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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2 –
Seattle Pacific at Concordia (Ore.), 7:00 p.m. PST
Cavalier Court / Portland, Ore.
 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4 –
Seattle Pacific at Western Oregon, 5:00 p.m. PST
New PE Building / Monmouth, Ore. -- ROOT SPORTS TV
 
• Webcast & LiveStats for both games: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/spu/
 
An important basketball road trip awaits the Seattle Pacific men this week as they hit the road looking to improve their status in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference playoff race. The seventh-place Falcons (9-11, 5-7 GNAC) travel to Portland, Ore. to clash with Concordia (8-11, 4-8). The Cavaliers are second-year members of the NCAA and GNAC. SPU won all six previous meetings, including an 88-83 decision on Jan. 7 in Seattle. On Saturday, Feb. 4 the Falcons have an encounter with two-time defending GNAC champion Western Oregon (11-9, 8-4). The game in WOU's New PE Building will be televised live at 5 p.m. on ROOT SPORTS. SPU lost in its last three visits to Monmouth. The Wolves won the last five meetings overall, three of them went into overtime and the other two were a one- and two-point decision. SPU is one game out of the sixth-place position needed to qualify for the conference tournament.
 
Time Change for TV
Please note that the start time for Saturday's (Feb. 4) game at Western Oregon was changed to 5 p.m. to accommodate a live ROOT SPORTS television broadcast. Brad Adam and Francis Williams will call the action from Monmouth, Ore. 
 
Magnificent Miller
Falcons forward Tony Miller has been the finest freshman in the conference this season. He leads all GNAC players, and ranks No. 10 nationally, with 10 double-doubles. Miller tops the league's freshmen and ranks No. 5 overall among GNAC players in scoring (17.8 ppg) and is No. 2 in rebounds (9.4 rpg). Miller poured in a career-high 34 points at Northwest Nazarene on Jan. 14, his second 30-point performance. The 6-foot-6 standout tallied 32 points at Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 31. Miller displayed his scoring prowess in his collegiate debut with 28 points in an exhibition contest at Brigham Young on Oct. 29. Miller paces SPU with 18 double-figure scoring games.
 


Ailing Falcons
A slew of injuries have depleted the SPU roster. Sophomore Gabe Colosimo and junior Sam Simpson are sidelined for the season. Senior point guard Will Parker is out with an injured foot. Sophomore Nathan Streufert missed the first eight games. Sophomore transfer Trey Miller (North Dakota State) has not yet played due to injury. That leaves 11 available players (Harry Cavell is redshirting). Two of those players are averaging more than 30 minutes per game (Tony Miller and Coleman Wooten).
 
Terrific Trio
Three players account for 62 percent of SPU's point production (991 of 1,449). Freshman Tony Miller scores at a 17.8-point clip to top the team, sophomore Coleman Wooten averages 17.4 points and senior Joe Rasmussen chips in 14.5.
 
Coaching Change
Grant Leep is the 12th head coach in the 73-year history of the storied Seattle Pacific program that owns the longest active playoff streak among NCAA Division II men's basketball programs. The run of 12 consecutive postseason berths stretches back to 2005. Leep succeeds Ryan Looney who compiled a 165-51 record in seven seasons at SPU before departing for Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego, Calif. Leep was an SPU assistant in each of Looney's seasons.
 
Scouting Concordia (8-11, 4-8 GNAC)
> Located in Portland, Ore., Concordia is a second-year NCAA competitor and member of the GNAC after previously competing at the NAIA level.
 
> The Cavaliers lost three of their last four games, the lone win a 95-90 decision at Central Washington on Jan. 26.
 
> Concordia features the trio of Drew Martin (17.6 points per game / 7.4 rebounds per game), Christopher Edward (12.9 ppg / 8.5 rpg) and Latrell Wilson (12.4 ppg / 3.0 rpg).
 
> SPU owns a 6-0 series advantage after sweeping the Cavaliers in 2016 and winning this year's first meeting 88-83 on Jan. 7 in Seattle.
 
> The Falcons hosted and won all three regular-season meetings prior to last season, defeating the Cavaliers 100-86 in 1993, 87-81 in 1984 and 124-87 in 1983.
 
Scouting Western Oregon (11-9, 8-4 GNAC)
> The Wolves won the last two GNAC regular-season titles (2015, 2016).
 
> WOU, which won its last three outings, is led by the 14.4-point average of Ali Faruq-Bey. Tanner Omlid, who averages 14.3 points and 7.0 rebounds, erupted for 34 points in this season's first meeting with the Falcons.
 
> SPU leads the all-time series 40-20 despite losing the last five encounters, three of them in overtime. WOU swept all three meetings in 2016 with a 96-90 overtime home win on Jan. 7, an 84-82 overtime road victory on Feb. 6 and a 58-57 decision on Mar.4 in the GNAC Tournament semifinals.  The Wolves were 76-74 victors earlier this year, Jan. 5 in Seattle. Still, the Falcons have won 19 of the last 27 meetings.
 
> Former Wolves All-American player, Jim Shaw, is in his second year as the WOU head coach after nine years as an assistant at Washington. He is 4-0 against SPU.
 
Last Week
The Falcons worked overtime twice to gain a split of its homestand versus the Alaska schools. Tony Miller tallied six of his 20 points during overtime, lifting SPU to a 72-69 win over Fairbanks (Jan. 26). Coleman Wooten made the go-ahead jumper with 14.5 seconds remaining in overtime. The Falcons lost 83-81 to Anchorage (Jan. 28) despite Miller's 29-point, 16-rebound performance. SPU's Sharif Khan forced the overtime with a 3-pointer from the left corner at the regulation buzzer.
 
Notable
Seven different players have led the Falcons in scoring in at least one game this season ... The Falcons projected starting lineup (Wooten-Miller-Rasmussen-Betu-Long) combined to start just five career games prior to this season led by Coleman Wooten's three ... SPU led the nation in rebound margin in 2016 for the second year in a row, collecting 11.7 more caroms per game than opponents ... Senior Joe Rasmussen's father Blair had an eight-year NBA career in Denver and Atlanta.

 

Fantastic Freshmen
True freshmen Tony Miller (306), Gavin Long (162) and Sharif Khan (114) account for 36 percent of SPU's scoring, combining for 582 points.
 
Super Soph
Sophomore forward Coleman Wooten erupted for a career-high 35 points at Saint Martin's on Jan. 17. He surpassed the 20-point mark nind times this season. The 6-foot-5 forward has seven double-doubles and is averaging 17.4 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. He hauled in 10 or more rebounds in eight games with a career-high 16 on Nov. 18 versus Minnesota State. Wooten was named the MVP of the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic (Nov. 11 & 12).
 
2017 Season Preview
You will need a roster to follow these Falcons. Along with a new coaching staff, helmed by former assistant Grant Leep, seven players will wear SPU maroon for the first time. The Falcons have some rebuilding to do, as all five primary starters were seniors from the 2015-16 squad that posted a 22-9 record. Five players return with some starting experience, but only one was in the opening lineup for more than four games last season. Leep must deal with the departure of five of the team's top-six scorers as 6-foot-8 senior center Joe Rasmussen is the top returning point producer with 6.1 per game in 2016. Also returning is senior point guard Will Parker who averaged 4.5 points and 1.5 assists while drawing 14 starts. Senior shooting guard Oliver-Paul Betu looks to have a more significant impact one year after transferring from UC Davis. Increased contributions are anticipated as forwards Sam Simpson and Coleman Wooten see increased playing time. A talented trio of local freshmen, in Sharif Khan (Bellevue HS) Gavin Long (Wenatchee HS) and Tony Miller (Woodinville HS), bolster a lineup that also features North Dakota State sophomore transfer Trey Miller.
 
2016 Season Review
The Falcons forged a 22-9 record last year in the seventh, and final, season under Coach Ryan Looney. They advanced to the GNAC Tournament semifinals before falling 58-57 against eventual champion Western Oregon. SPU participated in the NCAA playoffs for the 12th consecutive year, but suffered a 77-66 opening-round setback versus Azusa Pacific. The season featured lengthy winning streaks of nine and eight games. Senior forward Mitch Penner garnered first-team All-GNAC honors after topping the team with an 18.6-point average. Gillies Dierickx (11.4 ppg) earned second-team recognition and Bryce Leavitt (4.3 apg) was an honorable mention pick.
 
Coach Leep
Grant Leep, 36, assumes control of the SPU program in his first head coaching assignment after seven seasons as an assistant on the Falcons staff. He has a 9-11 record. Leep has strong basketball ties throughout the Northwest as an All-America player at Mount Vernon (Wash.) High School before lettering four years at the University of Washington. He still owns the Huskies 3-point accuracy records for a season (52.7% in 2002) and career (42.9%). Leep's coaching resumé includes stops at Eastern Washington and a pair of community colleges. The Falcons compiled a 165-51 (.764) record during Leep's time as an assistant coach. Two teams (2012, 2013) advanced to the West Regional championship game of the NCAA Division II Tournament. SPU twice won conference regular-season championships, in 2010 and 2014, and captured the GNAC Tournament title three consecutive years, from 2013-15.
 
Next Week
The Falcons close out their home slate with a three-game homestand. That hectic six-day stretch includes meetings with Northwest Nazarene (Feb. 9), Central Washington (Feb. 11) and Saint Martin's (Feb. 14).