University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Alaska men's basketball team will play on live TV at 8 p.m. AKST on Jan. 23, when they travel to Lacey, Wash., to face Saint Martin's, part of an eight-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference "Game of the Week" series on ROOT SPORTS.
 
The series, running Jan. 11 through March 1, marks the fifth straight season that the GNAC has had a presence on ROOT SPORTS, which reaches 3.4 million homes across the northwestern United States.
 
"I think anytime you can get TV exposure it's great," said Alaska head coach Mick Durham. "Especially ROOT. That's going to cover all the Northwest and Alaska, so also for the people back here in Alaska to see us play on the road, I don't think it's anything but a positive for us."
 
Beginning on Jan. 11, ROOT SPORTS will air six men's games and two women's games throughout the GNAC regular-season schedule. The Nanooks are currently 2-1 in GNAC play and the Saints are 2-2, which should make the televised Jan. 23 game a pivotal contest for both programs as they jostle for positioning leading towards the GNAC Tournament in March.
 
"We are very pleased to continue and develop our relationship with ROOT SPORTS," GNAC Commissioner Dave Haglund said in a GNAC press release. "We are excited for all of our member institutions at the opportunity to receive exposure on one of the leading sports broadcasting companies in the Northwest."
 
ROOT SPORTS is the home of the Seattle Mariners, Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Timbers, among numerous other professional and collegiate sports teams in the Pacific Northwest. Its scope covers Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska, and the ROOT SPORTS regional networks combine to reach nine million homes across 18 states.
 
"Anytime we can expose the GNAC, which we coaches think is the best Division II league in the country, to the Northwest, to your recruits – the more we can get that out there in the public and in front of recruits in the Northwest is a positive," added Durham.
 
2014 ROOT SPORTS GNAC "Game of the Week" Schedule

Date	Gender	Away	Home	Time
Sat., Jan. 11	Women	Montana State Billings	Seattle Pacific	2 p.m.
Wed., Jan. 15	Men	Seattle Pacific	Western Washington	6 p.m.
Thurs., Jan. 23	Men	Alaska	Saint Martin's	8 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 1	Men	Alaska Anchorage	Western Washington	8 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 8	Men	Northwest Nazarene	Western Oregon	4 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 22	Men	Central Washington	Western Washington	6 p.m.
Wed., Feb. 26	Men	Simon Fraser	Western Oregon	6 p.m.
Sat., March 1	Women	Simon Fraser	Western Washington	2 p.m.

*All times Alaska Standard Time