FAIRBANKS - The Nanooks men's basketball program is in Seattle and will play the Washington Huskies (Division I, Pac-12) on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022. The game will not count towards the records of either side as it is an exhibition. 

Tuesday, Nov. 1
Washington Huskies | Live Video | Live Stats | Tickets | Game Notes
Seattle, Wash. | Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion

#NookNotes

Champs
The Nanooks enter the exhibition game with the University of Washington as the reigning GNAC Tournament Champions. They ran to the 2022 title as the #10-seed in the field. They defeated #7 Simon Fraser (91-83 OT), #2 Northwest Nazarene (83-62), #3 Alaska Anchorage (63-58) and #5 Central Washington in the GNAC Championship game (72-57). 

How Sweet It Is
The Nanooks ran to the Sweet 16 at the NCAA West Regional Tournament last year in 2021-22. After earning the #8-seed, the 'Nooks defeated the #1-seed Cal State San Marcos (70-63) and #5 Azusa Pacific (72-71 OT) before falling to #3 Chico State (52-70).

New Phone, Who Dis?
The Nanooks will have a fresh new look this season as they bring in 12 newcomers. They lost a total of eight players from the 2021-22 roster and return only four. The incoming class features four players from Washington, all from the Seattle-metro area (Tyler Mrus - Bothell, Paul Johnson - Seattle, Logan Stempniak - Kent, Ethan Martin - Arlington).

Mr. All-American
The Nanooks will have to replace one of their best players ever in Shadeed Shabazz. Shabazz, a Seattle-native and Rainier Beach alum (2015), graduated from UAF in 2022. In his two seasons, he solidified himself as one of the best Nanooks ever. He was selected as the 2019-20 Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year. He was a 2019-20 D2SIDA Third Team All-American. In 2021-22 he was GNAC Honorable Mention, an All-West Region Second Team selection, the GNAC Tournament MVP and All-West Region team selection after averaging 23.0 points per game, shooting 46.3% from the floor, 93.8 from the free-throw line, grabbing 5.7 rebounds per game, adding 10 assists and nine steals. He averaged 23.9 points per game in his two-year career, scored 1362 career points (5th all-time at Alaska), tallied 200 career steals (2nd all-time at Alaska). He broke the single-season points record with 798 during the 2019-20 season, broke the single-season steals record (114) in 2019-20. Shabazz tied the single-game scoring record for Alaska, posting 43 points on two separate occassions. The first was Dec. 7, 2019 against Concordia Portland and the second came at Western Washington University on Feb. 6, 2020 - also tying the Carver Gymnasium single-game scoring record. 

That's a Doozy
Abdullahi Mohamed was a unanimous selection for the GNAC Preseason All-Conference Team. For the season, Mohamed was the third-highest scorer for the Nanooks, posting 11.1 points per game on 321 points scored. He played in all 29 games on the season, starting in all but three. While averaging 25.0 minutes a game, he added a 48.1 shooting percentage, 77.8 free-throw percentage, hit four of five threes, grabbed 167 rebounds for an average of 5.8 per game, blocked 14 shots and stole 14 balls and assisted on 33 buckets. Mohamed's biggest contributions came down the stretch in the final half of the season. At the midway point of the season, the Nanooks used an 81-75 victory over the Western Washington Vikings to start a three-game win streak and set up Mohamed for a huge final 15 games. He posted 21 points and 11 rebounds in the win over WWU. In the remaining 14 games he scored 10+ in eight times, scoring 20+ two more times and posting a career-high 32 points and 10 rebounds against Northwest Nazarene in the GNAC Championships Quarterfinals in an 83-62 win. 

During that stretch, Mohamed averaged 15.2 points per game, scoring 228 points, while shooting 50.9% from the floor, 77.9% from the free-throw line and grabbing 7.3 rebounds per game. 

Mohamed is the lone-Nanook selected for the GNAC MBB Preseason All-Conference Team. Cameron Cranston of Western Oregon was selected as the Preseason Player of the Year.

Homecoming Game
"It is a great opportunity for our student-athletes to play against a very good UW basketball team in Seattle, and we're very thankful for the game." Says head coach Greg Sparling, "The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network, so friends, family, and alumni can watch the game around the country. It will be nice for our team to play in Seattle since we have a large number of our team that played high school basketball in the area. With 12 new guys on our roster, it will definitely help with the growth of this young team." 

This matchup is nearly 21 years in the making as it'll be the first time these two teams have played since Nov. 15, 2001 when the Huskies played in Fairbanks, defeating Alaska 82-70. Washington has won all four matchups with the first coming back in the 1970-71 season, an 85-73 UW victory.

University of Washington
'70 - '02 (All-Time Series)

'70-'71    L    73-85
'70-'71    L    62-90
12/10/91    L    58-89    A
11/15/01    L    70-82    H
11/01/22    TBD        A

Seattle to Fairbanks
The Nanooks have had a lot of talent from the Seattle-metro area, this also includes Quin Barnard, who spent the 2021-22 season with the 'Nooks after playing three seasons with the University of Washington. Barnard, a 2016 O'Dea High School grad,  played in 20 games for the Nanooks and scored 12.6 points per game with 65 made three-pointers. He shot 41.9% from the floor, 44.5% from deep, 83.8% from the free-throw line and added 42 rebounds (2.1/game), 42 assists and 13 steals.

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.