NO. 11/4 WESTERN OREGON (12-2, 5-1) at SIMON FRASER (1-11, 0-6)GAME 15 | JAN. 14 | 7 p.m. PT | WEST GYM | BURNABY, B.C.SERIES: Western Oregon leads 17-10
LAST MEETING: Feb. 21, 2015 – Won, 93-91 in Monmouth
NO. 11/4 WESTERN OREGON (12-2, 5-1) at WESTERN WASHINGTON (9-6, 3-3)GAME 16 | JAN. 9 | 7 p.m. PT | WHATCOM PAVILION | BELLINGHAM, WASH.SERIES: Western Washington leads 41-18
LAST MEETING: March 6, 2015 – Lost, 88-79 in Lacey, Wash. (GNAC Tournament)
LIVE STATS/VIDEO: WOU Portal |
NOTES: WOU – SFU –
WWU STORYLINES- Western Oregon men's basketball, ranked 11th in the NABC Coaches Poll and fourth in the D2SIDA Media Poll, hits the road for two GNAC games beginning Thursday. The Wolves head to Canada to face Simon Fraser on Jan. 14 at 7 p.m., then return to the states for a Saturday night showdown with Western Washington on Jan. 16 at 7 p.m.
- Last time out: WOU won a pair of conference games to keep pace with undefeated Alaska Anchorage near the top of the GNAC standings. The Wolves survived a comeback effort to defeat Seattle Pacific, 96-90 in overtime, led by 34 points from Andy Avgi and 23 points from Julian Nichols. Next, WOU defeated Saint Martin's in a ROOT Sports televised game, 74-61. Avgi again led the Wolves with 24 points while Jordan Wiley had a solid night with 16 points and seven rebounds
- WOU snapped a two-game away skid with its win at Northwest Nazarene on Jan. 2. For the season, Western Oregon is 7-2 away from the New P.E. Building.
- Western Oregon made positive jumps in both major Division II polls this week: moving up three spots to No. 11 in the NABC poll and two spots to No. 4 (WOU's highest ranking) in the D2SIDA media poll.
ABOUT WESTERN OREGON- Andy Avgi leads the team in scoring at 21.3 points per game while shooting .590 from the floor. In six GNAC games, his scoring average is 23.2 points per game.
- Western Oregon's balanced scoring attack, including Avgi, has six players average between 9.8 and 19.7 points per game. Senior guard Devon Alexander leads the Wolves in rebounding with 5.6 boards a contest.
- The Wolves taketh, but rarely giveth: WOU is the GNAC leader in turnover margin at +6.21 per game. WOU forces 16.1 turnovers per game, the second highest mark in the league. In two games last week, WOU gave the ball up six times against SPU and a season-low five times against the Saints.
- Devon Alexander has both WOU double-doubles this season: 12 points/10 rebounds on Nov. 21 against Warner Pacific and 19 points/11 rebounds against Montana State Billings on Dec. 5.
- Head coach Jim Shaw is in his first season at WOU. His previous assistant coaching stops include Saint Mary's, Washington, Oklahoma, Portland, Montana State, Southern Utah, Oregon State, Chemeketa and Idaho State.
- Western Oregon was picked to finish second in the GNAC regular season title by the league's coaches receiving four of 11 possible first-place votes.
ABOUT SIMON FRASER- Head coach Virgil Hill is in his first year at SFU after spending the last seven year as the head coach at Collingwood School in West Vancouver.
- The Clan are on a 10-game skid (1-11 overall), continued last week with losses at Alaska Anchorage (96-83) and Alaska (73-56).
- Simon Fraser is led by the 17.2 points per game of junior guard Max Barkeley. J.J. Pankratz pulls down 6.9 rebounds per game while sitting fourth on the team at 10.3 points per game.
- SFU is shooting .402 from the field, .313 from 3-point range and .727 from the foul line.
ABOUT WESTERN WASHINGTON- Head coach Tony Dominguez is in his fourth year after taking over for Brad Jackson in 2012. Dominguez is the first WWU coach to post at least 20 wins in each of his first three seasons.
- The Vikings are 9-6 overall and 3-3 in conference play. Last week, WWU needed late heroics to give Alaska their first league loss, 100-99 in overtime, and held tough against league-leading Alaska Anchorage, 87-84.
- Jeff Parker is the Vikings' leading scorer (19.3 ppg) and biggest threat from 3-point land (42-of-106, 39.6 percent). Kyle Impero (16.5 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and Ricardo Maxwell (15.6 ppg) join Parker averaging double figures.
- Western Washington has the third best scoring offense in the GNAC at 86.2 points per game while shooting .477 from the field. They have taken the third most shots from behind the arc (361), making 36.3 percent of those attempts (131).
