>>> GNAC Men's Basketball Notebook
MONMOUTH, Ore.—Winners of 10 straight games, the No. 6-ranked Western Oregon University men's basketball team is set to face Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage while playing on the road this week.
ABOUT ALASKA FAIRBANKS (8-8, 6-4 GNAC): The Nanooks open the week in a three-way tie for third place in the GNAC standings... UAF has won four out its last five contests, including a 74-57 win over Simon Fraser at home last Saturday... WOU defeated the Nanooks 81-60 in Monmouth on Dec. 19... UAF ranks No. 8 in the GNAC in scoring at 75.4 points per game and No. 6 on defense at 76.1 points per game for a -0.8 scoring margin... The Nanooks lead the conference in field goal percentage at 40.4 percent with WOU second at 39.6 percent... The Nanooks feature a balanced attack with seven different players averaging at least 7.5 points per game... Alex Baham (12.9 ppg), Davis Kimble (12.5 ppg) and Michael Kluting (11.8 ppg) lead the team with Kluting adding a team-best 7.8 rebounds per game.
ABOUT ALASKA ANCHORAGE (8-10, 4-6 GNAC): The Seawolves are tied for seventh place in the GNAC standings with a 4-6 mark... WOU defeated UAA 82-50 in Monmouth on Dec. 17... The Seawolves have dropped five of its last six games, including back-to-back overtime affairs against Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene two weeks ago... UAA defeated Simon Fraser 53-46 last Thursday before falling to Western Washington, 70-61, at home on Saturday... UAA is ranked 11th in the GNAC after averaging 62.4 points per game but tops the league by allowing just 64.1 points per contest for a -1.7 scoring margin... Jacob Lampkin leads UAA with 15.1 points per game but has not played since Nov. 30... D.J. Ursery (7.9 ppg) and Josiah Wood (7.5 ppg) holds the team's next two highest scoring averages.
ABOUT WESTERN OREGON (17-1, 9-1 GNAC): WOU moved up three places to a No. 6 ranking in the latest NABC NCAA DII Ranking on Tuesday... The Wolves were unranked to start the season... The Wolves were picked to place second in the GNAC in the preseason poll after a third-place result a year ago… The Wolves lead the GNAC by scoring 85.8 points per game and top the league with a +17.6 scoring margin... WOU holds the league's top field goal percentage (51.6) and No. 2 3-point percentage (41.5) but are ranked 11th at the free throw line (66.9)… Seven different players have led the team in scoring for a game this season with
Demetrius Trammell and
Tanner Omlid leading the way with five occurrences each… Three players average at least 10 points per game with Omlid tops at 13.0 points per game and Trammell (11.1 ppg) and Vince Boumann (10.5 ppg) close behind...
Ali Faruq-Bey (9.5 ppg),
JJ Chirnside (8.9 ppg),
Riley Hawken (8.8 ppg), and Malik Morgan (8.4 ppg) provide additional offense for the Wolves.
NCAA DII STATS RANKINGS: The Wolves are ranked in NCAA DII's top 20 in several team categories, including steals per game (7th, 10.0 spg), scoring margin (4th, +17.2) and field-goal percentage (4th, 51.6 percent).
NCAA DII RANKINGS: With 10 straight wins, Western Oregon continued its climb up the NABC Division II rankings… The Wolves tallied a season-high 314 points for a No. 6 ranking in the national poll and carry the GNAC's highest ranking for the eighth week... Coming in at No. 22 this week, Western Washington reentered the top 25 for the first time since earning a No. 22 ranking in the preseason poll.
CAREER WEEK FOR CHIRNSIDE: Senior
JJ Chirnside posted the best back-to-back lines of his career last week with a career-high 18 points against Central Washington on Jan. 18... After shooting 8-for-11 from the floor against the Wildcats, Chirnside returned with another 18-point game on Saturday after converting 7-of-12 against Northwest Nazarene... In addition to the point tallies, Chirnside added 11 rebounds, one block and three steals in the two WOU wins.
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NABC NCAA D-II RANKINGS |
|
Date |
Ranking |
Points |
|
1/23 |
#6 |
314 |
|
1/16 |
#9 |
275 |
|
1/9 |
#10 |
253 |
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12/26 |
#14 |
194 |
|
12/12 |
#16 |
150 |
|
12/5 |
#19 |
91 |
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11/28 |
#13 |
216 |
|
11/21 |
#15 |
131 |
|
Pre. |
RV |
2 |
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. |
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D2SIDA WEST REGION RANKINGS |
|
Date |
WOU |
#1 |
#2 |
#3 |
|
1/22 |
#1 |
Western Ore. |
Western Wash. |
Poly Pomona |
|
1/15 |
#1 |
Western Ore. |
Western Wash. |
Cal Baptist |
|
1/8 |
#1 |
Western Ore. |
Poly Pomona |
Cal Baptist |
|
12/18 |
#2 |
Chico State |
Western Ore. |
Cal Baptist |
|
12/11 |
#3 |
Poly Pomona |
Chico State |
Western Ore. |
|
12/4 |
#4 |
Poly Pomona |
Concordia (CA) |
Chico State |
|
11/27 |
#1 |
Western Ore. |
Cal Baptist |
Chico State |
|
11/20 |
#2 |
Cal Baptist |
Western Ore. |
Chico State |
|
11/13 |
#2 |
Cal Baptist |
Western Ore. |
Chico State |
|
Pre. |
#7 |
Cal Baptist |
Chico State |
Western Wash. |
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OMLID RECORDS 5X5 GAME: Scoring 25 points and notching at least five rebounds, assists, steals and blocks,
Tanner Omlid led WOU to a 100-57 win over Portland Bible College on Dec. 7… Omlid ended the night with 11 rebounds, seven blocks, five steals and five assists... His block total eclipsed his previous career high of five set against Northwest Nazarene on Jan. 28, 2016… By comparison, only three NBA players—Hakeem Olajuwon, Derrick Coleman and Draymond Green—have ever scored at least 20 points and added 10 rebounds, five assists, five rebounds and five blocks in a single game... Olajuwon accomplished the feat on five occasions in his 17-year career.
OMLID IN NCAA DII RANKINGS: Senior forward
Tanner Omlid is represented inside the NCAA DII individual top-10 statistical rankings in total steals (No. 9, 45) and steals per game (No. 9, 2.50 spg).
OMLID CAREER WOU RANKS: Senior
Tanner Omlid is climbing several WOU DII-era career lists... Omlid entered the top-10 in career scoring and topped 1,000 career points this season... He has 1,064 career points with Sean Kelly (1,128) next on the list... Omlid is third in total rebounds with 545 career caroms… Andy Avgi (596) and Robert Day (546) hold the top two DII-era rebounding marks… Omlid is No. 8 with 213 career assists and No. 3 in steals with 214 swipes… Devon Alexander (2012-16) holds the school's DII record with 220 career steals… Omlid is already WOU's DII-era career record holder with 115 blocks.
FAST STARTS: The Wolves' 7-0 record to start the season was the second best start of WOU's NCAA DII-era (since 2000) while also representing the fourth best start for the program since 1950… The 1981-82 team started the season with a school record 22 straight wins while the 2015-16 team holds the DII-era record with an 11-0 start.
GNAC TEAM OF THE WEEK: After traveling to Texas to defeat Tarleton State and returning to hand Alaska Anchorage its first conference loss, WOU was named the GNAC Team of the Week on Dec. 18... The Wolves limited Alaska Anchorage to 27.5 percent shooting from the field and 19 percent from three-point range.
DII SHOOTOUT RECAP: Hosting a four-team tournament for the second straight week, WOU moved to 4-0 on the season with a 99-87 win over Azusa Pacific followed by a 97-86 victory against Dixie State... WOU was the lone team to go 2-0 in the tournament with Eastern New Mexico the fourth team involved.
GNAC/PACWEST CHALLENGE RECAP: The Wolves escaped with a 70-69 win over Point Loma in the season opener and came back to trounce Fresno Pacific, 123-67, in the tournament finale… Six different players scored at least 10 points for the Wolves against FPU with
Demetrius Trammell notching a game-high 26 points after connecting on 8-of-9 from 3-point range.
PRESEASON GNAC POY: Returning as the Defensive Player of the Year, senior forward
Tanner Omlid was picked as the GNAC Preseason Player of the year… Omlid was a Second Team NABC All-West Region selection after averaging 15.6 points per game and recording a GNAC record 97 steals (3.21 steals per game).
FARUQ-BEY PRESEASON ALL-GNAC: Along with first team selection
Tanner Omlid,
Ali Faruq-Bey was also named to the All-GNAC Preseason team by the league's coaches… Faruq-Bey averaged 15.0 points and 4.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game last season while earning honorable mention All-GNAC honors.
2017-18 GNAC PRESEASON POLL: The Wolves were picked to place second in the league standings following returning champion Western Washington… WOU received three of the 11 first-place votes for 108 total points in the poll to WWU's 116… Central Washington received one first-place vote and 91 total points for third to edge Alaska Anchorage (90) by a single point.
2016-17 REVIEW: The Wolves went 18-13 overall last season and 13-7 for the conference slate… As the No. 3 seed, WOU defeated No. 6 MSUB, 72-61, in the opening round of the GNAC Tournament and then survived a triple overtime affair in the semifinals, defeating Alaska Anchorage, 91-84… Top-seeded Western Washington captured the title with a 71-69 win over the Wolves in the championship bout.
