THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE MEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Thursday, Jan. 30 – 7:30 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, AK
Western Washington (12-7, 4-5 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (10-12, 3-6 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Feb. 1 – 5:15 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, AK
Simon Fraser (6-13, 2-7 GNAC [Thu. @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
 
LIVE VIDEO: Both games free at youtube.com/uaaseawolves
LIVE STATS: goseawolves.com/sidearmstats/mbball
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com
PROMOTIONS: Thursday's game is Alumni Night, sponsored by ConocoPhillips. Alumni get in free, plus up to three guests for $5 each.
 
UAA PROBABLE STARTERS (2024-25 stats)
G—Tyler Burraston, 6-4, Jr. (13.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.4 apg, .417 3FG, .778 FT)
G—Dillon Barrientos, 6-1, Sr. (5.9 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 2.7 apg)
G—Hasaan Herrington, 6-3, Jr. (8.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.5 apg, .519 FG, .759 FT)
F—Jesse Stines, 6-7, Jr. (4.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, .413 FG)
F—Bishop Tosi, 6-6, Jr. (11.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, .546 FG, .653 FT)
 
SECOND HALF STARTS: The Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team starts the second half of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's round-robin schedule this week, facing Western Washington and Simon Fraser at the Alaska Airlines Center ... both games will be critical for qualification to the GNAC Tournament (top 6 qualify), Mar. 6-8 in Lacey, Wash.
 
KNOW THE FOES: Western Washington has followed a three-game losing skid with a current four-game win streak to jump into a tie for sixth in the GNAC standings ... the Vikings are led by Will Wilson (16.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.8 apg, .367 3FG, .895 FT) and Grant Kepley (14.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.4 apg, .458 3FG, .845 FT) ... Simon Fraser owns its GNAC wins over MSU Billings and Saint Martin's as it heads into Thursday's game at UAF ... the Red Leafs are led by Luke Howard (17.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.2 bpg, .482 FG, .420 3FG) and Irish Coquia (15.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 4.7 apg, 1.4 spg, .378 3FG, .826 FT).
 
THE SERIES...
vs WWU: WWU leads 28-21 overall; UAA leads 12-11 in Anch.
Streak: UAA 2
Last: UAA 71-67 (1/4/25 at WWU)
Notes: UAA has won the last two games by similar scores, triumphing 71-69 at home in 2023-24 ... the Seawolves are going for their first three-game streak over WWU since winning five in a row from 2006-08 ... the road team has won six of the last 10 regular-season meetings ... UAA leads 5-3 at the Alaska Airlines Center ... the last 19 games have been decided by 10 points or fewer, including three OT contests ... WWU leads 25-20 in GNAC regular-season games (since 2001-02) ... first and only non-GNAC meeting was an 89-77 UAA home win, Jan. 20, 2000, when both schools were in the PacWest.
 
vs SFU: UAA leads 28-2 overall, 14-1 in Anchorage
Streak: UAA 7
Last: UAA 94-87 (1/2/25 at SFU)
Notes: UAA has won four straight at home, including an 83-81 OT thriller last season ... the Seawolves won the first 20 games in series history ... UAA leads 25-2 in GNAC meetings since SFU joined the league in 2010-11 ... UAA leads 8-1 at the Alaska Airlines Center ... teams met twice in UAA's first year of Div. II membership in 1977-78, with UAA winning both at home … teams also met when SFU was a provisional NCAA member in 1999-00 and both teams were in the PacWest.
 
ABOUT LAST WEEK: The Seawolves suffered a pair of narrow road losses – 64-60 to Seattle Pacific and 66-64 to MSU Billings – as they fell to 2-6 in one- or two-possession contests ... on Thursday, Jr. F Bishop Tosi had 13 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and no turnovers, but the Falcons held off a late Seawolf charge to hold homecourt ... Jr. G/F Hasaan Herrington added 11 points (3-5 FG, 5-5 FT) and 7 rebounds, while Jr. G Tyler Burraston and Sr. G Sean Evans had 9 points each in the loss ... on Saturday, Burraston went for 16 points and Sr. G Dillon Barrientos had 13 points, 2 assists, 2 steals and no turnovers as UAA lost to MSUB despite winning the rebounds (37-34) and FG% .456 to .417) categories ... Tosi finished with 9 points and 7 rebounds as UAA played for the first time without Evans, who was injured late in the SPU game.
 
TEAM NOTES: UAA holds top-10 NCAA Div. II national ranks in assist/turnover ratio (7th, 1.76), scoring defense (7th, 62.3) and assists per game (10th, 18.7), along with ranks of 17th in turnover margin (+4.6) and 20th in fewest fouls per game (14.0) ... the Seawolves are top-3 in the GNAC stats in 11 categories, including first in scoring defense, turnovers forced (15.2), TO margin, assists and A/T ratio ... 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 Portland Bible and Johnson & Wales both broke the record set two years ago against Portland Bible ... 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: Jr. G Tyler Burraston has scored double figures in 18 of 22 games, earning MVP honors at the Hoops In Hawaii Classic and averaging 17.0 ppg in road wins over WWU and SFU ... the Utah native and Green River (Wash.) College transfer matched his season-high 23 points in the victory over CSU-Pueblo and hit the game-winning trey against Newberry with one second left ... Burraston leads UAA with 13.6 ppg (15th GNAC) and a .418 3FG% (8th GNAC), while leading the conference and ranking 10th nationally with 3.5 treys per game ... ... Jr. F Bishop Tosi has scored double figures 15 times and snagged at least five rebounds in 15 of 22 games, ranking as UAA third-leading scorer with 11.0 ppg ... the former Bartlett High star is 11th in the GNAC in rebounding (6.0 rpg), 2nd in offensive rebounding (2.9 orpg) and 7th in FG% (.546) ... 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 8.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.5 apg and 1.4 spg, while shooting .519 from the field and .755 at the FT line ... the former East Anchorage HS star scored double figures in a career-best six consecutive games Jan. 2-23, improving his GNAC ranks to 17th in assists, 10th in FG% and 15th in steals ... Sr. G Dillon Barrientos ranks 14th in the GNAC with 2.7 assists per game, dishing multiple dimes in all but two games since Nov. 29 ... after suffering at injury at Seattle Pacific on Jan. 23, the Seawolves will miss the services Sr. G Sean Evans, who had emerged as the Seawolves' second-leading scorer (12.6 ppg) since transferring from Nebraska-Kearney ... the Colorado native is 4th in the GNAC with 4.3 assists per game, 3rd in A/T ratio at 2.6, and 20th in scoring ... Evans was the GNAC Player of the Week for Dec. 30-Jan. 5 after going for a career- and UAA season-high 32 points at Simon Fraser.
 
TRUST IN RUSTY: In his 20th season (21st year) at the helm, head coach Rusty Osborne (359-223) 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
TYLER BURRASTON
Hoops In Hawaii Classic MVP
SEAN EVANS
GNAC Player of the Week, Dec. 30-Jan. 5
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; and vs Johnson & Wales, Dec. 20 (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)