FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (December 29, 2020) – The Northern Arizona men's basketball team resumes Big Sky Conference play this weekend on the road at Idaho in Memorial Gym. The Lumberjacks and Vandals will open the weekend series on Thursday at 6 p.m. MST and will play again on Saturday at 12 p.m. MST. Both games can be caught on Pluto TV Channel 1060 and the Lumberjack Radio Network.
"Idaho is a very competitive group and they are in the infancy stages of their program also with their coach, Zac Claus, who does a great job," said head coach
Shane Burcar. "It's going to be their home opener and for us to play Gonzaga, now we have to go and take care of business against Idaho. For any Big Sky team, when you get out of non-conference, their records doesn't tell who they are. We anticipate nothing different this season."
The Lumberjacks concluded their non-conference portion of the schedule on Monday with an 88-58 loss to No. 1/1 Gonzaga. Despite facing their largest halftime deficit through seven games, NAU battled in the second half and was only outscored by two, 37-35, after halftime.
NAU heads into the weekend with a 1-6 overall record and an 0-1 mark in conference play. The Lumberjacks dropped their Big Sky opener, 80-64, to Eastern Washington at home on Dec. 19.
Although NAU's record sits at just 1-6, the Lumberjacks have seen improvements across the board over their last three games. NAU is averaging 63.7 points per game on 43 percent shooting in its last three contests, compared to 54.8 points per game on 33 percent shooting in its first four games. Defensively, the Lumberjacks' scoring defense has also dropped from 85.3 points to 74.3 points during this stretch. A big reason for that drop has been NAU's three-point defense with opponents shooting 30.6 percent behind the arc over the last three games.
Junior
Cameron Shelton recorded his fourth consecutive 20-point scoring game with 20 points Monday night versus the Bulldogs. During his career-long 20-point scoring streak, he is averaging 23.0 points per game and for the season, he leads the Big Sky with 19.7 points per game. Shelton is also averaging 5.1 rebounds per game, behind redshirt freshman
Carson Towt's team-leading 5.4 average on the glass.
In the last two games, Shelton has been backed by redshirt junior
Jay Green with Green posting back-to-back double-digit scoring performances. After scoring 15 points last Tuesday in NAU's 68-65 win at Denver, Green followed up with 12 points versus Gonzaga. His average is up to 6.6 points per game and he is shooting 60.7 percent on two-point attempts.
Redshirt junior
Luke Avdalovic remains the Lumberjacks' second-leading scorer at 10.7 per game and is shooting 39.5 percent behind the arc. Currently at 140 career threes, he is just four three-pointers shy of tying Aaseem Dixon for ninth all-time in program history.
NAU swept the season series versus Idaho last season, picking up a 77-72 victory at home and 78-61 on the road. The 'Jacks have won four straight over the Vandals, although the Vandals hold the all-time series lead at 41-24. Since Idaho rejoined the Big Sky Conference in 2014-15, NAU has won six of 11 meetings.
Idaho is searching for its first win of the season and is 0-5 overall. The Vandals have not played since a 79-41 loss to Utah on Dec. 18 and are 0-2 in conference play with a pair of losses to Sacramento State to open the season on Dec. 3 and 5. Scott Blakney is the Vandals' leading scorer at 11.4 points per game on 57.5 percent shooting from the field. DeAndre Robinson is the only other player averaging double-digit points at 10.0 per game. Robinson, shooting 50 percent from the deck, also leads the Vandals in rebounding at 4.6 per game.
To stay up to date with the NAU men's basketball team, follow the Lumberjacks on
Twitter and
Instagram.
