HONOLULU - It's officially basketball season! The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team opens its 2024-25 campaign in Hawaii for three contests. It kicks things off tomorrow with a 6 p.m. AKST tip-off against Chaminade before facing Hawaii Pacific at 8 p.m. AKST the following evening. The Nanooks wrap up their trip to Honolulu with a rematch vs. Chaminade on Monday at 8 p.m. AKST.

Friday, Nov. 8
6 p.m. at Chaminade | Watch (PPV) | Live Stats
The Shark Tank | Honolulu, Hawaii

Saturday, Nov. 9
8 p.m. at Hawaii Pacific | Watch (PPV) | Live Stats
McCabe Gymnasium | Honolulu, Hawaii

Monday, Nov. 11
8 p.m. at Chaminade | Watch (PPV) | Live Stats
McCabe Gymnasium | Honolulu, Hawaii

#NookNotes

• The Nanooks are returning five players from last year's squad. Senior guard/forward Jordan Gill, senior guard Paul Johnson, redshirt senior forward Ketan Sidhu, junior guard Cortarius Mingo and junior guard Josh Davis return for another year in Fairbanks. They are joined by redshirt senior Isaac Garcia, a guard who was on the 2022-23 Nanooks roster.
• The remainder of the roster is made up of nine first-year transfers: Chris Lee, a 6-1 junior from Edmonds College; Mike Miller, a 6-4 junior from San Bernardino Valley College; Griffin Effenberger, a 6-5 senior out of Southern Wesleyan University; Isaiah Saams-Hoy, a 6-4 junior from San Jose City College; Jalai O'Keith, a 6-6 redshirt senior from East Los Angeles College; Jeremiah Hersrud, a 5-9 redshirt junior from Bellevue College; Shiloh Zevenbergen, a 6-5 junior out of Edmonds College; Jackson Krug, a 6-7 junior from Lassen Community College and Elyon Zevenbergen, a 6-8 junior from Edmonds College.
• The Nanooks are coming off an 8-18 season that saw them finish eighth in the GNAC with a 6-12 conference record.
• Frank Ostanik returns to the Nanooks, beginning his first season as head coach after serving in the position from 2004-07. He is joined by assistant coach and former Alaska Anchorage Seawolf Tobin Karlberg.
• Alaska will play 13 contests at the Patty Center this season while traveling for their remaining 14 games.

Preseason Poll
The Nanooks were tabbed to finish tenth in the conference in the GNAC Preseason Coaches Poll, released on October 17. Central Washington took the top spot in the poll, receiving 90 points and four first-place votes. The top two regular season finishers from last season were picked to finish second and third in 2024-25, as Montana State Billings was predicted to finish second with 85 points and three first-place votes, and Northwest Nazarene took the third spot in the poll with 70 points. Alaska Anchorage and Saint Martin's tied for fourth, coming in one point behind the Nighthawks with 69. Both teams received a first-place vote, as did the sixth-ranked team in the conference, Western Washington. The Vikings received 52 points in the preseason poll, putting them three points ahead of Seattle Pacific in seventh. Simon Fraser took eighth in the coaches poll with 25 points, while Western Oregon was picked to finish ninth in the GNAC with 21. Alaska received 19 points, taking the tenth spot in the poll.

Meet the Opponents
Chaminade
The Silverswords are coming off a 10-18 season in 2023-24, going 6-14 in the PacWest. They won their previous game against Alaska last season, 80-72. The Nanooks are 2-7 against the Silverswords, with their last win coming on November 12, 2022, when they came out on top 82-76 in Honolulu. Bryan Nguyen led the team in points that game, scoring 17 during the contest.

Chaminade returns three players from last year's squad, with junior guard Jamir Thomas being the top returning scorer after posting 11.6 points per game on 41.5% shooting in 2023-24.

The Silverswords are led by head coach Eric Bovaird, who begins his 14th season in charge of the program. He is joined by associate head coach Dantley Walker and assistant coaches Roman Young and Arthur King.

Hawaii Pacific
The Sharks went 18-11 last season, finishing with a 13-7 record in PacWest action. They ended the season narrowly falling to Azusa Pacific in the first round of the PacWest Championship, 56-55. Alaska is 3-6 vs. Hawaii Pacific but earned the 69-64 win the last time the two sides squared off in 2023-24. The Nooks were led by Abdullahi Mohamed, who put up 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting in the win.

HPU is returning its second-leading scorer from last season in redshirt senior Dominique Winbush. The guard averaged 11.7 points per game in 2023-24 while shooting 38.7% from the field and 39.2% from distance.

Head coach Jesse Nakanishi begins his second season in charge of Hawaii Pacific. Rounding out the coaching staff are associate head coach Cameron Flabel and assistants Daniel Sandrin and Lyle Sutton.

What's Next
Alaska returns to the Patty Center for its home opener on November 22, taking on Multnomah at 7 p.m.

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