BILLINGS, Montana – The Nanook men's basketball team takes to the road, as it looks to return to winning ways with a Thursday-Saturday series against Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
Alaska fell to instate rival Alaska Anchorage last Saturday, 76-64, but head to the lower 48 with an aim to start a new winning streak, having won four in a row prior to the game against the Seawolves.
As a team Alaska is the second-best team in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage at 37.2 which will lead to an intriguing matchup, as the Yellowjackets have the conference's best 3-point defense.
Offensively the Nanooks are led by Ashton Edwards, who averages 14.5 points per game, a mark that puts him in the top-ten in the conference. Edwards also has a team-high 42 assists, and leads the team in 3-point shooting, as he has hit 35 from beyond the arc.
Ruben Silvas has also been a key player for the Nanooks this season, as he scores 12.2 points per game and leads the team with 5.7 rebounds per contest. Silvas is also amongst the conference leaders in fieldg goal percentage and free-throw percentage.
Against MSUB, the Nanooks trail the all-time series, 39-23, and have only won four of 30 contests in Montana against the Yellowjackets. However, in the past two seasons, Alaska has defeated the Yellowjackets in the GNAC tournament.
Seattle Pacific holds a 50-14 series lead against the Nanooks, with Alaska not having won against the Falcons since it swept the 2006-07 series. Last time out, the No. 19 ranked Falcons defeated the Nanooks, 67-56 in Fairbanks.
Thursday's game against MSUB is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. AKT with Saturday's game at Seattle Pacific staged for 4:30 p.m. AKT. Both games can be seen at this link.
