THIS WEEK IN SEAWOLF MEN’S BASKETBALL...
Thursday, Jan. 24 — 4:15 pm AST — SFU West Gymnasium — Burnaby, BC
Alaska Anchorage (9-7, 4-4 GNAC) at Simon Fraser (8-8, 2-6 GNAC)
&
Saturday, Jan. 26 — 2 pm AST — Carver Gymnasium — Bellingham, WA
Alaska Anchorage at Western Washington (10-8, 4-4 GNAC [1/24 vs UAF])
LIVE VIDEO & STATS: Both games free at gnac.tv or portal.stretchinternet.com/uaa ... live video will also be available at each team’s respective YouTube channel.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Check the @UAAMBB Twitter feed for in-game updates & final scores.
PROBABLE UAA STARTERS (2018-19 stats)
G—Jack Macdonald, 6-0, Jr. (10.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 2.6 apg, .442 FG, .358 3FG, .829 FT)
G—Brennan Rymer, 6-0, So. (9.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.1 apg, .495 FG, .481 3FG, .784 FT)
F—Tyler Brimhall, 6-5, Jr. (16.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 1.9 apg, .450 FG, .430 3FG, .818 FT)
F—Niko Bevens, 6-6, Jr. (12.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.1 apg, .429 FG, .389 3FG, .714 FT)
F—Sjur Berg, 6-7, Jr. (7.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg, .600 FG, .595 FT)
SCOUTING REPORT: Simon Fraser snapped a five-game losing skid and earned its first D-II win since Dec. 1 in its last outing in a 112-107 triple-overtime home win over MSU Billings on Saturday ... the Clan feature five double-digit scorers, led by Julian Roche (14.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg, .606 FG, .640 FT) and Michael Provenzano (10.8 ppg, GNAC-best 5.1 apg, .867 FT) ... entering the week in a three-way tie along with UAA in the GNAC standings, Western Washington has split its six games GNAC since league play resumed Jan. 3, forging a home split against SFU (W, 89-81) and MSUB (L, 81-72, ot) last week ... the Vikings are led by Trevor Jasinsky (19.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 2.7 apg, .350 3FG, .892 FT) and Luke Lovelady (10.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.2 bpg, .655 FG, .703 FT).
ALL-TIME VS. SFU: UAA leads 19-0 overall, 9-0 in Burnaby
Last: UAA 66-64 (2/17/18 at SFU)
Notes: UAA has won all 16 meetings since SFU joined the GNAC in 2010-11, posting 11 double-digit victories ... teams met twice in UAA’s first year of Div. II membership in 1977-78, with UAA winning twice at home … teams also met when SFU was a provisional NCAA member in 1999-00 and both teams were in the Pac West Conference.
ALL-TIME VS. WWU: WWU leads 21-16 overall, 11-6 in Bellingham
Last: WWU 66-56 (2/15/18 at WWU)
Streak: WWU 2
Notes: WWU has won six of the last 10 and four of the last five meetings ... the last seven games have been decided by 10 points or fewer ... UAA has lost two straight in Bellingham, earning its last win in a 108-105 overtime thriller, Feb. 4, 2016 ... WWU leads 19-15 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 Pac West.
HOME SECURITY: The Seawolves improved to 4-0 in GNAC home games and pulled off another win over a league-leading club last week with a 79-63 win over Central Washington and an 85-73 victory over Northwest Nazarene ... on Thursday, Jr. G Jack Macdonald poured in a career-high 23 points (9-15 FG, 3-6 3FG) and Jr. G/F Tyler Brimhall had 21 points (6-9 3FG), 9 rebounds and 4 assists to beat the Wildcats at home for the fourth year in a row ... Jr. F Niko Bevens added 14 points (5-10 FG, 4-9 3FG), 3 assists and 2 blocks, Jr. F Sjur Berg had 13 points (6-8 FG) and a career-high 4 assists, and Sr. C Brian Pearson notched 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and no turnovers ... on Saturday, Brimhall had 22 pionts (5-7 FG, 2-2 3FG, 10-12 FT) and Macdonald tallied 18 points (9-10 FT) and a career-high 6 assists as UAA handed ended the Nighthawks’ 5-game winning streak and knocked the visitors from a first-place tie in the GNAC ... Bevens scored 19 points (8-8 FT) and So. PG Brennan Rymer had 8 points, a UAA season-high 9 assists and no turnovers, while Pearson notched 5 points and 4 blocks to help UAA record its highest-scoring game of the season.
TEAM NOTES: UAA ranks in the top 30 of the NCAA national stats in both assists per game (21st, 17.3 apg) and assist/turnover ratio (26th, 1.38) ... in the GNAC stats, the Seawolves the league in assists per game and rank 2nd in FT% (.739) and blocks per game (3.8), plus 3rd in scoring defense (70.9 ppg) and assist-turnover ratio (1.4) ... UAA is seeking the program’s 14th straight winning season and the 36th in 42 years ... the Seawolves have earned eight straight winning GNAC records and qualified for the GNAC Tournament every year since its founding in 2011.
KILLER B’s: The Seawolves have gotten a predictably large impact from its two players with Div. I experience, getting a nearly 30 points per game from the combo of Jr. Fs Tyler Brimhall (Idaho) and Niko Bevens (Montana) ... Brimhall, who transfered directly from North Idaho College, was UAA’s representative on the Preseason All-GNAC Team and currently ranks 5th in the league in scoring (16.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.6 rpg), plus 5th in 3FGs per game (2.7), 9th in minutes per game (29.8), 12th in FT% (.818) and 13th in 3FG% (.430) ... the Utah native has scored at least 21 points in eight games thus far, while grabbing at least seven rebounds in nine of 16 contests ... Brimhall captured his first GNAC Player of the Week award for his performance against CWU and NNU, tallying 43 points (12-21 FG, 8-11 3FG, 11-14 FT), 14 rebounds and 5 assists in the home sweep ... meanwhile, Bevens has tallied double digits in 11 games, including a UAA season-high 28 points in the 83-79 road win over Hawaii Pacific ... Bevens’ seven first-half treys against HPU were the most ever for a Seawolf before the break and his eight 3FGs in the victory tied for 7th on UAA’s single-game list ... in the GNAC stats, he ranks 17th in scoring (12.9 ppg), 2nd in 3FGs per game (3.1) and 3rd in minutes per game (32.4) ...
INTERIOR EXPERIENCE: The Seawolves’ most experienced player with 85 career games, Sr. C Brian Pearson swatted seven shots last week to climb to 4th on UAA’s career blocks list, now with 83 ... the Nevada native needs just seven more blocks to catch Seawolf Hall-of-Famer Peter Bullock (90 blks, 2000-04) for 3rd, and he stands 5th in blocks per game with 0.9 ... with 17 blocks in the last five games, Pearson leads the GNAC with 1.6 bpg ... after a slow start following a season away from basketball, Jr. F Sjur Berg has come on strong with .500-or-better shooting in the last 13 games and double-figure scoring in six of the last 10 contests ... the Norwegian had career-highs of 14 points (5-8 FG, 4-4 FT), 14 rebounds and 4 blocks in the Nov. 23 win over South Dakota Mines, and he bettered his top scoring effort with 18 points in the win over defending GNAC champ Western Oregon ... Berg has grabbed at least five rebounds in nine of the last 11 games, ranking 12th in the league in rebounds per game (5.6), along with 6th in FG% (.600) and 9th in offensive rebounds per game (2.0) ... a regular in the lineup since his arrival at UAA in 2014, Berg ranks 12th on the program’s career FG% list at .552.
AUSSIE, AUSSIE: The ninth and tenth Australians to suit up for the Seawolves in the past 15 seasons, So. PG Brennan Rymer and Jr. G Jack Macdonald have established themselves as regulars in the starting lineup in their second seasons at UAA ... Rymer has shown improvement from his rookie season in all categories, averaging 9.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg and a team-high 4.1 apg ... the Sydney native has scored double figures in seven of the last 11 games, and dished at least four assists in five straight contests ... with 15 assists and one turnover last week, Rymer moved up to 2nd in the GNAC in assists per game, along with 14th in FT% (.784) and 16th in FG% (.495), shooting an impressive .481 from long range as well ... meanwhile, Macdonald (Melbourne) has raised his scoring average from 8.7 to 10.8 ppg in just the last three games, producing his best GNAC scoring totals with 18 points (8-11 FG) at SPU, a career-high 23 points (9-15 FG) against CWU and 18 points (3-7 3FG, 9-10 FT) in the win over NNU ... the Melbourne native also dished a career-high 6 assists against the Nighthawks, and now holds GNAC ranks of 9th in assist-turnover ratio (2.5), 10th in FT% (.829) and 17th in assists (2.6 apg).
TRUST IN RUSTY: Now in his 15th year at the helm, head coach Rusty Osborne (274-158) has led the Seawolves to 13 straight winning 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 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 Ryan Orton (5th season) and Shane Rinner (7th season).
2018-19 SEAWOLF INDIVIDUAL HONORS
Tyler Brimhall
Preseason All-GNAC Team
Alaska/Hawaii Challenge All-Tournament Team
GNAC Player of the Week, Jan. 14-20
Brennan Rymer
Seawolf Jamboree All-Tournament Team
