FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 1, 2026) – Northern Arizona men's basketball tips off the 2026-27 season in Las Vegas, Nev. against UNLV on Tuesday. The 8 p.m. MST season opener between the Lumberjacks and Runnin' Rebels at the Thomas & Mack Center is the teams' first meeting in a decade.
James Malamas and Stayson Isobe will be on the call for the first game of the season with the pregame show starting at 7:30 p.m. MST on the Northern Arizona Healthcare NAU Lumberjack Radio Network. The game will be streamed on
MW+ with a subscription required to view.
NAU is eager for a fresh start after going 10-22 last season. The Lumberjacks posted a 4-14 record in Big Sky play and were voted 11th in the preseason league polls by the coaches and media. Head coach
Shane Burcar enters his eighth season with a roster led by returning starters
Ryan Abelman and
Chris Komin. Abelman and Komin are the team's top two returning scorers.
Abelman is NAU's most experienced player, entering his fifth season as a Lumberjack. Entering the season, Abelman has played in 89 career games and made 47 starts, having started all 30 games he appeared in last year. The Las Vegas native and Bishop Gorman High School graduate begins his final collegiate season in his hometown coming off career-highs across the board with 10.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Abelman led the team with 52 3-pointers made at a 36.1% clip and also shot 89.4% at the line.
He is joined in the backcourt by
Chris Komin, who is back for his sophomore campaign after an impressive debut season. During conference play, Komin averaged 10.8 points and shot 49.2% overall from the field and 40.4% from behind the arc. Komin, the team's leader in assists (68) and steals (40) a year ago, was the first NAU true freshman with multiple 20-point games in a decade.
Abelman and Komin are two of four returners on the roster joined by 11 newcomers. Among the newcomers are three Division I transfers including
Dylan Anderson (Murray State),
Max Majerle (North Dakota State) and
Cade Bennett (Saint Mary's College). Majerle and Bennett were part of NCAA Tournament teams at their previous schools last season, while Anderson returns to his home state where he was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year at Perry High School.
NAU opens the season with the first of two Mountain West Conference opponents in UNLV, who is coming off its fifth straight winning season in 2025-26. The Runnin' Rebels, picked fourth in the preseason conference poll, were 18-17 last season and 11-9 in Mountain West play. UNLV qualified for the NIT and advanced to the second round after defeating UC Irvine, the Big West regular season champion, in the first round.
UNLV had three players recognized by the league's media prior to the start of the season. Tyrin Jones and AJ Storr were voted to the Preseason All-Conference team, while Jackson Kiss was named the Preseason Freshman of the Year.
Jones is one of two returning starters and is UNLV's leading returning scorer at 11.9 points per game. Jones was named to the Mountain West All-Defensive Team as a freshman last year after leading the conference with 2.2 blocks per game. Storr led Ole Miss in scoring last season, averaging 15.5 points per game. Kiss is a four-star recruit from Auckland, New Zealand.
UNLV leads the all-time series, 19-9, including a commanding 15-2 record at home in Las Vegas. The teams last met in 2016, with UNLV claiming its fifth straight win in the series, 110-71. The Lumberjacks last defeated the Runnin' Rebels in 2003 and have dropped six of seven overall since 2000.
Stay up to date with Northern Arizona men's basketball by following the Lumberjacks on
X and
Instagram.
