ARCATA — Intensity ratchets up a notch
Wednesday when Sonoma State visits Lumberjack Arena for the California Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball opener. Coach Pat Fuscaldo's Seawolves, 3-1 overall and winners of their last three games, will battle the Lumberjacks, 6-2 overall with six consecutive wins. Tip-off time is set for 7:30 p.m.
Humboldt State finishes the
December segment of league play
Friday, traveling to face UC San Diego in La Jolla at 7:30 p.m. That game will be UCSD's conference-opener following a 1-3
November preseason.
On-the-Air: All Lumberjack basketball games are broadcast live locally on KATA, 1340 AM, the North Coast's ESPN radio affiliate. Webcasts are also available for out-of-area listeners, accessed through the Humboldt State Athletics site at hsujacks.com. …Bicoastal Media Sports Director J.B. Mathers is back for another year of bring home the action from courtside for all home contests. He'll be joined by Humboldt State Athletics Hall-of-Famer Burt Nordstrom. On the road, Assistant Athletic Director Dan Pambianco provides play-by-play. All broadcasts begin 15 minutes prior to game time with the pregame show.
Coaches Show: For insight on the Jacks' basketball program and information on all of Humboldt State's athletics activities, catch "Humboldt State
Tonight" on Fox Channel 2 local cable television at 6 p.m. Thursdays. J.B. Mathers hosts the show, which features interviews with Coach Tom Wood, student-athletes, and other HSU Athletics staff members.
Live Stats: Follow the action from your home computer by accessing the Live Stats feature on hsujacks.com. Home games are linked at
http://livestats.internetconsult.com/humboldt/mbball/.
Friday's game at UC San Diego can be found on the Tritons' web site at
http://www.ucsdtritons.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml.
Head-to-Head: Over the long history of competition between the Seawolves and Lumberjacks, HSU has forged a 40-33 edge in wins and losses. The Lumberjacks claimed both meetings last year. …Humboldt State is 5-1 overall in the short all-time series against the Tritons, including a split of last year's two games that saw each team winning on its home floor.
Lumberjack Notes: No significant injuries were reported following the tournament weekend, but David Howard continues his recovery from a pulled abdominal muscle suffered earlier last week. Colds and flu have begun to circulate, though the no player has been forced to the bench by illness.…Depth is playing a key part in Humboldt State' success thus far, allowing the coaching staff to rotate fresh bodies onto the court. Eleven players are seeing double-digit playing time and only three are averaging more than 20 minutes per game. …Spreading the minutes means spreading the statistics, which keeps the Jacks from achieving higher in the individual CCAA categories. Those players with the highest ranking to date are Zac Tiedeman, third in both assists to turnover ratio (3.3) and free throw percentage (88), and Ernie Spada, second in three-pointers per game (2.6). Jameson Figgatt lists ninth in rebounding with an average of 6.3 per game. …Team-wise, Humboldt State leads the league in turnover margin with a +7 average, and assists to turnover ratio at 1.4. The Lumberjacks are second in three pointers made per game (8.8), points scored per game (85.4) and assists (17.0). …Multiple players seeing time on the floor also has advantages that Wood and his staff have utilized successfully. "If somebody is having a flat night, somebody else picks it up," Wood said. "That provides us with great flexibility. Hopefully, the players are enjoying it. They seem to respond well and really get behind one another." …Entering their third season in the league, the Jacks expect many challenges ahead in their quest for a third straight CCAA title. As the league season begins, CCAA men's teams have posted a combined record of 33-14, and went 16-2 in tournament action last weekend. "The biggest challenge we face this week is convincing our less-experienced players of the heightened intensity they'll see in a league game. They
may think they've been in some intense games so far, but they'll find out those are far from what we'll see against Sonoma State and UC San Diego this week."
Opponents Notes: After dropping its season-opener, Sonoma State has posted three straight wins, including an 81-74 upset of preseason No. 13 Central Washington at the NDNU Thanksgiving Classic in Belmont. They capped the event with a big win over host Notre Dame de Namur, earning junior transfer Ben Sandoval tournament MVP honors. …Sandoval, a 6-5 forward, is the Seawolves' leading scorer with an average of 13.3 points per game. Sophomore guard Mike Nelson is also in double digits at 10.5 points per game. …Junior guard Jordan Lawley has been UC San Diego's most prolific scorer this season, and brings a 16 points per game average into the week. Senior Kelvin Kim, a three-point marksman shooting 52 percent from long range, is averaging 10.3 ppg. Shane Poppen provides the Tritons with a post presence, and averages 8.8 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds per game. …Two of the Triton's losses have come against NCAA Division I programs, and the other was to No. 13 ranked Central Washington last week.
Wood's Words: "Sonoma doesn't allow you to get things easily. They're well-schooled, defensively, and they play to their strengths. They have good outside shooting, solid post play, and they don't turn the ball over often." … "Don't let (UCSD's) record fool you. A lot of good teams would be 1-3 with the schedule they've played. I picked them to finish among the top teams in our league and I still believe that. They play well together, and have all week to prepare for us while we'll only have a short time to get ready."
Roster: Humboldt State's roster is available online at the following link -
http://hsujacks.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball&
Statistics: Season statistics and individual game boxscores can be found at the following web link -
http://hsujacks.com/custompages/mbball/2008/teamstat.htm?path=mbball