd in 3FG% defense (.253), 16th in A/T ratio (1.5) and 20th in turnover margin (+4.6) – and are 27th with 16.9 assists per game ... UAA paces the GNAC in scoring defense, assists per game, TO margin, A/T ratio and 3FG% defense, and is among the top half of the league in 13 of 21 statistical categories ... the Seawolves' 8-0 start was the best in program history, although many season-opening streaks were stopped by D-I opponents in the Great Alaska Shootout over the years ... UAA's .279 (12-43) opponent FG% against Hawaii Pacific was the best against a fellow D-II team since holding Simon Fraser to .273 (15-55) on Jan. 5, 2017 ... the 51-49 win over UT Tyler marked the third-fewest points scored by UAA in a victory, while the four turnovers at Hawaii Pacific were just one more than the program record (3, set twice) ... the Seawolves are aiming for the program's 37th winning record in 46 seasons of NCAA Div. II existence, and 33rd winning conference record in 42 years in belonging to a league.
 
TYSON TOUGH: The Seawolves' top scorer and 9th in the GNAC stats with 13.4 ppg, Sr. G Tyson Gilbert has started his final season with double figures in 12 of the first 14 games, including a career-high 27 points (8-14 FG, 5-8 3FG, 6-6 FT) to power the 77-72 win over Chaminade ... the MVP of the GNAC/PacWest Challenge, Gilbert is also 3rd in the GNAC in steals (1.9 spg), 3rd in 3FGs per game (2.4), 17th in FT% (.732), 17th in 3FG% (.379) and 18th in assists (2.2 apg), while leading the league with a 5.2 A/T ratio ... after two seasons on the sidelines due to an Achilles' injury and heart surgery and Covid, the CSU Pueblo transfer finished as UAA's leading scorer (10.4 ppg) in his 2022-23 comeback campaign, earning honorable mention All-GNAC recognition ... Gilbert is honing in on another milestone as he currently stands at 985 career points in his time at both CSUP and UAA.
 
STORMS WARNING: Another returning honorable mention All-GNAC performer, Sr. F Sawyer Storms is again displaying his all-around skills with league ranks of 5th in assists (3.3 apg), 7th in rebounding (6.6 rpg), 27th in scoring (10.9 ppg), 12th in FT% (.750), 18th in 3FG% (.375) and 13th in steals (1.3 spg) ... UAA's second-leading scorer among active players, Storms has produced team season highs in steals (4 at SPU), blocks (3 vs CSUSB) and FTs made (9 at SPU), and snagged at least four rebounds in every game (7.1 rpg over last eight) ... the Chaminade transfer dished 8 assists without a turnover to aid the 77-72 win over his former squad, and posted a season-high 17 points in the 83-67 win over Adams State.
 
'WOLF BITES: The Seawolves have shown impressive depth, getting at least 10 minutes per game from 10 of their 12 active players ... Jr. G Dillon Barrientos ranks 4th in the GNAC with 3.5 assists per game, along with 6th in A/T ratio (2.3) ... a transfer from College of the Canyons (Calif.), Barrientos has begun his NCAA career with seven double-figure scoring efforts in the first 13 games, and four-plus assists in five contests ... Sr. F Jaron Williams scored double figures in back-to-back games for the second time in his Seawolf career against Adams State (5-7 FG in both games), and followed with 17 total points on 6-of-11 accuracy in the road losses at MSUB and SPU ... the former East Anchorage HS star ranks 11th in the league at .520 FG%, along with 15th in FT% (.743) and 18th in steals (1.0 spg) ... Williams's 11-of-13 FG (.846) performance at HPU tied for 13th on UAA's single-game accuracy list (min. 10 att.) and was the best since Jacob Lampkin shot 9 of 10 against UAF on Nov. 28, 2017 ... Williams was named the GNAC Player of the Week for his performance in Hawaii.
 
TRUST IN RUSTY: Now in his 19th season (20th year) at the helm, head coach Rusty Osborne (338-206) has led the Seawolves to .500-plus records in 15 of the 16 seasons, 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 coach in any sport to reach 300 career victories when the Seawolves beat Hawaii Pacific on Nov. 13, 2021 … 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 (9th season/10th year) and Ryan Engebretsen (3rd season/4th year).
 
2023-24 Seawolf Individual Honors
TYSON GILBERT
GNAC/PacWest Challenge MVP
GNAC Player of the Week, Oct. 30-Nov. 5
DATHAN SATCHELL
Preseason All-GNAC Team
BISHOP TOSI
GNAC/PacWest Challenge All-Tournament Team
JARON WILLIAMS
GNAC Player of the Week, Dec. 9-19
Hoops In Hawaii Classic All-Tournament Team