University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team concludes its season-long four-game Great Northwest Athletic Conference road trip with a pair of contests at Alaska Anchorage (RV) and Montana State Billings. The Nooks take on instate rival Seawolves on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before challenging the Yellowjackets at 3:15 p.m. on Saturday.

Alaska stands just a half game behind UAA for second place in the GNAC standings, as they are in a third-place tie with Seattle Pacific with a 10-4 mark in league play. Overall, the Nanooks are enjoying on of their most successful seasons to date, as they are 16-6 through 22 games this season. Alaska Anchorage sports an 11-4 GNAC record after suffering a 90-71 defeat at MSUB, which dropped the team's overall record to 18-8. For Montana State Billings, come into this Saturday' game in seventh place with a 6-9 mark in GNAC games, while they are 9-14 overall on the year.

Ways To Watch
Thursday's game vs. Alaska Anchorage will be shown live statewide on GCI 1. For those out of the GCI viewing market, you can catch all of this week's Nanooks basketball action on GNAC.tv free of charge.

Last Time Out
The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team got redemption against Western Washington on Saturday night, as they avenged a last-second overtime loss to the Vikings at home last month with a 78-64 victory at Whatcom Pavilion.

The Nanooks turned in arguably one of their best defensive efforts of the year on Saturday night. Alaska limited the top scoring team in the GNAC to just 64 points, 27 under their season average, and limited the Vikings to a 36.4 percent shooting percentage. Williams spearheaded a Nanook offense that shot 55.4 percent from the field and had four players record double-digits in points on the night. The Anchorage, Alaska native tallied a game-high 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

All-Time Series

Alaska Anchorage: Thursday's meeting between UAA and the Nooks will be the 106th meeting between the two programs. Alaska Anchorage holds a 77-29 advantage in the all-time series, and has won three-straight games coming into this week's matchup. The last Alaska win in Anchorage came on Feb. 22, 2003 when the Nooks won 73-70.

Montana State Billings: The Yellowjackets leads the all-time series against the Nooks, 41-26. However, Alaska has won six of the past seven games against MSUB. The Nanooks last win in Alterowitz Gym came on Jan. 11, 2014, when they won 79-70.

Road Warriors
Alaska has found an ample amount of success on the road this season, as they are 5-1 in true road games. The Nanooks lone loss on the road came on Jan. 23 at No. 8 Western Oregon, as they fell 64-58 at the New PE Building. The Nooks are riding a two-game winning streak heading into Anchorage, as they swept Simon Fraser (78-68) and Western Washington (78-64) last week.

Defense Wins Games
Alaska's defense has led the way for the Nooks this season. The Nanooks are holding teams to just 40.8 percent from the field, which is the second-lowest opponent field goal percentage in the GNAC. They are also allowing the fifth-fewest points in the GNAC at 74.4 points per game.

Alaska is the top shot blocking team in the GNAC, as they lead the league with 89 total blocks, and are second in steals with 191 (8.7 per game). The Nooks are also second in turnover margin, was they are +4.41 on the year.

Score 70-90 points and Win
Alaska is a perfect 9-0 in games where they score between 70 and 90 points this season. Alaska is fourth in the GNAC in points per game, as they are averaging 84.2 points. The Nooks have scored 70-plus points in each of their last three games, all wins, and the last game they scored under 70-points was in the 79-69 loss to Seattle Pacific.

Williams Production Equals Wins
Alaska is 12-3 in games when senior Travante Williams leads the team in scoring, and they are 11-2 when he leads the team in rebounds. The Anchorage, Alaska native is third in the GNAC in scoring with his 18.1 points per game average, and he is second in the conference in rebounds with his 7.4 average. Williams has scored at least 16 points and pulled down at least five rebounds in each of his last 10 games. Alaska is 6-4 during that streak.

Making the Extra Pass
Alaska coming off a 21-assist performance as a team at Western Washington. Junior Bangaly Kaba passed out a career-high seven helpers in the win over the Vikings. The Nooks lead the GNAC in assists per game by handing out 17.0 helpers per game. Redshirt senior Joe Slocum leads the team with his 4.1 assists per game average, which is seventh-best in the conference.

The Shooting Touch
Senior Almir Hadzisehovic has been on one of the most productive streaks in his Alaska career, as he has scored double-digits in six games. Even more impressive, the big Serbian has shots at least 55.6 percent from the field in each of the six games. During the streak, Hadzisehovic has averaged 17.2 points per game, while averaging a 71 percent field goal percentage.

Scouting the Opposition – Alaska Anchorage (RV)
The Seawolves enter Thursday's game off the heels of a 19-point loss at Montana State Billings on Tuesday. UAA was down by as many as 34 points in the game against the Yellowjackets. Alaska Anchorage is 18-8 overall this season, and hold a half game lead over Alaska and Seattle Pacific for second. The Seawolves received one vote in this week's NABC Top 25 Poll.

Junior Suki Wiggs leads the team in scoring with his conference-leading 23.9 points per game. Wiggs is one of five players to average double-digits in the scoring column, helping the Seawolves to an average of 84.9 points per game. UAA is shooting 46.4 percent as a team. Brian McGill is second on the team with his 17.6 points per game average. The senior is hitting a remarkable 94.7 percent from the free throw line, as he has hit 72 of his 76 free throw attempts.

Defensively, Alaska Anchorage is holding teams to 74.0 points per game. Teams are hitting 42.9 percent against the Seawolves this season. UAA had allowed 90-or-more points in two of their last three games, which includes Tuesday's game against MSUB, where the Yellowjackets hit a conference-best 17 3-pointers.

Scouting the Opposition – Montana State Billings
The Yellowjackets are looking to get back into the GNAC Tournament picture and got a big lift on Tuesday with a 90-71 win over UAA at home. MSUB enters Saturday with a 6-9 mark in league play, 2.5 games behind the current No. 6 seed Western Washington. Montana State Billings has won two-straight games, which has pushed its overall record to 9-14 this season.

MSUB is averaging 74.4 points per game, which is the seventh-best in the GNAC, while they are shooting 42.5 percent as a team. Marc Matthews leads the team in scoring with his 14.0 points per game, while Preston Beverly is just behind Matthews' with his 12.6 average. Beverly scored 25 points and went 6-of-9 from behind the arc in Tuesday's win over UAA.

Defensively, MSU is allowing teams to score 79.3 points per game. Teams are hitting 44.6 percent against them.

Mick's Memo
"We're coming off a good trip last weekend, but these four-game road trips are not easy. We have to get ourselves settled in for another trip and we have to see what we can do again on the road. UAA is a big rivalry game. There was a lot of emotion in the game played up here earlier, so we're looking forward to the rematch. Then we take on a Montana State Billings team that has won a couple of games at home, including Tuesday over Anchorage. We're going into a bit of a hornets nest there, but we have to watch the start of the game. We have to get off to a good start against them." – head coach Mick Durham on this week's road games.

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