WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES

Boise State Broncos (1-1, 0-0 WAC)

In Boise State’s season opener, the Broncos had five players score in double figures, with senior Mark Sanchez leading the way with 21 points ,,, the Broncos scored 40 points off the Bench in their 100-68 victory over Pacific University ,,, ut was a record setting day for Boise State in its season opener as several Broncos set or tied their career bests in points and rebounds: Senior guard Aaron Garner recorded a career-high 15 points and seven rebounds; junior Kurt Cunningham tied a career-high 13 points; junior guard Anthony Thomas notched a career-best seven boards; sophomore forward Paul Noonan tallied a career-high seven rebounds ... junior Anthony Thomas tallied a career-high 11 assists, while grabbing seven rebounds against Pacific, Friday night ... the team also dropped an 82-52 decision at Siena on Monday night.

Fresno State Bulldogs (1-1, 0-0 WAC)

Senior point guard Dwight O’Neil started his first game at point guard in his Fresno State career, providing a steady all-around presence with his 10 points, seven rebounds, and a career-high seven assists while diving for loose balls and playing a team-high 31 minutes ... the Bulldogs led by as many as 26 points in a game highlighted by seven dunks created by a stifling defensive effort ... two freshmen started (Paul George of Lancaster, Calif. and Mychal Ladd of Seattle, Wash.) for the Bulldogs ... Fresno State shot 59.3% from the field in the second half and 54.7% in the game ... leading 37-31 at halftime, the Bulldogs opened the second half with a 13-0 run to lead 50-31.  The four freshmen that played in the game recorded 84 minutes, 29 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 blocks and 3 steals ... the team also dropped a 99-85 decision at St. Mary’s on Monday night.

Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine (1-2, 0-0 WAC)

Hawai‘i went 1-2 this past week, dropping games against San Francisco and Cal State Fullerton before picking up a victory over Idaho State on ESPN Monday night ... the win over Idaho State snapped a nine-game losing streak dating back to last season ... playing before a national television audience against ISU, UH picked up its first win of the season with a hard-fought 67-64 overtime decision over Idaho State Monday night ... for the third straight game the Rainbow Warriors (1-2) found themselves in a see-saw affair, but this time were able to come out on the winning end ... UH trailed by as many as seven points in the second half, rallied back, and eventually wore down the Bengals (0-1) in the overtime period with some clutch free throw shooting ... as the third game in ESPN’s College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon, the contest started at 11:05 p.m. and ended with the final buzzer at 1:30 a.m. (6:30 a.m. ET)

Idaho Vandals (1-1, 0-0 WAC)

The Vandals went 1-1 this past week ... Idaho used a huge second half run to earn a 91-69 in its season opener Friday ... Idaho (1-0) led 44-38 at the half and used a 23-10 run midway through the second half to pull away for the 22-point victory. Evergreen State fell to 3-1 with the loss ... Mac Hopson led the Vandals with 19 points and Kashif Watson added 17 points with 13 coming at the free throw line. The duo combined for 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals with just two turnovers ... Idaho could not hang with No. 6 Michigan State in a 100-62 loss on the road Sunday ... playing with just five players with Division I basketball experience, nerves may have gotten the better of the Vandals early as they trailed 54-29 at the half ... Idaho (1-1) settled down and played with Michigan State (1-0) for the first 10 minutes of the second half before the Spartans opened it up late.

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (1-0, 0-0 WAC)

Bulldog junior Jamel Guyton scored 27 points in his Louisiana Tech debut leading to a season-opening win against UL-Lafayette ... Guyton shot 6-14 from the field and 11-14 from the free throw line ... Tech ended up winning 61-59 despite trailing by 10 points two times in the second half ... after a strong, come-from-behind win against UL-Lafayette, the Bulldogs will remain on the road Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m.; this time less than 10 miles away from home against Grambling State University (0-0) ... despite being separated by a few miles, Louisiana Tech and Grambling have never met in men’s basketball. This season, the Bulldogs and the Tigers will meet twice for a home-and-home; first Tuesday night’s game, and then a game Dec. 6 in the Thomas Assembly Center.

Nevada Wolf Pack (1-0, 0-0 WAC)

For Nevada, Luke Babbitt led the Wolf Pack with 20 points and 12 rebounds 34 minutes in Saturday’s win at Montana in his collegiate debut ... Babbitt made 8-of-19 attempts from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line in the win ... he also added one assist and one steal ... The Wolf Pack won its season opener for the fifth time in six years and the 13th time in the last 15 years ... Babbitt led three Wolf Pack players in double figures, while sophomore Armon Johnson added 16 points and junior Ray Kraemer scored a career-best 12 with a pair of three-pointers ... sophomore Malik Cooke had eight rebounds for Nevada, while Johnson and Kraemer each pulled down a career-best seven ... The Wolf Pack returns to action on Tuesday, Nov. 18, traveling to San Diego. Tuesday’s game at San Diego’s Jenny Craig Pavilion will tip off at 7:05 p.m. Pacific Time.

New Mexico State Aggies (1-0, 0-0 WAC)

The New Mexico State men’s basketball team plays its first road game of the season at Southern California, Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 7:00 p.m. in Los Angeles, Calif.... the game is available on KGRT 104 FM with the ‘Voice of the Aggies’ Jack Nixon calling the action and the pregame show starts at 6:30 p.m ... NMSU is 1-0 after winning its season opener over UC Riverside, 79-52, Nov. 15 in Las Cruces ... sophomore guard Jahmar Young led a balance Aggie offense with a game-high 18 points. USC was also victorious in its season opener with a 78-55 win over UC Irvine. 

San Jose Spartans (1-1, 0-0 WAC)

San Jose State won its season opener for the second year in a row, defeating South Dakota State on the road, 70-62, on Friday night ... the last time the Spartans accomplished that feat was in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons ... the Spartans have also won season openers on the road in successive years for the first time since 1962-63 and 1963-64 ... Tim Pierce matched his career high with 23 points at South Dakota State, before registering his first collegiate double-double at Nebraska, with 11 points and a career-high 10 rebounds ... Chris Oakes posted back-to-back double-doubles over the weekend, with 12 points and 13 boards at SDSU, and 12 and 10 to go along with a career-high four blocks at NU ... the Spartans open their home season against Cal Maritime on Wednesday night, November 19, before hitting the road again for Presbyterian in Clinton, S.C.

Utah State Aggies (2-0, 0-0 WAC)

Utah State is now 2-0 after a win at home over Montana  State-Northern and on the road at UC Santa Barbara ... senior forward Gary Wilkinson scored a career-high 24 points and added 12 rebounds to lead Utah State past Montana State-Northern, 71-50, in its season opener here Friday night ... the Lights came into the game with a perfect 6-0 record ... Utah State improved its home winning streak to 18 games and has now won 54 straight non-conference games at home during the regular season ... Wilkinson, who was 9-of-10 from the field, recorded his eight career double-double in the game as his 12 boards were just one shy of his career-high set last year ... Matt Formisano scored a put-back basket with three seconds to play to lift Utah State to a hard-fought 61-59 road win here Monday night against UC Santa Barbara. USU improves to 2-0 on the season with the win, while UCSB falls to 1-1 with the loss.

WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES

WAC TEAMS IMPRESSIVE IN OPENING WEEK

WAC teams went 8-4 in the opening week of competetion. Boise State, Fresno State, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State, and Utah State all picked up openeing-week victories.

WAC TOURNAMENT TO RETURN TO RENO IN 2009

The WAC Board of Directors awarded the 2009 and 2010 WAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments to the University of Nevada and the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority. The tournaments will be held in the 11,485-seat Lawlor Events Center, located on the campus of the University of Nevada. The tournament features all nine men’s and women’s teams. The WAC tournaments were last held in Reno in 2006. The 2007 and 2008 tournaments were held in Las Cruces, New Mexico at New Mexico State University.

ESPNU BRACKETBUSTERS

For the seventh year in a row, the WAC has partnered with ESPN and several other top college basketball conferences for ESPNU BracketBusters, a weekend men’s basketball event matching potential NCAA tournament hopefuls against each other. All nine WAC teams will be a part of this year’s pool of teams. The event will be held February 20-21. The match-ups for Bracket Buster Saturday will be determined by ESPN in conjunction with the conferences about three weeks before the event.

TOP PLAYERS RETURNING

The WAC returns one player from last year’s all-WAC second team, Utah State forward Gary Wilkinson. No players return from the first team. Three of the five named to the all-newcomer team return: Armon Johnson (G, Nevada), C.J. Webster (C, San Jose State), and Wilkinson. Nevada guard Lyndale Burleson is the lone returner from last season’s all-defensive team. Nevada’s Johnson was the 2007-08 WAC Freshman of the Year.

TOURNAMENT OPPONENTS

WAC teams could face at least 16 non-conference opponents that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament, including three teams in last years’ Final Four (Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA).  Idaho and Nevada lead the conference with three games scheduled apiece.

Idaho at Michigan State, Nov. 16

Cal State Fullerton at Hawai’i, Nov. 16

Boise State at Siena, Nov. 17

Nevada at San Diego, Nov. 18

Idaho at Gonzaga, Nov. 18

New Mexico State at USC, Nov. 18

Fresno State at St. Mary’s, Nov. 19

UNLV at Fresno State, Dec. 3

New Mexico State at Kansas, Dec. 3

LETTERWINNER/STARTER CAPSULE

This season, three of the nine WAC teams return at least three starters: Louisiana Tech, San Jose State and Utah State. San Jose State leads the conference as they return all five of their starters from last season. Nevada returns two starters from the 2007-08 season, and Boise State, Fresno State, Hawai’i, Idaho, and New Mexico State all return one from the previous season. Boise State has the most number of returning letterwinners with nine.

STAT LEADERS BACK

Statistically, only two of the top 15 scorers return for the 2008-09 season. Louisiana Tech junior, Kyle Gibson, was ranked seventh in the WAC in scoring last season averaging 16.5 points per game. Utah State’s Gary Wilkinson averaged 13.3 points per game to rank 13th. Wilkinson is also the second-best rebounder returning in the conference with a 7.0 rpg average. San Jose State’s Chris Oakes averaged the most rebounds last season of returning players, by grabbing 7.2 boards a game (6th in the WAC). Boise State guard, Anthony Thomas, enters the 2008-09 season with a 4.15 assist per game average (5th in the WAC) from last year, the most among returning players. Hawai‘i junior Bill Amis leads returners with 1.33 blocked shots per game, good for third in the conference.