STORYLINES
- No. 14/6 Western Oregon returns home after a 1-1 road trip last weekend to continue league play. On Thursday, the Wolves meet No. 24 Seattle Pacific at 7 p.m. in a battle between two ranked teams. On Saturday, WOU and the GNAC will be featured on ROOT Sports Northwest when the channel broadcasts the Wolves' game against Saint Martin's at 9 p.m.
- Last time out: Western Oregon suffered a second consecutive loss and first in GNAC play when host Central Washington erased a nine-point deficit in the second half to defeat WOU, 81-77. The Wolves got a season-high 29 points from Julian Nichols in the loss. Two days later, a big second half bolstered by eight shots from distance led WOU to a 75-53 win over Northwest Nazarene. Alex Roth led five WOU players in double figures with 16 points.
- WOU will be defending its four-game home winning streak dating back to last season. The Wolves have won 16 of its last 17 games inside the New P.E. Building.
- Western Oregon saw its national rankings take a small dip this week. The Wolves dropped to No. 14 in the NABC rankings and No. 6 in the D2SIDA Media poll.
 
ABOUT WESTERN OREGON
- Andy Avgi leads the team in scoring at 19.7 points per game while shooting .576 from the floor.
- Western Oregon's balanced scoring attack, including Avgi, has five players average between 9.8 and 19.7 points per game.
- The Wolves taketh, but rarely giveth: WOU is the GNAC leader in turnover margin at +6.25 per game. WOU forces 16.8 turnovers per game, tied for the highest mark in the league.
- 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 SEATTLE PACIFIC
- Head coach Ryan Looney is in his seventh year at SPU and was the fastest coach in Falcon history to 100 wins (130 games).
- The 24^th-ranked Falcons are 9-3, but dropped two games last week at home to Alaska Anchorage (61-59) and Alaska (79-75) to even their GNAC record at 2-2. SPU has impressive non-league wins against Dixie State, BYU-Hawaii and Chico State.
- The Falcons have four players averaging double figures, led by 13.9 points per game from senior forward Mitch Penner. SPU has been dominating teams on the glass, bettering team by an average of 11.5 rebounds a contest.
- As a team, SPU is shooting .464 from the field and .332 from behind the arc, making an average of 6.5 3-pointers per game.
 
ABOUT SAINT MARTIN'S
- Alex Pribble is in his first year at Saint Martin's after spending the last two years as an assistant coach at Eastern Washington.
- The Saints are 7-5 over their first 12 games and are 1-3 in the GNAC. Last week, SMU lost to Alaska (79-72) and Alaska Anchorage (91-74) at home.
- Eastern Washington transfer center Fred Jorg is the Saints' leading scorer (10.8) and rebounder (7.2) while only playing 19.2 minutes a contest. Junior guard Tyler Copp chips in 10.3 points per game shooting over 43 percent from the 3-point line.
- Saint Martin's is shooting .413 from the field and .71 from behind the arc, making an average of 9.3 3-pointers per game.