THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE MEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Thu., Dec. 19 – 9 pm AST – The Shark Tank – Honolulu, HI
Alaska Anchorage (6-7, 1-1 GNAC) vs Colorado State-Pueblo (8-2, 3-1 RMAC)
&
Fri., Dec. 20 – 6:45 pm AST – The Shark Tank – Honolulu, HI
Alaska Anchorage vs Johnson & Wales, R.I. (2-5 [one game pending])
 
LIVE VIDEO (PPV-$): passthaballlive.com/category/live-events/hawaii-classic-24/
LIVE STATS: hpusharks.com/sidearmstats/mbball
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2024-25 stats)
G—Sean Evans, 6-3, Sr. (11.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 4.0 apg, .344 3FG, .900 FT)
G—Hasaan Herrington, 6-3, Jr. (7.9 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.2 apg, .529 FG, .735 FT)
G—Tyler Burraston, 6-4, Jr. (13.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg, .394 3FG, .850 FT)
F—John McFadden, 6-8, Jr. (3.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 0.9 spg, 0.5 bpg, .923 FT)
C—Bishop Tosi, 6-6, Jr. (11.2 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.5 apg, .626 FG, .732 FT)
 
HAWAIIAN BUNCH: The Seawolves make their traditional trip to the Islands for their non-conference finales this week, facing Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foe Colorado State-Pueblo and NCAA Div. III program Johnson & Wales (R.I.) at the Hoops in Hawaii Classic ... both games will be held on Hawaii Pacific's home court at The Shark Tank.
 
KNOW THE FOES: Colorado State-Pueblo has gone 6-2 against NCAA Div. II competition thus far, earning a 68-58 league victory over South Dakota Mines in its last game Saturday ... the Thunderwolves, who play in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, are led by De'Shaun Cooper (12.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.1 apg, .667 FG) and Brevin Walter (12.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, .829 FT) ... UAA is the lone NCAA Div. II opponent on the schedule for NCAA Div. III program Johnson & Wales (R.I.), which plays in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference ... the Wildcats are led by Josh Zangerle (16.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, .340 3FG) and Izaiah Shaw-Glen (10.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg, .491 FG).
 
THE SERIES: UAA leads 2-0 all-time against CSU-Pueblo, winning 85-75 on Nov. 10, 2012 and 100-75 on Jan. 9, 1993, both in Anchorage ... UAA has never played Johnson & Wales ... Friday's game will mark UAA's first against an NCAA Div. III program since defeating Coast Guard 88-78 on Nov. 8, 2019 at the Alaska Airlines Center.
 
LEAGUE OPENERS: The Seawolves forged a split of their early-season Great Northwest Athletic Conference openers Dec. 5 & 7 at the Alaska Airlines Center, falling 79-74 to Saint Martin's and winning 71-49 against Western Oregon ... in the first game, UAA got 22 points (7-13 FG, 5-9 3FG, 3-3 FT) and 6 rebounds from Jr. G Tyler Burraston and an 11-point/11-rebound double-double from Jr. F Bishop Tosi, but could not complete a late comeback against the Saints ... Tosi also had a career-high 6 assists and no turnovers in the loss, while Jr. G/F Hasaan Herrington collected 13 points (5-9 FG) and 4 assists ... on Saturday, Tosi improved his numbers with 18 points (7-8 FG), 11 rebounds and 5 assists as UAA outrebounded the Wolves 42-30 and outshot them .438 to .340 ... Burraston had 15 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, So. G Zach Ibbetson added 12 points, and Herrington approached triple-double territory with 9 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.
 
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves are top-3 in the GNAC stats in 10 categories, including first in scoring defense (61.2 ppg), rebounding defense (30.8, 15th nationally), TO forced (16.9), TO margin (+5.6), assists (20.6) and A/T ratio (1.8) ... UAA's .724 FG% against Portland Bible broke the program record of .700 (35-50) from an NCAA Tournament victory over UC Riverside on Mar. 7, 1986, while the 27 points allowed to PBC broke the record set two years ago against the same club ... after going 22-11 last year, UAA has earned 16 .500-or-better records in the past 17 seasons, and 37 winning records in 46 seasons of NCAA Div. II existence ... the 2023-24 Seawolves claimed the program's 33rd winning conference record in 42 years belonging to a league ... last year marked the 17th 20-win season for UAA since becoming an NCAA Div. II program in 1977-78.
 
'WOLF BITES: Since transferring north from fellow D-II program Nebraska-Kearney, Sr. G Sean Evans has emerged as the Seawolves' second-leading scorer at 11.8 ppg, notching double figures in nine of 13 contests ... the Colorado native is 7th in the GNAC with 4.0 assists per game and 3rd in A/T ratio at 2.7, aiding the win over Newberry with 15 points and 7 assists ... Jr. G Tyler Burraston has scored double figures in 11 of 13 games, with a UAA season-high 23 points in the opener against Warner Pacific, 13 points (4-7 3FG) at Hawaii Pacific, and the game-winning trey against Newberry ... Burraston leads UAA with 13.1 ppg (18th GNAC) and a .394 3FG% (15th GNAC), while leading the conference with 3.2 treys per game ... after posting his first back-to-back double-doubles and earning GNAC Player of the Week honors last week, Jr. F/C Bishop Tosi has scored double figures nine times and snagged at least five rebounds in eight of 13 games ... the former Bartlett High star is 7th in the GNAC in rebounding (6.2 rpg), 2nd in offensive rebounding (2.8 orpg) and 4th in FG% (.626), shooting 16 of 19 over the last three games ... one of seven Alaskans on the Seawolf roster, Jr. G Hasaan Herrington has blossomed into one of the GNAC's most well-rounded players, averaging 7.9 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.2 apg and 1.3 spg, while shooting .529 from the field and .735 at the FT line ... the former East Anchorage HS star has averaged 10.6 points and 4.4 assists over the last seven contests, improving his GNAC ranks to 12th in assists, 11th in FG%, 15th in steals and 5th in A/T ratio (2.3) ... other Seawolves in the GNAC top-20 stats leaders are Sr. G Dillon Barrientos (17th, 2.6 apg), Fr. G Parker Kroon (3rd, .529 3FG), So. G Zach Ibbetson (17th, 1.6 3FG/gm) and Jr. F Jesse Stines (17th, 0.6 bpg).
 
TRUST IN RUSTY: In his 20th season (21st year) at the helm, head coach Rusty Osborne (355-220) has led the Seawolves to six NCAA Tournament bids, including advancement to the 2008 NCAA Div. II Semifinals, and 16 records of .500-or-better in the last 17 seasons … 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 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 (10th season/11th year) and Ryan Engebretsen (4th season/5th year).
 
2024-25 Seawolf Individual Honors
DILLON BARRIENTOS
Preseason All-GNAC Team
BISHOP TOSI
GNAC Player of the Week, Dec. 2-8
Preseason All-GNAC Team
 
UAA School Records Broken/Tied in 2024-25
TEAM
Game
Fewest Points Allowed – 27 vs Portland Bible, Nov. 24 (old record: 28 vs Portland Bible, 12/29/22)
Fewest Points Allowed, 2nd half – 11 vs Portland Bible, Nov. 24 (old record: 13 at Carver Bible, 12/30/99)
Highest FG% – .724 [42-58] vs Portland Bible, Nov. 23 (old record: .700 [35-50] vs UC Riverside, 3/7/86)