MONMOUTH, Ore. — The Western Oregon Wolves have bounced back from their lone loss of the season with three consecutive wins. After sweeping the opening weekend of GNAC play, the Wolves easily dispensed of the Corban Warriors last Saturday in an 88-66 win. WOU now heads to Hawaii for a matchup with the University of Hawaii at Hilo before the Hoops in Hawaii DII Power Invitational. Tipoff against the Vulcans is set for Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. PST. The tournament opens against Emmanuel College Dec. 16 at 3:15 p.m. PST in Honolulu.

ABOUT HAWAI'I AT HILO (3-4, 1-2 PacWest): The Vulcans are amid an early slide, losing three of their last four games after a 2-1 start to the season. That trend has included a meeting with No. 23 Chaminade and Division I Hawai'i at Manoa.

UHH has topped 70 points in six of their seven games, but eclipsed 80 just twice. They are currently averaging 73.5 points per game for 8th in the PacWest. They have additionally allowed the most points in the conference, giving up 85.0 points per game.

They are led by the 17.3 points per game of James Griffin. The senior guard is also pulling down 5.5 rebounds per game in 31.0 minutes. Kupaa Harrison has offered valuable time off the bench, averaging a team-high 5.7 rebounds per game and is currently tied for the team lead with 16 total assists.

This is the second meeting with a GNAC opponent for the Vulcans this season. They beat Alaska 86-80 in their season opener Nov. 12 at home.

WOU vs. UHH: This is the second all-time meeting of the teams and the first since 2011. Western Oregon ran away to an 83-61 victory Nov. 12, 2011 at Hilo.

ABOUT HOOPS IN HAWAII POWER DII INVITE: The tournament will be an eight-team traditional bracket format with three guaranteed games for each team. Participants include No. 7 UC San Diego, No. 11 Southern Nazarene, No. 20 Chaminade, RV Western Washington, Dallas Baptist, Emmanuel College and Hawai'i Pacific. Games open Dec. 16 and continue through Dec. 18  

ABOUT WESTERN OREGON (6-1, 2-0 GNAC): Western Oregon had a lone matchup last week with NAIA opponent Corban University. The Wolves cruised to an 88-66 win, trailing just briefly in the opening minutes before pulling away. WOU finished with four players in double figures including the game-high 24 points of freshman Etan Collins. The 24-point performance doubled Collins' previous high on the season. He has set new personal season-highs in scoring each of his last four games.

Despite having a double overtime game two weeks ago, the Wolves set new team-highs on Saturday in made field goals, made 3-point field goals, assists, steals and rebounds.

NATIONAL RANKS: The Wolves are currently 4th in TO margin (+7.3), 11^th in fewest turnovers (75), 19th in 3-point field goal defense (28.9%) and 20th in scoring defense (64.4 ppg) in NCAA DII.

GNAC RANKS: In the conference, the Wolves rank 1st in scoring defense (64.4 ppg), field goal percentage defense (.408), 3-point field goal percentage defense (.289) and turnover margin (+7.29). They are additionally 2nd in scoring margin (+12.4) and offensive rebounds (12.1 per game).

DEFENSIVE HAWK: Junior Riley Hawken has led the Wolves or tied for the team lead in rebounds in five consecutive games. He is also currently second in the GNAC with 2.1 steals per game.

ROAD TRIP: WOU has played just two games away from Monmouth so far this year. The four-game road trip will be their longest of the season. They are currently 1-0 in neutral site games and 0-1 in away games.

LEADING SCORERS: WOU has had a different leading scorer in each of their seven games. By class, the Wolves have been led by one freshman, one sophomore, three juniors and two seniors.

SHARING THE LOAD: Seven separate Wolves are averaging seven or more points and eight players are averaging more than five points per game.

MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS: WOU went 25-28 at the line Dec. 1 against Western Washington. It was the most free throws made in a game by the Wolves since March 23, 2016 when they went 28-for-31 at the stripe in an 81-68 win over Saginaw Valley State in the 2016 Elite Eight.

BENCH PRODUCTION: The WOU bench has produced at least 18 points in each of their first seven games including four games of at least 30 points. The Wolves' leading scorer has been a reserve in three of their first seven games.

TURNOVER MARGINS: The Wolves are 4th in NCAA DII with a +7.3 TO margin. Including two exhibition games this season, WOU has forced at least 16 turnovers in all but one game they have played.

DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE: The 35 points scored by Colorado Christian Nov. 17 in WOU's 64-35 win was the fewest allowed in a game by the Wolves since Walla Walla's 29-point performance on Dec. 10, 2011.
 
SOUZA PERFECT FROM THE FIELD: Buster Souza tied his career-high with 14 points off the bench Nov. 17 in a 64-35 win over Colorado Christian. Souza led all scorers in 14 minutes of play. The senior forward was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field while also pulling in four rebounds and two assists. It was only the third time in the school's NCAA-era history that a player has been perfect from the field on seven or more shots.
 
CONFERENCE OPENERS: Western Oregon has won five straight GNAC openers dating back to the 2014-15 season. Their last loss in their first conference game of the season came in a tight 67-66 loss to No. 5 Western Washington on Dec. 5, 2013 in Bellingham. The Wolves got their revenge with an 88-85 win in the regular season finale.

SPANISH GNAC TIES: Former Western Oregon standout Tanner Omlid and former Simon Fraser guard Kedar Salam are now professional teammates, playing for CB Moron of LEB Plata in Spain.  

HAWKEN PRESASON ALL-GNAC: Junior Riley Hawken was the only Western Oregon player selected to the GNAC Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team, named a unanimous selection for the 2018-19 season. Hawken is one of six juniors on the team of 15 with the remainder being seniors. Hawken is the lone returning starter off of Western Oregon's GNAC championship team. He averaged 8.2 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 79.5 percent from the free throw line and averaging 1.6 assists per contest during the Wolves' historic season.

2018-19 GNAC PRESEASON POLL: The Wolves were picked to place third in the league standings following Saint Martin's and Seattle Pacific… WOU received two of the 11 first-place votes for 94 total points in the poll to SMU's 118 and SPU's 105… the Wolves were the only team outside of the Saint's to receive a first-place vote and held an 11-point buffer over fourth-place Western Washington.

2017-18 REVIEW: The Wolves went 31-2 overall last season and 19-1 in conference… They cruised to both a regular season and conference tournament title with their only regular season slip coming in the second game of conference play against Western Washington. After the loss to the Vikings, the Wolves rattled off a school-record 24 consecutive wins while setting a Great Northwest Athletic Conference record for wins. WOU returned to the West Regional Championship game for the second time in three years, falling to Cal Baptist, 80-76. Tanner Omlid pulled in several postseason accolades, being named the GNAC Player of the Year, D2CCA West Region Player of the Year, D2CCA and NABC All-American and NABC DII All-District Team.

D2 WEST REGION POLL: Despite winning three straight games, Western Oregon stayed in seventh and lost two points in the most recent D2SIDA West Region Poll.  Saint Martin's leads the GNAC with a No. 2 position in the poll while No. 6 Northwest Nazarene and No. 8 Western Washington give the conference four of th top eight spots.
 

D2SIDA West Region Poll (Dec. 10, 2018)
Rank / School	Record	Points
1. UC San Diego (5)	8-1	50
2. Saint Martin's	8-1	45
3. Cal Poly Pomona	4-1	36
4. Chaminade	5-0	34
5. Point Loma	8-2	27
6. Northwest Nazarene	6-1	26
7. Western Oregon	6-1	25
8. Western Washington	7-2	16
9. San Francisco State	6-3	7
10. Concordia (Calif.)	8-4	4
WOU in D2SIDA West Region Poll
Date	Rank	Points
Nov. 12	7th	21
Nov. 19	9th	14
Nov. 26	T-10th	8
Dec. 3	7th	27
Dec. 10	7th	25