University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team will look for its first 4-0 start under head coach Mick Durham this weekend, as the Nanooks will play a pair of games at the AT&T Jamboree at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage, Alaska. The Nanooks will take on Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday at 5:15 p.m. and follow up with a 1 p.m. contest against Life Pacific College on Saturday.

The Nanooks are coming off a 2-0 weekend in the GCI GNAC/PacWest Crossover, as they defeated Hawai'i Pacific (96-77) and Chaminade (112-102) to take first place in the inaugural event. Junior Bangaly Kaba was named to the all-tournament team, while senior Travante Williams was named the GCI GNAC/PacWest Crossover Most Valuable Player.

Last Time Out
The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team was able to overcome an early 21-4 deficit to Chaminade University, as the Nanooks got a combined 42 points from Travante Williams and Bangaly Kaba to collect a 112-102 victory on Saturday night.

Williams followed up his 22-point night against Hawai'i Pacific with a 25-point performance against the Silverswords. The senior hit 8-of-15 from the field and drilled a team-high five three-pointers. The Anchorage native averaged 23.5 points per game on the weekend, as he earned GCI GNAC/PacWest Crossover Most Valuable Player honors.

All-Time Series: Cal State Dominguez Hills/Life Pacific College
The Nanooks will play Cal State Dominguez Hills and Life Pacific College each for the third time in program history. Alaska is 1-1 against Toros, while they are a perfect 2-0 against the Warriors.

Going For 4-0
The Alaska Nanooks enter this weekend with a chance to start 4-0 for the first time under head coach Mick Durham. The last time the Nanooks opened a season perfect through four games came during the 2006-07 campaign when they defeated Lancaster Bible College twice, Pace University and North Georgia to open the year.

GNAC Player of the Week
On Monday, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference named senior Travante Williams as its Men's Basketball Player of the Week. Williams averaged an impressive 23.5 points in two games to help the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team go 2-0 in their season-opening weekend.

The GNAC Player of the Week honor adds to Williams' already impressive debut this past weekend, as the Anchorage native also earned the GCI GNAC/PacWest Crossover most valuable player award after helping the Nanooks win the inaugural GNAC/PacWest Crossover. The senior averaged 23.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals in the two-game Crossover and shot an impressive 56 percent from the floor. Williams was even better from better the arc, as he hit a blistering 56.3 percent (9-of-16) in the two games.

Another Two-Game, Two-Day Weekend
This weekend will mark the third-straight weekend that the Nanooks will play two games in two nights. Alaska opened the stretch with back-to-back exhibition games against NCAA Division I schools, Nevada and BYU, and followed that up with two contests against Hawai'i Pacific and Chaminade in the GCI GNAC/PacWest Crossover last weekend. Head coach Mick Durham fells his team is prepared for the weekend, thanks to the stretch of games they've played, and states that his team is getting into the flow of the season.

"We've played five games in nine days, which is a lot of games in a short amount of time," stated the head man. "I think we are starting to get into the rhythm of the season, we have four more weekends and then we get a little bit of a break mid-December. I think by already playing back-to-back games the last two weeks we will give us a bit of an advantage with knowing how to prepare. We are playing in our home state against a West Regional opponent to start the weekend, and with how we started the year, this is an important game for us."

A High Scoring Bunch
The Nanooks enter this weekend averaging 104.0 points per game, which is the highest points per game average in the GNAC. The 104 ppg is also the fourth-highest average in NCAA Division II. Alaska currently has six players averaging nine points or better, led by Travante Williams' 23.5 points per game average.

Scouting the Opposition – Cal State Dominguez Hills
The Toros enter the AT&T Jamboree at an even .500 after they went 1-1 in the PacWest/CCAA Challenge. CSDH dropped a 75-72 decision at No. 11 Cal Baptist before taking an 84-79 win over Holy Names the next night.

Cal State Dominguez Hills enters the weekend averaging 78 points per game, while shooting 52.7 percent from the field. Justin Sadler is the team's top scorer, as he is averaging 22 points per contest. Ivan Dooley is the only other CSDH player averaging double-digits through two-games this season, as he is scoring 18 points per contest.

Scouting the Opposition – Life Pacific College
The Warriors, a NCCAA team, is currently 1-3 on the year and is coming off an 87-51 loss to Hope International. LPC is in its first season of men's basketball since 2007, as the athletic program recently reinstated the men's basketball program.

Blake Terry is the team's top scorer, as he is averaging 16.5 points per game through in three contest. Terry is hitting 46.7 percent from the field and an impressive 62.5 percent from behind the arc, as has hit 5-of-8 from behind the arc. The eight 3-point field goal attempts is tied for the second-most on the team.

Coaches Corner
"We have to play well Friday night. Dominguez Hills is a West Region team that has some size but not a lot of depth, so they'll play a lot of guards and penetrate a lot, so it's going to be critical to play strong help side defense. We have to continue to get better on the offensive side. We still want to run when we can and share the basketball. We've had some really good offensive outputs lately and I would like to see that continue." – Head coach Mick Durham on this weekend.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter.