MONMOUTH, Ore.—Riding a six-game winning streak, the No. 10-ranked Western Oregon (13-1, 5-1 GNAC) men's basketball team will return to the road with GNAC games at Saint Martin's on Jan. 11 and at Seattle Pacific on Jan. 13 this week.
ABOUT SAINT MARTIN'S (10-4, 3-3 GNAC): The Saints are currently tied for fourth place in the GNAC standings after splitting its last four games... SMU defeated Alaska Anchorage, 71-66, and fell to Alaska Fairbanks, 78-72, last week... The Saints are ranked No. 6 with an 81.7 scoring average and No. 6 by allowing its opponents 74.0 points per game for a +7.7 point differential... SMU is ranked third in the GNAC with a +2.64 turnover margin... Junior guard Luke Chavez leads the team with 17.2 points per game, good for No. 6 in the GNAC... Teammate and freshman forward Tavian Henderson leads the league with a .783 field goal percentage... In addition, junior guard EJ Boyce paces the GNAC with 3.1 3-point makes per game
ABOUT SEATTLE PACIFIC (9-4, 4-2 GNAC): The Falcons enter the week in third place in the GNAC standings... SPU averages 83.3 points per game and gives up 77.2 points for a +6.1 point differential... The Falcons are ranked 11th in the GNAC by allowing its opponents to shoot 38.5 percent from 3-point territory... SPU is fourth in the GNAC with a +5.6 rebounding margin... Sophomore forward Tony Miller leads the team and is ranked No. 5 in the GNAC with an 18.0 scoring average... Junior forward Nathan Streufert leads the team and is 10th in the league with 6.6 rebounds per game...
ABOUT WESTERN OREGON (13-1, 5-1 GNAC): 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 86.6 points per game and top the league with a +19.1 scoring margin... WOU holds the league's top field goal percentage (.523) and 3-point percentage (.409) but are ranked 10th at the free throw line (.654)… Seven different players have led the team in scoring for a game this season with
Demetrius Trammell leading the way with five occurrences… Three players average at least 10 points per game with Trammell tops at 12.7 points per game and
Tanner Omlid (11.7 ppg) and Vince Boumann (11.7 ppg) close behind... Malik Morgan (9.5 ppg),
Riley Hawken (9.2 ppg) and
Ali Faruq-Bey (9.0 ppg) provide additional offense.
NCAA DII STATS RANKINGS: The Wolves are ranked in NCAA DII's top 20 in several team categories, including steals per game (7th, 10.2), scoring margin (4th, +19.1) and field-goal percentage (4th, 52.3%).
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NABC NCAA D-II RANKINGS |
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Date |
Ranking |
Points |
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1/9 |
#10 |
253 |
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12/26 |
#14 |
194 |
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12/12 |
#16 |
150 |
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12/5 |
#19 |
91 |
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11/28 |
#13 |
216 |
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11/21 |
#15 |
131 |
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Pre. |
RV |
2 |
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NCAA DII RANKINGS: With six straight wins, Western Oregon continued its climb up the NABC Division II rankings… The Wolves tallied 252 points for a No. 10 ranking in the national and to carry the GNAC's highest ranking for the sixth straight week... Also representing the West Region in the top 25 were Cal Baptist (No. 24) and Cal Poly Pomona (No. 25)... WWU was ranked No. 22 in the preseason national poll as the only other GNAC program to enter the top 25 so far this season.
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D2SIDA WEST REGION RANKINGS |
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Date |
WOU |
#1 |
#2 |
#3 |
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1/8 |
#1 |
Western Ore. |
Poly Pomona |
Cal Baptist |
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12/18 |
#2 |
Chico State |
Western Ore. |
Cal Baptist |
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12/11 |
#3 |
Poly Pomona |
Chico State |
Western Ore. |
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12/4 |
#4 |
Poly Pomona |
Concordia (CA) |
Chico State |
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11/27 |
#1 |
Western Ore. |
Cal Baptist |
Chico State |
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11/20 |
#2 |
Cal Baptist |
Western Ore. |
Chico State |
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11/13 |
#2 |
Cal Baptist |
Western Ore. |
Chico State |
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Pre. |
#7 |
Cal Baptist |
Chico State |
Western Wash. |
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SHARP SHOOTERS: Several Wolves are among the league leaders in various shooting categories...
Demetrius Trammell leads the GNAC in free throw percentage at .963 (26-of-27)...
Riley Hawken has connected on .500 (17-of-34) from 3-point distance for the No. 2 spot on the conference list while Vince Boumann is No. 2in field goal percentage at .723 (73-of-101).
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, BOUMANN IN NCAA DII RANKINGS: Converting 72.3 percent of his field goal attempts, senior forward Vince Boumann is ranked No. 4 in the NCAA DII... Senior forward
Tanner Omlid is represented inside the NCAA DII individual top-10 statistical rankings in total steals, coming in at No. 15 in the nation with 33 swipes… Omlid is ranked 20th in the country with 2.36 steals per game and No. 25 with 2.07 blocks per game.
OMLID CAREER WOU RANKS: Senior
Tanner Omlid is climbing several WOU DII-era career lists... Omlid entered the top-10 in career scoring last week and is six points away from his 1,000 career point... Omlid is third in total rebounds with 518 career caroms… Andy Avgi (596) and Robert Day (546) hold the top two DII-era rebounding marks… Omlid is No. 8 with 194 career assists and No. 3 in steals with 202 swipes… Devon Alxander (2012-16) holds the school's DII record with 220 career steals… Omlid is already WOU's D22-era career record holder with 106 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.
