FAIRBANKS – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball season is officially here. The 'Nooks head to Honolulu, Hi. For the Alaska/Hawaii Challenge and will open up against Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade. 
 
Friday, Nov. 11
Hawaii Pacific | Live Stats | Live Video ($$) | Tickets
7:30 p.m. AKT | Honolulu, Hi. | The Shark Tank
 
Saturday, Nov. 12
Chaminade | Live Stats | Live Video ($$) | Tickets
5:30 p.m. AKT | Honolulu, Hi. | The Shark Tank
 
Where to Watch
This weekend's games can be viewed for a pay-per-view fee on the HPU Stretch Internet Portal. Link above. Free stats are available to follow using the link above. 
 
Last Time Out
The Nanooks played an exhibition game at the University of Washington on Tuesday, Nov. 1.  They fell to the Division I Huskies, 95-64. UW ran out to a 43-27 lead after the opening 20 minutes before outscoring the Nanooks 52-37 in the second half to take the win. The Nanooks pulled within 16 with just over 10 minutes to play but UW used 26 Alaska turnovers to grab the win. Freshman Tyler Mrus led the Nanooks with 20 points on 7-12 shooting. He was 1-2 from three, went 5-6 from the free-throw line, added three rebounds, two assists and one steal. 
 
Logan Stempniak was the only other Nanook to score in double-digits, posting 11 points on 4-8 shooting, 2-3 from deep and 1-2 from the free-throw line. He added three rebounds, two steals and one block. 
 
BOX SCORE
 
#NookNotes

• Abdullahi Mohamed was recently announced as a unanimous choice for the 2022-23 GNAC Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team. The junior forward from Seattle, Wash. is coming off of a career-year that saw him post 11.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. He also shot 48.1% from the floor and 77.8% from the free-throw line. 
• The Nanooks earned 20 points in the GNAC Preseason Coaches Poll. They were predicted to finish 10th in the GNAC this season.
• Western Oregon's Cameron Cranston was selected as the GNAC Preseason Player of the Year. 
• Saint Martin's was selected as the GNAC preseason favorite. 
• 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.
• The Nanooks and HPU played last season and the Sharks escaped with the win, 65-63 on a buzzer-beater. 
• Alaska and Chaminade also played last season in the regular-season opener. Chaminade took the win over the Nanooks 77-65. 

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.

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 occasions. 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.

Preseason Coaches Poll (First-Place Votes)

1. Saint Martin's – 81 Points (3)
2. Northwest Nazarene – 78 Points (2)
3. Montana State Billings – 69 Points (3)
4. Western Washington – 66 Points (1)
5. Seattle Pacific – 60 Points
6. Alaska Anchorage – 53 Points
7. Central Washington – 52 Points
8. Western Oregon – 48 Points (1)
9. Simon Fraser – 23 Points
10. Alaska – 20 Points

What's to Come
The Nanooks will play two at the Alaska/Hawaii Challenge in Honolulu before heading to Seaside, Calif. For the Cal State Monterey Bay Invite. There, they'll play CSUMB on Nov. 18 before facing Cal State East Bay on Nov. 19.

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.