FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 7, 2021) – Right out of the gates, the Northern Arizona men's basketball team will be tested as they open the 2021-22 season with a pair of Pac-12 opponents beginning with the season opener Tuesday night at the McKale Center versus Arizona in Tucson at 8:30 p.m. The Lumberjacks will then continue on to Seattle for a Thursday night game, also at 8:30 p.m. MST, versus Washington before heading back to Flagstaff for next week's home opener.
Both games will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks and can be heard on the Lumberjack Radio Network.
"These are the types of environments we want to play in and we recruit players who want to play in those environments," said head coach
Shane Burcar. "It's going to be a great challenge for us. These are two great Pac-12 road games for us and we can see who we are. Regardless of what happens, whether we go 2-0, 1-1 or 0-2, the big picture is to keep getting better throughout the season and compete for the Big Sky Championship."
This week's road trip will mark the first time that NAU opens the season with a pair of Power Conference teams since the 2006-07 campaign. The Lumberjacks started that season with road games at No. 3 Kansas and Arizona State.
Tuesday night's opener in Tucson will also be the fourth time in five seasons that NAU opens the season with Arizona. The season opener between the two teams will become a regular occurrence as part of the two schools'
10-year scheduling agreement announced in February 2021. As a result, the two teams are slated to open their respective seasons against each other at the McKale Center annually over the next decade.
NAU enters the season with an even blend of seven returners and seven newcomers coming off a 6-16 season, placing 10th in the Big Sky Conference with a 4-10 record. The 'Jacks were voted ninth by the coaches and 10th by the media in the preseason conference polls.
The returners are headlined returning starters redshirt junior
Nik Mains, redshirt sophomore
Keith Haymon and redshirt freshman
Carson Towt, who combined to start 44 games a season ago. Mains is the Lumberjacks' returning scorer with 8.8 points and Towt returns as the leading rebounder with 4.6 per game. Both Mains and Haymon are threats behind the arc, ranking second and third on the team last season with 32 and 29 three-pointers made respectively.
The Lumberjacks' newcomers are led by three transfers in sophomore
Jalen Cone (Virginia Tech), junior
Mason Stark (Northern State) and redshirt sophomore
Ezekiel Richards (Santa Clara). Cone was named to ESPN.com's list of Top Impact Newcomers. As a true freshman at Virginia Tech two years ago, he led the ACC and ranked seventh in the country in three-point percentage at 45.7 percent. Meanwhile, Stark and Richards each bring valuable experience from their previous institutions to add to the mix.
The 'Jacks will have two opportunities to snap a 12-game losing streak to Pac-12 opponents this week that dates back to a win at Arizona State in 2011.
Arizona placed fifth in the Pac-12 last year, going 11-9 in conference play and 17-9 overall. The Wildcats tied for fourth in the Pac-12 Preseason Poll and defeated Eastern New Mexico, 96-50, on Nov. 1 in an exhibition game. Headlining Arizona's returners are Benedict Mathurin and Azuolas Tubelis, both of whom were voted to the Preseason All-Pac-12 teams.
Mathurin, a preseason All-Pac-12 first teamer, garnered Pac-12 All-Freshman honors after averaging 10.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game last season. Tubelis landed on the All-Pac-12 Second Team honoree and led the Wildcats with 7.1 rebounds per game last year in addition to 12.2 points per game.
NAU will be aiming to pick up its first win over Arizona since a 76-73 victory in Flagstaff on Dec. 14, 1968. The last time the Lumberjacks won in Tucson was a decade prior to that on Dec. 6, 1958 in a 72-66 win.
While NAU and Arizona have a long history, Thursday will be just the third all-time meeting between the Lumberjacks and the Huskies. Washington has won both prior meetings, most recently in 2016.
Like Arizona, Washington also has an exhibition win under its belt, an 83-50 victory over Central Washington on Nov. 4. The Huskies were voted 11th in the Pac-12 Preseason Poll after a 5-21 season including a 4-16 mark in conference play.
Washington, who opens its season on Tuesday hosting Northern Illinois, is led by leading returning scorer Jamal Bey. Bey averaged 10.3 points per game and was lights out from deep, shooting 50.7 percent behind the arc. The Huskies also got a boost in the offseason with the addition of Daejon Davis, a grad transfer from Stanford. Davis was voted preseason all-conference honorable mention and was a 1,000 point scorer for the Cardinal prior to arriving in Seattle.
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