MBB heads to Alaska for big GNAC road trip

WOU faces Nanooks, Seawolves this week

No. 1/1 Western Oregon (22-2, 15-1) at Alaska (17-7, 11-5)
Game 25 | Feb. 18 | 7 p.m. AT | Alaska Airlines Court | Fairbanks, Alaska
Series: Alaska leads 18-17
Last Meeting: Jan. 23, 2016 – Won, 64-59 in Monmouth

No. 1/1 Western Oregon (22-2, 15-1) at Alaska Anchorage (19-8, 12-4)
Game 26 | Feb. 20 | 2 p.m. AT | Alaska Airlines Center | Anchorage, Alaska
Series: Alaska anchorage leads 21-15
Last Meeting: Jan. 21, 2016 – Won, 76-66 in Monmouth

LIVE STATS/VIDEO: WOU Portal | NOTES: WOU – UAF – UAA

STORYLINES

The Western Oregon men's basketball team takes it annual road trip to "The Last Frontier". WOU will take on Alaska in Fairbanks on Thursday night (Feb. 18) before facing Alaska Anchorage in a game against two West Region-ranked teams on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 20). Thursday's game tips at 7 p.m. AT (8 p.m. Pacific) while Saturday's matinee begins at 2 p.m. AT (3 p.m. Pacific).

Last time out: The Wolves went 2-0 at home last week in two very different games. Trailing for most of the game against Western Washington, WOU made a nice comeback scoring 56 points in the second half to defeat the Vikings, 90-85. Andy Avgi had a team-high 34 points and 14 rebounds. Julian Nichols also had a double-double with 17 points and 10 assists. The Wolves shot 56.7 percent from the floor over the final 20 minutes. In Saturday's 76-67 win over Simon Fraser, the home club had a healthy 16-point halftime lead. SFU showed grit and toughness to slice the lead to five in the final minutes before WOU iced the game with free throws. Tanner Omlid fell a rebound shy of a double-double after leading the team with 17 points.
WOU has won 13 straight games after a two-game skid late in December (at Oregon, at CWU).

ABOUT WESTERN OREGON

The Wolves are the top-ranked team in the NABC Coaches Poll, the D2SIDA Media Poll and the official NCAA West Regional Rankings released Wednesday.
Andy Avgi leads the team in scoring at 22.0 points per game while shooting .574 from the floor. In 16 GNAC games, his scoring average is 22.9 points per game.
Western Oregon's balanced scoring attack, including Avgi, has six players average between 9.4 and 22.0 points per game. Avgi leads the Wolves in rebounding with 5.9 boards a contest with tanner Omlid right behind at 5.6. Julian Nichols is second in the GNAC averaging 5.0 assists.
Double-digit scoring streaks: Andy Avgi had a 14-game string of scoring in double figures snapped with eight points against Simon Fraser. The current leader with three consecutive games with 10 or more points is Tanner Omlid.
The Wolves taketh, but rarely giveth: WOU is the GNAC leader in turnover margin at +5.25 per game. WOU forces 14.3 turnovers per game, the second highest mark in the league. Individually, Julian Nichols tops the conference with a +3.2 assist/turnover ratio.

Until last week, Devon Alexander had 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. In the Western Washington game, both Andy Avgi and Julina Nichols had double-doubles. Avgi had 34 points and 14 rebounds while Nichols had 17 points and 10 assists.
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 ALASKA

Head coach Mick Durham is in his firth year at Alaska. He has led the Nanooks to a pair of GNAC Tournament semifinal appearances during his tenure in Fairbanks.
Alaska has won four of their last seven, but their losses have come to the three GNAC schools ranked in the NCAA West Region – WOU, Seattle Pacific and UAA. Last week, the team traveled to Anchorage and dropped a tough 76-71 decision before bouncing back with a 66-61 win at Montana State Billings.
Alaska is led in scoring by four players in double figures: forward Trevante Williams (18.6), center Almir Hadzisehovic (12.7), forward Bangaly Kaba (12.0) and guard Brandon Davis (10.6).
The Nanooks are shooting .465 from the field, .335 from 3-point range and .680 from the foul line.

ABOUT ALASKA ANCHORAGE

Twelfth-year head coach Rusty Osborne picked up his 200^th victory at UAA with the team's Jan. 10 win against Alaska.
The Seawolves are 19-9 overall and sit in second-place in the GNAC with a 12-4 league mark. Currently the No. 8 team in the NCAA West Region rankings, they will face Concordia on Thursday before hosting the Wolves on Senior Day. Last week, UAA ran into a hot-shooting MSUB team, leading to a 90-71 loss on the road. The Seawolves rebounded to down Alaska by five on their home court.
Sekou "Suki" Wiggs, a Top 50 member of the Bevo Francis Award watch list, leads UAA and the GNAC in scoring at 23.7 points per game. Senior guard Brian McGill is at 18.4 ppg and has hit on 94.2 percent of his foul shots.
Alaska Anchorage has the league's third-best scoring offense at 84.6 points per game while shooting .462 from the field, .367 from behind the arc and .805 from the free-throw line. They are allowing the fourth-lowest points to opponents this year (73.9 ppg).

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Players Mentioned

#0 Devon Alexander: G; 6' 1"; Senior; 3V

#32 Andy Avgi: F; 6' 6"; Redshirt Senior; 3V

#10 Julian Nichols: G; 6' 2"; Senior; 1V

#11 Tanner Omlid: G/F; 6' 4"; Redshirt Sophomore; TR

Players Mentioned

#0 Devon Alexander
: 6' 1"; Senior; 3V
: G

#32 Andy Avgi
: 6' 6"; Redshirt Senior; 3V
: F

#10 Julian Nichols
: 6' 2"; Senior; 1V
: G

#11 Tanner Omlid
: 6' 4"; Redshirt Sophomore; TR
: G/F