Men’s Basketball Hosts Fresno State Tuesday Night in West Coast Classic

NAU Game Notes vs. Fresno State (PDF)

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona men’s basketball team hosts two games this week in the West Coast Classic starting with Fresno State at 6:35 p.m. at the Rolle Activity Center Tuesday night.

“This is a very good home game for us against a team out of the WAC,” said Head Coach Mike Adras. “They are a high caliber team. It is a program that is traditionally very good. They are similar to Arizona in terms of height and athleticism.”

The West Coast Classic is a five-team NCAA exempt tournament that guarantees the Lumberjacks four games including two home contests. NAU will also host Pacific and travel to Santa Clara and San Diego State.

Fresno State is led by sophomore Paul George and senior Sylvester Seay who were honored by the Western Athletic Conference coaches as preseason second-team All-WAC honorees. Fresno State was one of three conference schools to have two student-athletes selected to preseason All-WAC honors. The coaches also tabbed the Bulldogs to finish sixth while the media predicted a seventh-place finish for the upcoming 2009-10 campaign.

Sports Illustrated named Fresno State sophomore Paul George as the most entertaining player in the West region and the eighth most entertaining player in the nation on their list of the “Top 16 Most Entertaining Players in College Basketball.”

Fresno State has won all four meetings in the series with the Lumberjacks. The last meeting came in 1999-00 during Mike Adras’ first season, a 74-68 loss at Fresno State. The series dates to 1970 with a 102-67 victory in Fresno. The two teams met in 1982 at the Malibu Classic with the Bulldogs winning 58-54. Fresno State also won the season opener in 1987 66-49 in the Sun Met Classic. This is the first meeting between the schools in Flagstaff.

The game can also be seen on Universityhouse (Dish Network 9411), Fox Sports Arizona (Direct TV 686, Dish Network 415) and Fox College Sports Pacific (Digital Cable) and heard on the Sodexo Lumberjack Radio Network in Flagstaff (KAFF AM 930). The game can also be seen and heard on Big Sky Television at www.bigskytv.org.