MWC Men's Basketball Weekly Release No. 12

Jan. 21, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

WEEK 10 RECAP
San Diego State took over sole possession of first place atop the Mountain West standings at 4-0 following a pair of wins in Week 10, claiming a 64-56 overtime victory against Utah and defeating Wyoming (70-43). TCU also picked up back-to-back wins over New Mexico (74- 72) and Colorado State (70-58) last week to move into second place at 3-1. UNLV and BYU are knotted up at 2-1 apiece in third place following the Runnin' Rebels' 70-41 triumph over the Cougars and BYU's 55-52 win over Utah. New Mexico's loss to TCU and a 59-44 win over Air Force has the Lobos tied for fifth with the Falcons, who earned a 64-62 overtime victory at Wyoming. Utah is in seventh place at 1-2, followed by Colorado State (0-3) and Wyoming (0-4) in eighth and ninth, respectively.

MWC PLAYER OF THE WEEK (JAN. 21)

LORRENZO WADE, JR., F, SAN DIEGO STATE (LAS VEGAS, NEV.)
Lorrenzo Wade, a Las Vegas, Nev., native, captured his first career weekly honor after leading the Aztecs in rebounding, assists and minutes played last week, helping SDSU gain sole possession of first place in the Conference with wins over Utah (64-56, OT) and Wyoming (70-43). He scored a game-high 20 points and added a game-high tying eight rebounds in the overtime win against the Utes. Wade scored 12 of San Diego State's 20 first-half points and scored the Aztecs' final four points in regulation to force overtime. In the final 1:33 of the extra period, he grabbed a pair of rebounds and knocked down two free throws to ensure the SDSU win. Against Wyoming, Wade recorded his first double-double of the season with 11 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, while adding five assists. He scored all 11 of his points and grabbed nine boards in the second half. On the week, Wade averaged 15.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 42.9 percent (12-for-28) from the field.

WEEK 11 PREVIEW
All eight MWC contests will be televised in Week 11, highlighted by three national broadcasts. On Tuesday, Colorado State visits Air Force in a CSTV-televised outing (8 p.m. MT), while New Mexico hosts Utah in a 7 p.m. MT match-up on The Mtn.-MountainWest Sports Network. Wednesday features a doubleheader on The Mtn. with San Diego State at BYU (6 p.m. MT) and Wyoming at UNLV (7:30 p.m. PT). On Saturday, TCU and Utah kick off the day's action in Salt Lake City with a 12 p.m. MT tipoff on The Mtn., followed by UNLV at San Diego State in a VERSUS-televised outing at 1 p.m. PT. Colorado State visits Wyoming in a CSTV-televisted meeting at 2 p.m. MT, while New Mexico and BYU close out the day's slate with a 4 p.m. MT contest in Provo that will air on The Mtn.

MWC ON TELEVISION
The 2007-08 MWC men's basketball package features a minimum of 100 games on national and regional television, including 27 to be broadcast nationally with 19 on CSTV and seven on VERSUS. Sixty-three of the 72 conference match-ups, and seven of eight MWC Championship contests are included in the television package. Seventy-five games will be shown on The Mtn. - MountainWest Sports Network, and two of the 100 televised contests will feature simulcasts on The Mtn. and CSTV.

NEWCOMERS HAVING AN IMPACT
Several MWC newcomers are making their mark this season as five junior college transfers (Colorado State's Marcus Walker and Willis Gardner, San Diego State's Ryan Amoroso and TCU's Henry Salter and John Ortiz) and two freshmen (SDSU's Billy White and BYU's Chris Collinsworth) find themselves ranked among the Conference's scoring and/or rebounding leaders. Walker leads the league in scoring (17.2 ppg), while Gardner is 16th (12.5 ppg). Salter is the Horned Frogs' top scorer (15.4 ppg) and rebounder (5.5 rpg), ranking fourth and 14th in the league, respectively, while Ortiz is 15th with a 5.4 rebounding average. Amoroso, the 2007-08 MWC Preseason Newcomer of the Year, is ranked ninth in rebounding (6.1 rpg), while White is tied for 12th (5.5 rpg) and Collinsworth is 17th with 5.3 rebounds per game.

MWC SCORING LEADERS
The six leading scorers in the MWC are all juniors, led by Colorado State's Marcus Walker (17.2 ppg). Overall, the junior class accounts for 12 of the league's top 20 scoring averages. Air Force's Tim Anderson (7th/14.5 ppg) is the top-ranked senior, while BYU's Jonathan Tavernari heads up the sophomore class, ranking 14th with 12.9 points a game. In addition, San Diego State's Billy White is contributing 8.1 points as the top freshman scorer.

BYU'S ROSE BOASTS BEST RECORD AMONG 2005-06 ROOKIE CLASS
With a 58-23 (.716) record in his third season, BYU Head Coach Dave Rose ranks first in wins and winning percentage among the 18 coaches who began their first season in 2005- 06 as a head coach at the Division I level. Rose is second only to Tennessee's Bruce Pearl (62-20, 75.6%) among all coaches overall who started at a new school in `05-06.

MWC IRONMEN
Three Mountain West players are averaging 35 minutes or more a game this season. Wyoming guards Brad Jones and Brandon Ewing, the league's top two ironmen a year ago, are making a bid to repeat the effort in 2007-08 as Ewing leads the MWC with an average of 38.12 minutes played, while Jones is second (35.73 mpg). Air Force's Tim Anderson ranks third, averaging 35.59 minutes on the court.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
With one non-conference opponent (Cal State-Bakersfield at Wyoming, Feb. 6) remaining on the schedule, the Mountain West is on pace to record its ninth consecutive season with an overall winning percentage of 61 percent or greater in non-conference play. Last year, MWC teams combined to win a league-record 72.2 percent of their games outside of the conference. This season, MWC teams own a collective 82-41 (66.7%) mark against nonleague opponents.

STRONG OUT OF THE GATES
Mountain West teams have a combined 86-17 record in contests in which they hold a halftime lead this season. BYU, New Mexico and UNLV each boast 13-2 overall records when holding the advantage at intermission. In conference play, Air Force (2-0), BYU (2-0), San Diego State (2-0), TCU (1-0) and UNLV (2-0) are all undefeated when taking a lead into the locker room.

MWC QUICK HITS

• Air Force's Tim Anderson scored 27 points in the Falcons' Jan. 12 win over UNLV, the most by any player in MWC action this season. The senior guard, who came into the season with a 9.1 career scoring average, leads the Falcons and ranks seventh in the league with 14.5 points per game.
• BYU teammates Lee Cummard (15.6 ppg/6.3 rpg) and Trent Plaisted (15.4 ppg/8.8 rpg) are currently the only two MWC players ranked among the league's Top 10 in both scoring and rebounding. The duo also ranks among MWC leaders in field goal shooting as Cummard has converted 56.1 percent (105-of-187) of his attempts to rank second in the league while Plaisted is third (105-of-191, 55.0%).
• Colorado State's Marcus Walker and Ronnie Aguilar have led the Rams in scoring and rebounding each of the last five games, averaging 22.0 points and 11.6 rebounds, respectively, during that span. Walker's offensive output has put him atop the league's scoring leaders (17.2 ppg), while Aguilar has moved into sixth place on the rebounding chart (6.4 rpg) since stepping in for injured starter Stuart Creason.
• New Mexico's J.R. Giddens has recorded four double-doubles in his last six outings, averaging 17.3 points and 11.2 rebounds over that six-game span. He leads the Lobos in both categories with 13.5 points and 8.7 rebounds per game overall.
• San Diego State's Lorrenzo Wade is enjoying a hot streak of late, leading the Aztecs to a 4-0 start in MWC action. The junior forward came into conference play averaging 14.2 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. Over his last four outings against league opponents, Wade has registered two 20-point efforts and a double-double to give him 18.0 points and 8.8 rebounds per game over that span.
• TCU's Henry Salter has converted no fewer than four three-pointers in each of his four games against MWC competition, going 17-of-27 (63.0%) from behind the arc during that period. Overall, the junior guard has shot 60 percent or better from behind the arc in seven games this season to lead the league and rank second nationally in trey shooting percentage (52.5%).
• UNLV senior guard Wink Adams has converted 65-of-72 free throws to lead the league and rank ninth nationally (90.3%). A career 78.4 percent free throw shooter, Adams has been perfect from the charity stripe in 10 of 17 games this season. His 5-of-7 performance in the Rebels' Jan. 16 win over BYU marked the first time since Jan. 27, 2007 (10-of-12 vs. New Mexico) Adams had missed more than two foul shots in a game.
• Utah sophomore Luka Drca has averaged 4.6 assists per game over his last seven outings. He leads the team with 46 helpers, despite averaging just 18.8 minutes of action off the bench.
• Wyoming's Brandon Ewing saw his streak of 18 games with double-digit scoring end in the Cowboys' loss to San Diego State. Prior to Saturday, Ewing had not been held to single figures since a seven-point outing against TCU on Feb. 28, 2007.