THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE

February 3 (Wednesday)
*Idaho at Utah State, 9:00 p.m. MT
Television: ESPN2

February 4 (Thursday)
*San Jose State at Louisiana Tech, 7:00 p.m. CT
Television: ESPN Regional, ESPN Full Court, ESPN360.com

February 6 (Saturday)
*San Jose State at New Mexico State, 7:00 p.m. MT
Television: AggieVision, ESPN Full Court, ESPN360.com
*Idaho at Boise State, 7:00 p.m. MT
*Fresno State at Hawai‘i, 8:00 p.m. HT
Television: KFVE, Bulldog Sports Network, ESPN Full Court, ESPN360.com
*Nevada at Utah State
Television: ESPNU

* denotes WAC game


WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES

Boise State Broncos (11-11, 2-7 WAC)
For the first time since Dec. 9, 2009, the Broncos earned their first road win of the season … ironically, the last time Boise State won a game on the road was to its other in-state rival, Idaho State, when the Broncos beat the Bengals, 79-67 ... while Boise State may have struggled this season, they own a perfect 3-0 record against its opponents from the Gem State as the Broncos have posted wins over Idaho State (Dec. 9, 79-67), Northwest Nazarene (Dec. 29, 76-58) and Idaho (Jan. 25, 77-67 OT) ... senior Ike Okoye recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds against the Vandals, marking the sixth of his career ... BSU’s win over Fresno State marks the first WAC win at home since last season.

Fresno State Bulldogs (11-12, 4-5 WAC)
Fresno State stayed in sixth place in the WAC standings after losses at Idaho (74-59) and Boise State (65-49) … the Bulldogs were led by a pair of freshmen, Jerry Brown III and Garrett Johnson, who each recorded career-highs in scoring in Fresno State’s road contest versus the Broncos … Brown netted 10 points, grabbed seven boards and earned his most minutes of the season with his spark of energy while Johnson scored eight points … Fresno State will finish their three-game WAC road trip, the longest of the year, on Saturday night when the ‘Dogs look for their first season sweep of the Rainbow Warriors since the 2003-04 campaign.

Hawai‘i Rainbow Warriors (9-13, 2-7 WAC)
Hawai‘i dropped a pair of road games last week, falling 83-60 at San Jose State before dropping a 66-60 decision at Nevada ... against SJSU, Roderick Flemings led UH with 19 points, while adding four rebounds, three assists and three steals ... Jeremy Lay finished with 12 points and a team-high four assists ... at Nevada, Flemings led UH with 17 points and added eight rebounds ... Brandon Adams posted 13 points and nine rebounds, while Hiram Thompson had 10 points and four assists before being sidelined for the final nine minutes of the game ... this week, Hawai‘i returns home to host Fresno State on Saturday.

Idaho Vandals (10-10, 2-6 WAC)
Idaho went 2-1 for the week ... after a tough home loss to Boise State, Idaho won its next two games over Fresno State and Seattle ... the Vandals shut down Fresno State for a 74-59 home win, then shot a season-best 58.3 percent and overcame turnover woes to defeat Seattle University on the road by an 87-85 margin ... Idaho broke a six-game losing streak with its win over Fresno State on Thursday ... Luiz Toledo led Idaho to its 2-1 record during the week … Toledo shot .783 from the field for the week and averaged 13.3 points per game … in the 74-59 win over Fresno State, Toledo put together the WAC’s top individual shooting performance of the year, as he hit eight of nine shots (.889) and scored 16 points.

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (18-4, 6-2 WAC)
Louisiana Tech went 0-1 this past week after a 91-77 loss to New Mexico State … the Bulldog’s lost at home for the first time all season and broke a 12-game streak at home dating back to last season … Tech’s 18 wins are its most through 22 games since 1984-85 … it is the best start in school history since that time … Tech continues to receive votes in the in the ESPN/USA Today Poll … LA Tech is 23-7 in its last 30 game … Kyle Gibson ranks among the NCAA leaders in points per game at 21.6, free-throw percentage at 87.2 and free throws made with 156 … Magnum Rolle had 27 points and 15 rebounds, seven offensive, against NMSU ... this week, LA Tech hosts San Jose State.

Nevada Wolf Pack (13-8, 5-3 WAC)
Sophomore Luke Babbitt scored 20 points as Nevada held off Hawaii, 66-60, last week ... senior Brandon Fields added 11 points as Nevada (13-8, 5-3) improved to 10-1 at home this season ... Hawai‘i tied the game at 56-56 with four minutes to go on a lay-up by Roderick Flemings ... Nevada scored on six consecutive free throws in the final 37.5 seconds to secure the victory ... Nevada also got 11 points from Joey Shaw ... this week, Nevada travels to play Utah State in Logan on Saturday night ... the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

New Mexico State Aggies (13-8, 6-2 WAC)
NM State overpowered Louisiana Tech, 91-77, Jan. 30, at the Thomas Assembly Center in Ruston, La. ... with the win, the Aggies handed the Bulldogs their first home loss this year and NM State is now tied for first place in the WAC standings ... sophomore center Hamidu Rahman led the Aggies with 22 points, which ties a career-high, along with 12 rebounds and junior guard Jahmar Young had 19 points ... junior guard Gordo Castillo scored 17 points, a mark that ties his season-high, while junior forward Wendell McKines supplied 13 ... NM State had a season-high 37 made field goals ... the 91 points are the most the Aggies have scored in a WAC game this season ... the Aggies also had a 53.6 field goal percentage, second-best of the season.

San Jose Spartans (12-9, 5-4 WAC)
San Jose State split a pair of games last week, defeating Hawai‘i 83-60 before falling 77-58 at Utah State ... against UH, Adrian Oliver was on fire as he scored a game-high 33 points ... Oliver was 12-of-18 from the field including 3-of-3 from 3-point range and made all six of his free throws for his sixth game of the season of 30 or more points ... Chris Oakes and guard Robert Owens also scored in double figures with 18 and 12, respectively ... against USU, Oliver again led the Spartans in scoring with 19 points, but was only 5-of-16 from the field ... Mac Peterson scored all 11 of his points in the first half ... this week, SJSU plays at LA Tech on Thursday before traveling to play NM State on Saturday.

Utah State Aggies (16-6, 6-2 WAC)
Junior forward Nate Bendall’s career-high 20 points and career-best tying 10 rebounds combined with sophomore forward Brady Jardine’s career-high 17 points to lead Utah State to a 77-58 win over San Jose State Saturday night ... USU won its sixth-straight game as the Aggies have now won 10 of their last 12 contests ... Saturday was the opening of a seven out of 10 home game stretch for USU, which won its eighth-straight home game and 60 of its last 62, dating back to 2005-06 ... Utah State beat San Jose State for the fourth-straight meeting, improving to 43-21 overall and 28-4 in Logan ... the Aggies also improved to 107-27 against teams from the state of California over the last 11 years, including 61-6 at home.



WAC NOTES

NEW MEXICO STATE’S RAHMAN NAMED VERIZON WIRELESS WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
New Mexico State’s Hamidu Rahman has been named the Verizon Wireless Western Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 25-31. The honor marks the first career WAC Player of the Week award for Rahman.

Rahman, a sophomore center from Somerset, N.J. (American Christian), led New Mexico State to a 91-77 road victory at Louisiana Tech, handing the Bulldogs their first home loss of the season. Rahman tied his career high with 22 points in the win. Rahman shot a career-best 10-of-15 from the field and was a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. He also pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds with one block. The performance marks the second time that Rahman has surpassed the 20-point plateau in his career.

Other nominees included: Boise State senior guard Anthony Thomas … Fresno State freshman guard/forward Jerry Brown … Idaho sophomore forward Luiz Toledo … Louisiana Tech senior forward Magnum Rolle … Utah State junior forward Nate Bendall.

WAC SELECTED FOR FOUR BRACKETBUSTERS TELEVISION MATCHUPS
For an eighth-straight year, the WAC is participating in BracketBusters -- a two-day men’s college basketball event pitting NCAA Tournament hopefuls. WAC teams have secured four of the 11 televised games, including Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State and Utah State.

WAC Televised BracketBusters Games
Sat., 2/20, Louisiana Tech at Northeastern, 1 p.m. (ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com)
Sat., 2/20, Nevada at Missouri State, 3 p.m. (ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com)
Sat., 2/20, New Mexico State at Pacific, 10 p.m. (ESPNU)
Sat., 2/20, Wichita State at Utah State, 11:59 p.m. (ESPN2 HD / ESPN360.com)

WAC Non-Televised BracketBusters Games
UC Santa Barbara at Fresno State
San Jose State at Montana State
Long Beach State at Idaho
UC Davis at Boise State
Cal Poly at Hawai‘i

WAC WEDNESDAYS ON ESPN2
The Wednesday, Jan. 13 overtime matchup between Utah State and Nevada in Reno marked the start of five Wednesday night ESPN2 games for the WAC. Following the Jan. 13 game on ESPN2, a WAC game will be featured each Wednesday night in February on the ESPN2 network. The WAC is also a fixture on ESPNU as six games will be broadcast this season on the network.

WAC TEAMS AMONG NATIONAL STATISTICAL LEADERS
As of Jan. 31, teams from the WAC rank in the top-25 in 11 team statistical categories. Individual players rank in the top-25 in eight individual categories. Utah State holds the highest team mark as it ranks sixth the nation in both free throw percentage (76.5 percent) and three-point field goal percentage (41.6 percent). Individually, Nevada’s Luke Babbitt holds the highest individual ranking as he ranks fourth nationally with 14 double-doubles.

WAC AND THE RPI
The WAC’s RPI climbs to 10 this week as a conference. The WAC has four teams in the top-100, including Utah State (55), Nevada (66), Louisiana Tech (74) and New Mexico State (82) according to the NCAA.

UTAH STATE’S STEW MORRILL REACHES 500 WINS
Utah State’s Stew Morrill achieved a coaching milestone on Saturday night as the Aggies defeated Idaho 60-48 to give Morrill his 500th career victory and become one of just 19 active coaches and just the 73rd coach in Division I history to record 500 career wins. Among his now 501 wins, Morrill has posted a 283-97 mark in 12 seasons at Utah State as he is the school’s all-time winningest coach.

WAC BOASTS FIVE OF THE TOP SCORERS IN THE NATION
As of Jan. 31,  four players in the WAC rank in the top-35 nationally in scoring. All four players hold scoring averages of 21.0 or better. San Jose State’s Adrian Oliver holds the top scoring mark in the league at 22.3 points per game, ranking him 8th nationally. Louisiana Tech’s Kyle Gibson averages 21.6 points per contest and ranks 12th nationally while Nevada’s Luke Babbitt ranks 16th with a 21.4 per game average. NM State’s Jahmar Young ranks 20th at 21.2 points per game.

SJSU’S OLIVER NAMED NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR JAN. 18-24
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has selected San Jose State guard Adrian Oliver as its Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week for games ending the week of Sunday, Jan. 24. The USBWA’s weekly honor is presented by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and will be handed out each Tuesday through Feb. 23 this season.
 
As the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week, Oliver was nominated for the weekly award, which was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors from a list of Division I conference players of the week.
 
Oliver, a 6-4 junior from Modesto, Calif., had a career-high 39 points in an 87-76 win over Louisiana Tech last Thursday that ended the Bulldogs’ 10-game winning streak. He followed that up with 22 points in a 93-84 win against New Mexico State on Saturday. In both games, he played 38 minutes and had five assists.
 
For the week, Oliver shot 54.3 percent from the field (19-for-35) and was 19-for-20 from the free-throw line. He also averaged three rebounds and two steals in the two San Jose State wins. Oliver now has four straight 20-plus point efforts and the Spartans boast their best conference record (4-3) since 1999.
 
At the conclusion of the regular season, the USBWA will name finalists for the award, which is voted on by the entire membership of the USBWA. The winner of the 2010 Oscar Robertson Trophy will be announced and presented by its namesake, Oscar Robertson, at the USBWA’s annual awards breakfast on Fri., April 5 in Indianapolis, site of the 2010 NCAA Men’s Final Four.

NEVADA’S JOHNSON AND IDAHO’S HOPSON CANDIDATES FOR COUSY AWARD
Idaho senior guard Mac Hopson and Nevada junior guard Armon Johnson ire among the candidates for the 2010 Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford Financial Services, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts announced. The annual award, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes college basketball’s top point guard. 73 candidates have been nominated for the 2010 award. Nominations were solicited from all Division I, II and III schools across the country. A 2009 first-team All-WAC selection, Johnson is averaging 15.8 points and 5.3 assists per game this season. Hopson, also a first team all-WAC selection in 2009, is averaging 12.8 points and 4.7 assists per game this year. Previous winners of the Bob Cousy Award have included: Jameer Nelson (St. Joseph’s), Raymond Felton (North Carolina), Dee Brown (Illinois), Acie Law (Texas A & M), DJ Augustin (Texas) and Ty Lawson (North Carolina). For more information on the 2010 Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford, log onto www.cousyaward.com.

LOUISIANA TECH STREAKIN’
With an 18-4 record, the Bulldogs hold their best record since the 1984-85 season. It marks the best start in school history since that time for the Bulldgos. The team had won 10-straight games before a Jan. 21 loss at San Jose State, which also the most since 1984-85 campaign. Louisiana Tech started league play with a perfect 5-0 record for the first time in its history.

FIVE WAC PLAYERS BECOME MEMBERS OF 1,000 POINT CLUB THIS SEASON
Below is a list of current career scoring leaders in the WAC.

Player  
Kyle Gibson, Sr, Louisiana Tech, 1,582
*Jonathan Gibson, Sr., NM State, 1,341
*Armon Johnson, Jr., Nevada, 1,237
*Jahmar Young, Jr., NM State, 1,235
*Brandon Fields, Sr., Nevada, 1,094
*Tai Wesley, Jr., Utah State, 1,054
*Luke Babbitt, So., Nevada, 1,023

*denotes that player reached 1,000 points during the 2009-10 season.

IDAHO, UTAH STATE AND FRESNO STATE PICK UP WINS AGAINST TEAMS FROM LAST YEAR’S NCAA TOURNAMENT
Idaho opened its season with two of its first three games against 2009 NCAA Tournament teams. Idaho beat both Utah and North Dakota State on their home floors and started the season 2-1. Utah State downed Brigham Young 71-61 on Dec. 2, while Fresno State defeated North Dakota State 68-54 on Dec. 19. 

UTAH STATE’S HOME WIN STREAK ENDS
For the first time since March 3, 2007, Utah State dropped a game at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The Aggies had won 37 straight home games before its loss to Saint Mary’s on Dec. 5. The loss also halted Utah State’s 65-game regular season non-conference home winning streak, as well as its 41-straight home non-conference victory streak. Idaho now holds the WAC’s longest home win streak at nine games.

UTAH STATE’S JARED QUAYLE CANDIDATE FOR LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD
Utah State’s Jared Quayle has been named one of 30 candidates for the 2009-10 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, which is presented annually to the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete of the Year. It is the third year in a row that a Utah State player has been named one of 30 national candidates for this award as Jaycee Carroll was selected as one of 10 finalists in 2008 and Gary Wilkinson was one of 30 candidates in 2009. Quayle, a 6-1 senior guard from Perry, Utah is the only player from the state of Utah and the only player from the Western Athletic Conference to be selected for this award.

WAC TOURNAMENT TO RETURN TO RENO IN 2010
The Western Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments return to the University of Nevada and the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority in 2010. The tournaments will be held in the 11,485-seat Lawlor Events Center, located on the campus of the University of Nevada. This year’s tournament will feature eight men’s and eight women’s teams.

TOP WAC TEAMS OVER LAST SIX YEARS
Over the last six seasons dating back to 2003-04, Utah State leads current WAC teams with an overall record of 165-55. In conference games, Nevada has won 84 games, the most in that same time period.
The top three teams in wins (both overall and WAC) over the last six seasons:

Overall Record (Pct.)
1. Utah State 165-55 (.750)
2. Nevada 162-58 (.736)
3. Boise State 125-90 (.581)

WAC Record (Pct.)
1. Nevada 84-24 (.778)
2. Utah State 52-20 (.722)
3. Boise State 62-65 (.488)