MONMOUTH, Ore. — The Western Oregon men's basketball team enters Great Northwest Athletic Conference play this week hoping to keep their undefeated start alive, visiting the Alaska Nanooks Thursday, Dec. 5, and the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves Saturday, Dec. 7.

Western Oregon (5-0) remains the only unbeaten team in the GNAC while getting most of their winning done on the road. Having played just one official game at home so far, they are 1-0 in away games and 3-0 in neutral site matchups.

Most recently, the Wolves went 2-0 at the San Francisco State Gator Gobble last weekend to run their winning streak to five games to start the season. After easily beating host San Francisco State 88-76, it took late free throws to seal a 75-72 win to beat Stanislaus State in their closing matchup of the tourney.

Junior Darius Lubom was named tournament MVP after scoring 20 or more points in both games. The guard shot 67 percent from the field with a 6.5 rebound and 6.5 assist average over the two games. Teammate Dalven Brushier joined Lubom on the all-tournament team, scoring 28 points over the two games with 12 of them coming from 3-point range.

The Wolves are averaging 83.6 points per game as a team, allowing 73.2 for one of only three scoring margins in the GNAC above +10. WOU has also been remarkably better than the rest of the conference in free throw shooting, hitting 79.7 percent of their shots at the line, good for nearly five percentage points better than anyone else in the GNAC. The same has gone for field goal and 3-point shooting where they are four and seven percentage points better, respectively. Their 45.7 percent 3-point shooting is currently the fifth-best mark in the nation at the Division II level.

Alaska (1-7) will attempt to break a six-game losing streak this weekend, having not won since their Nov. 10 victory over Hawai'i Pacific by two.

The Nanooks have struggled offensively, averaging only 67.2 points per game, 16 fewer than the Wolves, while also allowing the most points to opponents in the GNAC at 85.8 a night.

Shadeed Shabazz leads the UAF offense with 18.1 points per game and shooting an impressive 94.3 percent from the line. Shabazz handles business on defense as well, swiping 2.6 steals per game.

WOU is 23-15 against UAF all-time. The Wolves have won seven straight in the series and 11 of the last 12 meetings. Their last loss came on Feb. 18, 2016, in Fairbanks.

Alaska Anchorage (6-2) has seen a great deal of play at home early on this year. The Seawolves are currently are on a run of 10 of 12 games at home to start the season.

UAA enters the week with the best defense in the GNAC, allowing only 67.8 points per game on an opponent field goal percentage of 43.4 in eight games.

Niko Bevens averages a team-high 13.5 points per game for Anchorage, shooting 49.3 percent from the field and 51.7 percent from 3-point range. UAA has taken exceptionally good care of the basketball, having seven of their players rank in the conference's top 20 in assist/turnover ratio.

WOU is 15-22 against UAA all-time. The Wolves have won nine of the last 12 meetings dating back to 2014. They are 5-13 in Anchorage in the series.

Thursday's game against Alaska is set for an 8:30 p.m. PST tipoff while Saturday against the Seawolves begins at 6:15 p.m.