Men's Basketball | 11/29/2016 4:59:00 PM
FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team will hit the road for the fourth consecutive weekend to open Great Northwest Athletic Conference play against Northwest Nazarene on Thursday, Dec. 1 and then Central Washington on Saturday, Dec. 3. Thursday's game in Nampa is scheduled for 5:30pm AKST, while Saturday's matchup in Ellensburg is slated for 6:30pm AKST.
Alaska Projected Starters
#3 Nahjee Matlock (10.9 ppg, 5.3 apg & 4.0 rpg)
#13 Bangaly Kaba (10.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg)
#20 LaDonavan Wilder (9.5 ppg, 5.6 rpg)
#21 Zach Pederson (9.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg)
#31 Brandon Davis (13.6 ppg, 3.6 apg, .354 3FG%)
Last Time Out
The Alaska Nanooks swept the competition (2-0) at the Western Washington University Chuck Randall Thanksgiving Classic last Saturday and Sunday, defeating Quest University of Canada 101-56 on Saturday before beating 74-58 on Sunday. Senior guards Nahjee Matlock and Brandon Davis were named to the Chuck Randall All-Tournament Team, marking Davis' third all-tournament team honor this season.
Davis Rollin'
Senior guard Brandon Davis currently leads the Nanooks in scoring with a 13.6 point per game average in eight games already this season. Last weekend, Davis led the Nanooks with 29 points in two games, making 50 percent of his shots from the floor. Against Quest, Davis led all players with 18 points, shooting 7-of-12 from the field and 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Davis enters this weekend's games ranking third in the GNAC with 1.88 steals per game. Furthermore, Davis was named to three All-Tournament Teams already this season, including the GNAC/PacWest Crossover, the Seawolf Jamboree and the Chuck Randall Thanksgiving Classic.
Senior Step-Up
Senior forward Bangaly Kaba led the team in Sunday's win over Fresno Pacific, while also chipping in seven rebounds. Kaba opens conference play ranking 10th in the conference in rebounding with 6.9 boards per game.
Newcomer Nahjee Matlock finished Sunday's win over Fresno Pacific with 15 points and also registered 12 assists in two games. Matlock comes into this weekend's games ranked third in the conference with 5.25 assists per game and sits in fifth in the league in free throw shooting at 91.3 percent (21-of-23).
Forcing Mistakes
The Nooks currently lead the league in assist/turnover ratio with 1.54 and rank second in the GNAC in field goal percentage defense with .389. Alaska ranks third in the league in scoring defense (70.0 points allowed per game), assists (16.75 per game) and steals (7.50 per game). Amongst other NCAA Division II schools, Alaska ranks 16th in three-point field goal attempts (179).
GNAC Preseason Coaches Poll
With conference play starting this week, let's not forget the Nooks were picked to finish the 2016-17 season in fourth place in the GNAC Preseason Coaches Poll released last month. After coming off of a historic 22-8 overall season (15-5 GNAC), Alaska garnered 79 points in the poll to place in fourth in the 11-team conference. The ranking puts the Nanooks up two-spots from their sixth place finish in the 2015-16 Preseason Poll.
Scouting the Opponent – Northwest Nazarene (2-3 overall, 0-0 GNAC)
The Crusaders dropped both games at the Carl's Jr. Mac Martin Invitational in Chico, California last weekend, falling 71-53 to Cal State East Bay on Friday before falling 79-68 to Chico State on Saturday. Forward Maurice Jones led the Crusaders last weekend, posting 17 points and eight rebounds in two games, ranking him 14th in the conference in scoring at 14.6 points per game.
As a team, NNU is averaging 79.8 points and 34.6 rebounds per game and currently sit second in the conference in field goal percentage (.517) and third in three-point percentage (.373).
Scouting the Opponent – Central Washington (4-1 overall, 0-0 GNAC)
After enjoying a bye-week, the Wildcats are led by guard Dom Hunter, who leads the league and is second in Division II with 27 points per game. Hunter is tied for first in the GNAC with teammate Niam Ladd with 3.20 three-pointers made per game and is also second in the conference in steals (2.00 per game).
As a team, the Wildcats lead the conference and rank 16th in Division II in scoring, averaging 93.5 points per game. CWU is second in the GNAC in free-throw percentage at 76.8 percent.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks page on Facebook.
