FAIRBANKS - The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team will host their Blue/Gold Scrimmage this Sunday at the Alaska Airlines Gymnasium at the Patty Center. Tip is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and will be free admission to all.

Sunday, Oct. 23
Blue/Gold | 2:00 p.m. | FREE ADMISSION
Alaska Airlines Gymnasium | Fairbanks, Alaska

Last Time Out
This will be the first time seeing the new Nanooks men's basketball team since their improbable run to the 2022 GNAC Championship and Cinderella run to the NCAA West Regional Final/Sweet 16. Alaska used a six-game winning streak to upset nearly the entire West Coast en route to their third Sweet 16 appearance. After knocking-off Western Oregon in the regular-season finale, the Nanooks entered the GNAC Championships as the #10-seed. They began their run by narrowly escaping #7-seeded Simon Fraser, 91-83 OT. They then blew the two-seed Northwest Nazarene, out of the water, running them off the floor with an 83-62 blowout to advance to the GNAC Semifinals for a matchup with their in-state rivals, the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves. For the first time ever, the Nanooks and Seawolves met in postseason play. The Nanooks are now 1-0 against UAA in the postseason as they took the win 63-58, advancing to their first GNAC Championship Game since the GNAC adopted tournament play. 

Alaska was not done there. They defeated coach Sparling's former team, #5-seeded Central Washington, 72-57, to become the GNAC Champions for the first time since the 2004-05 season. With the win, they were the GNAC's automatic bid to the tournament and ended up being the only GNAC team to make the NCAA West Regional. As the #8-seed, the Nanooks were put to the test immediately, drawing the #1-seed in the West, the Cal State San Marcos Cougars. They upset the Cougs to advance to the Round of 32 and knocked-off the next set of Cougars they played, the Azusa Pacific Cougars. With the win, Alaska found themselves in the Sweet 16 to take on the Chico State Wildcats. Unfortunately, their run ended there as Chico State ended the Nanooks fun.

#NookNotes

• The Nanooks were selected to finish 10th in this season's GNAC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll. They earned 20 points.
• Saint Martin's was selected as the GNAC preseason favorite. 
• The Nanooks return one starter from 2021-22 as Abdullahi Mohamed comes back to Fairbanks for his junior season. He averaged 11.1 points per game and 5.8 rebounds per game a year ago. 
• Alaska loses Shadeed Shabazz, Quin Barnard, Koby Huerta, Willie Thomas, Marcus Lee, Jaren Carle, Jahvonta Jones and Coleman Sparling from the 2021-22 team. 
• Alongside Mohamed, they return Nick Hopkins, Mawich Kachjaani and Tybenn Sturm. 

Coaches
Greg Sparling returns for the Nanooks as the head coach for his fifth year. Andrew Hedman also returns for the Nanooks and Quinn Daugharty joins the Nanooks coaching staff for the 2022-23 season.

Banner Season
The Nanooks men's basketball team unveiled their newest banners in the Alaska Airlines Gymnasium at the Patty Center. They unveiled the 2022 GNAC Championship and 2022 NCAA West Regional Final/Sweet 16 banner, giving them their first banner since the 2005 GNAC Championship and Sweet 16 trip. 

No Stream
This weekend's Blue/Gold Scrimmage will have no stream/live stats. Admission will be free to all! Tip is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. AKT. All regular-season games can be found on YouTube for free! All home games will be on the Alaska Nanooks athletics YouTube page. All away games will be found on the respective opponents YouTube pages (if a GNAC opponent).

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Instagram or Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks athletics page on Facebook.