>>> GNAC Men's Basketball Notebook
MONMOUTH, Ore.—The No. 4-ranked Western Oregon men's basketball team will take off for its final road trip of the regular season this week when it plays at Northwest Nazarene (Feb. 15) and Central Washington (Feb. 17).
STREAKING: WOU enters the week with a 16-game winning streak since its lone loss of the year at Western Washington on Dec. 2... The streak is the longest in team history since it transitioned to NCAA DII (2000-01)... The team's previous best DII-era winning streak was 13 games during the 2015-16 season which was broken by Alaska Fairbanks after the Nanooks defeated the Wolves, 87-78 in Monmouth on Feb. 18... The 1981-82 team started the season with a school record 22 straight wins... The 1980-81 team had an 18-game winning streak for the second-longest streak in school history.
ABOUT NORTHWEST NAZARENE (11-11, 7-9 GNAC): NNU enters the week in eighth place in the GNAC standings, but just one game back of a to-six position... NNU had dropped three straight games with all three defeats by 10 or more points... WOU defeated NNU 82-64 in Monmouth on Jan. 20... The Nighthawks are ranked No. 7 in the GNAC by scoring 78.5 points per game but are 11th defensively by allowing 79.1 points per contest for a net scoring margin of -0.7... Maurice Jones leads the team and is ranked No. 2 in the GNAC with 18.4 points per game... Teammate Obi Megwa is fourth in the conference with 18.0 points oer game... Jones is also the No. 2 rebounder in the GNAC with 9.6 boards per game.
ABOUT CENTRAL WASHINGTON (14-9, 9-7 GNAC): The Wildcats start the week tied for fourth place in the GNAC standings along with Seattle Pacific... The Wildcats saw their six-game winning streak come to an end with a 70-54 setback at Alaska Anchorage on Feb. 10... WOU defeated CWU, 89-70, in Monmouth on Jan. 18... The Wildcats hold the GNAC's No. 5 offense at 80.0 points per game and are ranked seventh on the defensive end by allowing 76.3 points per game for a +3.7 scoring margin... Led by Shabazz Khalil's 15.3 points per game, three Wildcats average double figures in scoring... Jawan Stepney averages 12.5 points per game and Sage Woodruff adds 10.1 points per game off the bench.
ABOUT WESTERN OREGON (23-1, 15-1 GNAC): For the third week in a row, WOU holds down the No. 4 ranking in the NCAA DII poll... 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 are second in GNAC by scoring 84.8 points per game and top the league with a +16.9 scoring margin... WOU holds the league's top field goal percentage (51.6) and No. 3 in 3-point percentage (39.2) but are ranked 9th at the free throw line (68.1)… Eight different players have led the team in scoring for a game this season with
Tanner Omlid leading the way with seven occurrences… Four players average at least 10 points per game with Omlid tops at 13.7 points per game and
Ali Faruq-Bey (10.9 ppg), Vince Boumann (10.1 ppg) and Demetrius Trammell (10.1 ppg) and close behind... Malik Morgan (9.8 ppg),
Riley Hawken (8.9 ppg) and
JJ Chirnside (7.6 ppg) also 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: field-goal percentage (4th, 51.6 percent), scoring margin (5th, +16.9), steals per game (9th, 9.5 spg), turnover margin (19th, 3.6).
NCAA DII RANKINGS: Western Oregon remained at No. 4 in the latest NABC Division II rankings this week… The Wolves tallied a season-high 352 points for a No. 4 ranking in the national poll and carry the GNAC's highest ranking for the 11th week... The Wolves were awarded one first-place vote for the third straight week... Cal Poly Pomona (No. 23) and California Baptist (No. 24) also broke the top 25 while representing the West Region while Cal State San Marcos, Dixie State and Saint Martin's all received votes in the poll.
FARUQ-BEY NAMED GNAC POW: WOU senior guard
Ali Faruq-Bey was named the GNAC Player of the Week on Feb. 12... Faruq-Bey led Western Oregon to its 15th and 16th straight wins on the season by averaging 24.5 points per game, shooting 51.9 percent from the field, 50 percent from three-point range and went a perfect 14-of-14 from the free throw line... Faruq-Bey opened the week by scoring a career-high 25 points in a 95-81 win over Seattle Pacific, which included a 12-for-12 effort from the free throw line... He then led all scorers with 24 points on 9-of-16 from the field and 4-of-8 from three-point range in the Wolves' 86-73 win over Saint Martin's.
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 |
|
2/13 |
#4 |
352 |
|
2/6 |
#4 |
350 |
|
1/30 |
#4 |
346 |
|
1/23 |
#6 |
314 |
|
1/16 |
#9 |
275 |
|
1/9 |
#10 |
253 |
|
12/26 |
#14 |
194 |
|
12/12 |
#16 |
150 |
|
12/5 |
#19 |
91 |
|
11/28 |
#13 |
216 |
|
11/21 |
#15 |
131 |
|
Pre. |
RV |
2 |
|
|
. |
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D2SIDA WEST REGION RANKINGS |
|
Date |
WOU |
#1 |
#2 |
#3 |
|
2/4 |
#1 |
Western Ore. |
Dixie State |
Poly Pomona |
|
1/29 |
#1 |
Western Ore. |
Poly Pomona |
Dixie State |
|
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.
5X5 REPEATED: Tanner Omlid posted his second 5x5 line of the season with 32 points, seven assists, five rebounds, five blocks and five steals against Seattle Pacific on Feb. 9... Omlid scored 22 points in the first half of play and ended the night two points shy of his career high.
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 1,158 career points for No. 7 all-time with Sean Kelly (1,248) next on the list... Omlid is second in total rebounds with 572 career caroms… Andy Avgi (596) holds the top DII-era rebounding mark in school history… Omlid is No. 7 with 232 career assists... Omlid is already WOU's DII-era career record holder with 126 blocks and 229 steals.
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.
