THIS WEEK IN ALASKA ANCHORAGE MEN'S BASKETBALL...
 
Thu., Feb. 5 – 7 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, Alaska
Central Washington (11-10, 5-5 GNAC) at Alaska Anchorage (15-7, 7-4 GNAC)
&
Sat., Feb. 7 – 7 pm AST – Alaska Airlines Center – Anchorage, Alaska
Northwest Nazarene (12-7, 6-4 GNAC [Thu. @UAF]) at Alaska Anchorage
 
TICKETS: GoSeawolves.com
 
LIVE VIDEO: All UAA home contests and GNAC road contests are streamed through the GNAC Network portal at Hudl – gnacnetwork.com/uaaseawolves ... fans can choose between a single event ($12), a 30-day subscription ($25) or a yearly subscription ($120).
 
LIVE STATS: GoSeawolves.com/sidearmstats/mbball
 
UAA TENTATIVE STARTERS (2025-26 stats)
G—Cole Johnson, 6-2, Jr. (5.6 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 2.6 apg)
G—Akok Machar, 6-7, Sr. (9.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.5 spg, .909 FT)
G—Hasaan Herrington, 6-3, Sr. (11.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 4.5 apg, 2.1 spg, .361 3FG, .833 FT)
F—Bishop Tosi, 6-6, Sr. (10.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.8 apg, .542 FG, .759 FT)
F—Sylas Williams, 6-7, Jr. (13.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.9 apg, 1.0 bpg, .455 FG)
 
HOME FOR THE HOMESTRETCH: The Alaska Anchorage men's basketball team returns to the Alaska Airlines Center for five of its final seven regular-season games, beginning this week with 7 pm tips against Central Washington on Thursday and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday ... UAA is currently tied for second place with MSU Billings, two games behind Saint Martin's for the league lead ... the top six teams make the GNAC Tournament, Mar. 5-7 in Bellingham, Wash.
 
SCOUTING REPORT: Central Washington has gotten back into the thick of the GNAC race with three wins in its last four games, including road victories over MSUB and NNU ... coming into Thursday's contest in fifth place, the Wildcats are led by 6-2 Jr. G Jordan Clark (18.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.6 apg, .433 3FG, .837 FT) and 6-3 Jr. G Bradley Swillie (15.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.5 apg, .822 FT) ... Northwest Nazarene sits fourth in the standings and takes a two-game losing skid into its game Thursday at UAF ... the Nighthawks are led by 6-5 Jr. G Easton Reagan (GNAC-high 22.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg, .568 FG, .439 3FG) and 6-2 Jr. G Jaden Byers (12.5 ppg, .798 FT).
 
THE SERIES...
vs CWU: UAA leads 28-25 overall, 16-7 in Anchorage
Streak: UAA 1
Last: UAA 69-55 (1/10/26 at CWU)
Notes: Teams have split the last 12 meetings ... UAA lost 64-52 at home last season ... UAA leads 7-2 at the Alaska Airlines Center ... UAA leads 25-21 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 27-22 overall, 17-6 in Anchorage
Streak: NNU 3
Last: NNU 60-54 (1/8/26 at NNU)
Notes: NNU leads 7-2 since the pandemic, winning 71-63 last season in Anchorage ... eight of the last nine meetings have been decided by eight points or less ... the home team has won 14 of the last 16 regular-season meetings ... UAA leads 24-21 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.
 
SPLIT SALVAGED: The Seawolves went 1-1 on their trip to the Washington/BC border last week, falling 84-75 at Western Washington and winning 69-54 at Simon Fraser ... in the first game, UAA got 18 points apiece from Sr. G Hasaan Herrington, Jr. F Sylas Williams and Sr. F Bishop Tosi, but the Vikings outscored the Seawolves 11-2 over the final two minutes ... Jr. G Zach Ibbetson added 8 points (3-3 FG) off the bench as UAA was outshot .547 to .483 ... on Saturday, Herrington led five Seawolves in double figures with 14 points (5-8 FG, 3-3 FT), while Williams had 10 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks to earn a season sweep of the Red Leafs ... Sr. F John McFadden produced his best effort of the season with 10 points (4-5 FG, 2-2 FT), 3 assists, 3 rebounds and one block, helping UAA outboard SFU 35-22.
 
TEAM NOTES: The Seawolves lead the GNAC stats in scoring defense (63.6 ppg), rebounds allowed per game (29.5), assists per game (17.8) and turnovers forced per game (15.3), and are second in rebound margin (+6.0), A/T ratio (1.39) and steals per game (8.8) ... in the NCAA Div. II national stats, UAA is 11th in scoring defense, 15th in assists and 28th in A/T ratio (1.32) ... the Seawolves are 12-0 when leading at halftime, 6-0 when scoring 80 points or more and 6-0 when shooting .500 or better ... UAA has clinched its 17th .500-or-better record in the past 19 seasons, and needs one more win to clinch the 38th winning record in 48 seasons of NCAA Div. II existence ... the Seawolves have claimed winning conference records in 33 of 43 years belonging to a league ... UAA has 17 20-win seasons since becoming an NCAA Div. II program in 1977-78.
 
'WOLF BITES: Sr. G Hasaan Herrington has blossomed into one of the GNAC's most well-rounded players over his three seasons at UAA, improving his numbers to 11.9 ppg (.471/.361/.833), 4.1 rpg, 4.5 apg and 2.1 spg ... the former East High star has averaged 13.2 ppg in the 17 games against D-II foes this year, including a 17-point (6-9 FG) effort to boost the win over Chaminade, 19 points (8-12 FG) against SFU and 16 points/10 assists against WWU, claiming GNAC Player of the Week honors for the Jan. 1-3 games ... Herrington is No. 6 nationally  in A/T ratio at 3.2-to-1, and he holds GNAC ranks of 4th in assists and 3rd in steals – the only player in the top 5 in both categories ... Herrington sits 9th place on UAA's career steals list with 117, needing just six more to move into the top five ... back for his third year in Green & Gold, Sr. F/C Bishop Tosi was the Seawolves' representative on the Preseason All-GNAC Team ... an honorable mention all-league performer as a junior, the former Bartlett High star has made an impact again with 10.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 1.8 apg, upping his scoring and rebounding to 14.6 ppg and 5.6 rpg over the last eight games; since Dec. 4, Tosi has shot .604 (55-91) from the field, with his only sub-.500 efforts being 4 of 9 and 5 of 11 ... Tosi has made game-winning baskets against Chaminade, Northwest and SPU, along with late heroics in the win at Western Oregon ... in the GNAC stats, Tosi ranks 5th in FG% (.542), 4th in offensive rebounding (2.4) and 15th in FT% (.759), making a team-high 66 free throws ... Tosi also ranks 12th on UAA's career FG% list at .557 ... Jr. F Sylas Williams has made a major impact in his debut season, claiming Most Outstanding Player honors in the Alaska/Hawaii Challenge and emerging as the team's leading scorer (13.0 ppg) and the GNAC's leading rebounder (7.4 rpg) ... the 2024-25 NWAC Player of the Year at Skagit Valley (Wash.) College, Williams has posted six double-doubles, including five in the last 12 games ... the Washington native holds GNAC ranks of 1st in rebounding, 17th in scoring, 5th in offensive rebounding (2.3), 7th in blocks (0.9) and 17th in minutes per game (30.1) ... a transfer from fellow D-II program Texas-Tyler, Sr. G Akok 'Cookie' Machar has emerged as another all-around threat, scoring double figures 13 times ... originally from South Sudan and raised in Adelaide, Australia, Machar paces the GNAC with a .909 FT%, making his first 29 attempts; he is also top-20 in steals (8th, 1.5 spg) and blocks (15th, 0.6) ... Machar is trying to become just the fourth Seawolf to shoot .900 or better from the FT line in a season ... Jr. G Cole Johnson ranks 16th in the GNAC with 2.6 assists per game, dishing a career-high 8 dimes with no turnovers in the win over SPU ... Johnson has committed just 13 turnovers over the last 14 games (283 minutes), while dishing 26 assists and nabbing 10 steals.
 
TRUST IN RUSTY: In his 21st season (22nd year) at the helm, head coach Rusty Osborne (376-241) 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 18 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 Ashton Pomrehn (1st season) and Ryan Engebretsen (5th season/6th year).
 
2025-26 Seawolf Individual Honors
HASAAN HERRINGTON
GNAC Player of the Week, Dec. 29-Jan. 4
Sprite Tundra Tip-Off All-Tournament Team
Alaska/Hawaii Challenge All-Tournament Team
AKOK MACHAR
Sprite Tundra Tip-Off All-Tournament Team
BISHOP TOSI
Preseason All-GNAC Team
SYLAS WILLIAMS
Alaska/Hawaii Challenge Most Outstanding Player