>>> GNAC Men's Basketball Notebook
MONMOUTH, Ore.—With a full week of rest in hand, the No. 4-ranked Western Oregon University men's basketball team will look to extend its 14-game winning streak while hosting Seattle Pacific and Saint Martin's this week. Both games ser set to begin at 7:30 p.m inside the New P.E. Gymnasium with the SPU match on Thursday, Feb. 8 and the SMU contest set for Saturday, Feb. 10.
GAMEDAY PROMOTIONS
Feb. 8 - WOU Student Sunglasses Giveaway
Feb. 8 - Halftime performance by Liberty Hot Wheelz & WOU Dance Team
Feb. 10 - Family Weekend Cornhole Championship
Feb. 10 - Halftime performances by WOU & YMCA Cheer Teams
ABOUT SEATTLE PACIFIC (13-8, 8-6 GNAC): The Falcons enter the week tied for fourth place in the GNAC standings after splitting their last four weeks of conference contests... SPU fell to UAA, 67-62, and defeated UAF, 87-60, while playing at home last week... Western Oregon defeated SPU, 83-79, in Seattle on Jan. 13... The Falcons are ranked No. 3 in the GNAC by scoring 82.3 points per game and No. 8 on defense by allowing 77.2 for a +5.0 scoring margin... SPU is the GNAC's No. 2-ranked team from 3-point range with a 39.3 percent rate from distance... Gavin Long leads the team with 13.0 points per game and is followed by Coleman Wooten (9.9 ppg) and Nikhol Lizzot (9.5 ppg).
ABOUT SAINT MARTIN'S (17-5, 10-4 GNAC): The Saints start the week in third place in the GNAC standings thanks to a seven-game winning streak... SMU has not lost since facing Western Oregon at home on Jan. 11 when the Wolves won, 79-71, in Lacey... The Saints carry the GNAC's No. 6 ranked offense at 81.0 points per game and the league's No. 3 defense by allowing 72.3 per contest for a +8.8 scoring margin... The Saints lead the conference with a 39.6 percent rate from 3-point range... Luke Chavez leads the team and is ranked No. 7 in the GNAC with 16.2 points per game... EJ Boyce also averages double figures in scoring with 12.0 points per game... Boyce is ranked No. 7 in the GNAC with a 45.6 percent clip from 3-point territory.
ABOUT WESTERN OREGON (21-1, 13-1 GNAC): For the second 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 84.3 points per game and top the league with a +17.2 scoring margin... WOU holds the league's top field goal percentage (51.5) and No. 3 in 3-point percentage (39.1) but are ranked 9th at the free throw line (67.6)… Seven different players have led the team in scoring for a game this season with
Tanner Omlid and
Demetrius Trammell leading the way with seven occurrences… Three players average at least 10 points per game with Omlid tops at 12.9 points per game and Vince Boumann (10.5 ppg) and Demetrius Trammell (10.5 ppg) and close behind...
Ali Faruq-Bey (9.4 ppg),
Riley Hawken (9.2 ppg), Malik Morgan (8.9 ppg) and
JJ Chirnside (7.9 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 (11th, 9.4 spg), assists per game (20th, 17.4 apg). scoring margin (4th, +17.2) and field-goal percentage (5th, 51.5 percent).
NCAA DII RANKINGS: Western Oregon remained at No. 4 in the latest NABC Division II rankings this week… The Wolves tallied a season-high 350 points for a No. 4 ranking in the national poll and carry the GNAC's highest ranking for the 10th week... The Wolves were awarded one first-place vote for the second 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.
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 |
|
2/6 |
#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 |
|
|
. |
|
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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|
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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 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 1,094 career points with Sean Kelly (1,128) next on the list... Omlid is second in total rebounds with 553 career caroms… Andy Avgi (596) holds the top DII-era rebounding mark in school history… Omlid is No. 8 with 217 career assists and No. 3 in steals with 218 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.
