Jan. 29, 2008

Game Notes - Northwestern in PDF Format
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Game Information
▪ - The University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball program will match-up against Big Ten Conference opponent-Northwestern on Wednesday (Jan. 30) in Evanston, ILL with game-time slated for 7 p.m.

▪ - The Broncs improved their overall record to 14-10 after recording a 85-76 victory over Chicago State on Monday night at the Jones Convocation Center in Chicago, ILL.

▪ - This will be the fifth all-time meeting between the Broncs and the Wildcats in program history with Northwestern leading the series 4-0.

▪ - The Broncs and the Wildcats met last season with Northwestern collecting a 67-56.

▪ - In that game, Brian Burrell finished with 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 6-of-9 from three-point range to go with six rebounds and three steals while Paul Stoll chipped in with six points and 10 assists.

▪ - Faithful of the UTPA men's basketball team will have an opportunity to listen to the game courtesy of ESPN Radio 1240AM and audiosportsonline.net with Broncs' play-by-play announcer Jonah Goldberg.

Last Game - Chicago State
▪ - Senior guard Paul Stoll led five players in double-figures as the UTPA men's basketball team recorded a 85-76 victory over Chicago State tonight at the Jones Convocation Center. It was the Broncs seventh straight win.

▪ - The tempo was frantic in the early going as the Broncs jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first 34 seconds.

▪ - Up 19-18, the Broncs went on a 16-4 run to take an 11-point lead, their largest of the half, at 35-24.

▪ - Despite trailing 38-28 at half-time, the Cougars put up a fight in the second half, getting within 51-50 with under 11 minutes remaining by playing aggressive defense and forcing turnovers.

▪ - With just over ten minutes remaining, David Holston tied the game with a three-pointer, but sophomore forward Nathan Hawkins hit a free-throw and senior guard Brian Burrell sunk a pair of three-pointers to make it 60-53.

▪ - Holston followed that up up with a pair of free throws, but senior forward Zach Trader answered with a long two-pointer to make it 62-55 and the Broncs never looked back.

▪ - Stoll finished with 24 points, 11 assists, six rebounds and three steals while junior forward Emmanuel Jones collected 15 points.

▪ - Trader chipped in with 14, while Hawkins and Burrell added 11 and 10 points apiece.

Trio of Broncs Earn All-Tournament Team Honors
▪ - Stoll was selected to the five-man all-tournament team for his outstanding performance at the Missouri State Price Cutter Classic on Nov. 17

▪ - The floor general finished with a shooting average of 17.5 points to go along with 7.5 assists, 2.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds in two games.

▪ - Burrell was selected to the five-man all-tournament team at the Montana State Bobcat Gran Tree Inn Classic on Dec. 1. Burrell collected a team-high 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 7-of-11 from behind the arc against Pepperdine on Nov. 30.

▪ - Playing in his third tournament this season, Burrell was selected to the five-man all-tournament team at the Drake Regency Challenge Classic for the second time this season.

▪ - The 6'3 senior guard collected 38 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, and four steals in his two-game tournament performance.

▪ - Nathan Hawkins collected his first piece of hardware of his Bronc career as he as was selected to the five-man Las Vegas Holiday Classic All-Tournament Team on Sunday (Dec. 23).

▪ - In his three-game performance, Hawkins collected 48 points and 17 rebounds to go along with a game-high 19 points and 10 rebounds against Bethune-Cookman (Dec. 22).

Stoll and Jones Leaders Among the Independent Standings
▪ - Senior and floor general, Paul Stoll leads the independent standings averaging 7.2 assists per game in 20 games played.

▪ - In 20 contests, Stoll has posted 15 games of five or more assists and collected 10 or more assists in five games of compeition.

▪ - Earlier this season, Stoll finished with a career-high 12 assists against University of Alabama on (Dec. 19). Stoll's also ranks in the top-10 in six of nine categories.

▪ - Since coming back from an illness, Emmanuel Jones ranks first in field goal percentage. Jones leads the league averaging 53.1 percent in 12 games played.

▪ - Jones finished with a career-high 19 points and eight rebounds against Texas State on (Jan. 5).

▪ - In his first season as a Broncs, Jones has collected 117 total points and is averaging 9.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.

Record Setting Five Tournaments
▪ - The Broncs will compete in five tournaments throughout the 2007-08 season. UTPA will make its first stop in Springfield, MO, where the Broncs will sqaure-off against UNC-Greensboro in the first round of the two-day affair.

▪ - UTPA will next travel to the Missouri State University Tournament where they will match-up against West Coast Conference-foe Pepperdine, Montana State, Alcorn State and Western Illinois in the three-day event.

▪ - The Broncs will then set their sights on a tournament championship at the Drake University Tournament in Des Moines, IA, followed by the most spectacular highlight of the season for the Broncs as they will be a part of the Las Vegas Classic for a quartet of games.

▪ - To close out the calendar year, the Broncs will travel to the UCF Holiday Tournament for the second straight season where UTPA advanced to the championship game during the 2006-07 campaign.

▪ - The Broncs will hit the floor against Long Island University in the first round of the tournament before facing off against either University of Central Florida or New Jersey Institute of Technology on the final day of action.

UTPA Adds Hawkins, Nephew of Former NBA Hall of Fame Player
▪ - The basketball gene pool runs deep in the Hawkins' family as his father (Robert) played in the NBA for the Golden State Warriors and his brother (Robert) played his collegiate basketball at St. Mary's University.

▪ - Hawkins is the nephew of NBA Hall of Fame standout George Gervin as well as cousin of former NBA player Derrick Gervin.

▪ - San Antonio, TX product, Hawkins was a standout at Sandra Day O'Connor High School where he was a first team all-region and first team All-District 28-5A selection during his senior campaign.

▪ - Hawkins attended The Lawrenceville Prep School where he was selected as the number-four post guard by New Jersey Hoops. Averaged 14.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game en route to earning Most Valuable Player honors.

Senior Floor General Featured on ESPN
▪ - After leading the Broncs to an 82-68 victory against Houston Baptist last night at the UTPA Fieldhouse, senior guard Paul Stoll was featured on ESPN-Men's Basketball Around the Rim.

▪ - Stoll recorded a career-high 37 points on 7-of-9 shooting, 7-of-9 from three-point range, and a perfect 16-of-16 from the charity stripe, to go along with seven rebounds, and nine assists in 36 minutes of action.

▪ - The 5'11 guard recorded a career-high free throws made, rebounds, and tied his mark of field-goals made. Stoll has finished in double-figures in the Broncs last six games averaging 18.7 points and seven assists per game.

▪ - The 37 points by Stoll is the highest point total by any Bronc since February 11, 2002 when Mire Chatman dropped 44 points over New Mexico State. The floor general was seven points shy of ranking among the top-ten in most points scored in a game.

▪ - Stoll is currently first in the nation with 159 assists and fourth in the nation with 7.2 assists per game.

Trader Brothers Take The Court This Season
▪ - For the first time in family history Zach and Jacob Trader will be teaming up to dominate the inside post positions. This will be the first time the two brothers have ever played on a team together and this also marks the first time in UTPA men's basketball history.

▪ - As an experienced college standout Zach Trader will be looking to lead by example for his team as well as his brother. Trader concluded his junior campaign averaging a career-high 7.9 points per game to go along with 2.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.

▪ - After red-shirting the 06-07 season, Jacob Trader will be looking to his senior, older brother for guidance in his first year of Division I collegiate basketball.

Scouting the Opponent - Northwestern
▪ - The Wildcats enter Wednesday's game with a 6-11 overall record and 0-7 record in the Big Ten.

▪ - Northwestern dropped a 70-37 decision to Illinois on Sunday night and is currently riding a three-game skid.

▪ - The Wildcats tied a season low by shooting 31 percent (13-of-42) for the game, compared to 54.2 percent (26-of-48) for Illinois.

▪ - Michael Thompson recorded 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting, 2of-3 from three-point range, 1-of-2 from the charity stripe in 37 minutes of action.

▪ - Leading the way for the Wildcats is Kevin Coble averaging 15 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.

▪ - The Wildcats entered the week ranking fourth in all of NCAA Division I with a 1.51 assist-to-turnover ratio. Northwestern has dished out 278 assists this season while turning the ball over just 188 times.

▪ - The Wildcats also rank among the nation's leaders in fewest turnovers per game(10th, 11.5pg), assists per game (20th, 17.5 pg). 3-point field goals made per game (28th, 8.7 pg) and steals per game(29th, 9.3pg).

▪ - Craig Moore has NU's top individual national ranking, coming in 29th with an average of 3.1 made 3-point field goals per contest.

▪ - The Wildcats rank second the Big Ten in assists so far this season, averaging 17.5 per contest. Michael Thompson and Craig Moore have played a large role in Northwestern's ranking in the category as Thompson is second in the conference with an average of 4.9 assists per game, while Moore is contributing 2.9 helpers per game.

UTPA Sports Information