Men's Basketball | 11/29/2017 1:38:00 PM

The Central Washington University men's basketball team opens its Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule at home this week when they take on Saint Martin's University and Seattle Pacific University in Nicholson Pavilion this Thursday and Saturday.
 
Thursday, Nov. 30 – Saint Martin's University | 7 p.m.
 
Saturday, Dec. 2 – Seattle Pacific University | 7 p.m.
 
LIVE STATS AND VIDEO: Wildcatsports.com/live
 
RADIO: Locally on 88.1 FM TheBurg | IHEART RADIO | LIVE STREAM
 
ABOUT THE WILDCATS
 The Wildcats open GNAC play with 3-2 record.  The Widcats opened the season 1-1 in Portland, Ore. with an opening loss to Cal State San Bernardino, followed by a 73-67 win over Cal State Monterey Bay.
 
The Wildcats came back to the Evergreen State to participate in the Sodexo Classic on the Campus of Seattle Pacific University where they defeated Hawaii Hilo 84-79 before dropping a close contest to Concordia – Irvine 60-65.
 
Last Saturday, Central dismantled Walla Walla 100-64 to put the Wildcats above .500 at 3-2.
 
 
Fast Start for Fabulous Freshman
Freshman point guard Khalil Shabazz carried the Wildcats offensively in the first five contests, scoring 18.2 points per game to lead the squad.  Shabazz has scored in double figures in all five games including a debut of 28 points against CSU San Bernardino and a 25 points effort in the CWU win over Hawaii Hilo.
 
Although he leads the Wildcats in scoring, Shabazz is best known for his defensive prowess on the court where he ranks second in the GNAC in steals with 2.4 per game. 
 
The do-it-all PG ranks second on the team in rebounds with 5.2 and leads the team with 3.0 assists per game.
 
 
Big Man Doing Big Things 
Senior Fuquan Niles is off to a good start and has record double-doubles in two of his last three games.
 
The 6-11 center is shooting 74.1-percent from the field which ranks 6^th best in all of NCAA Division II.  Niles has also sent 13 shots packing as his 2.6 blocks per game average is 12^th best in the nation.
 
New and Improved Defense
 A major focus in 2017-18 was to improve the Wildcats overall defense, and through five games, mission accomplished.  Central Washington ranks in the top 30 nationally in opponent field goal percentage, hoping its opposition to just 39.4-percent on field goal attempts.
 
The Wildcats are giving up just 71.4 points per game, 12 points better than last season's team.  A lot of this has to do with the Wildcats ability to rebound on the defensive end.  So far this season, CWU is a 8 in rebounding margin and has allowed teams to average just 6.2 second-chance points per game as opposed to an 11.9 average a year ago.
 
 
SCOUTING SAINT MARTIN'S
 After a 4^th place finish in the GNAC Standings a year ago, the Saints are picking up where they left off with a 5-1 record through six games this season.  Saint Martin's opening the season with a convincing win over Hawaii-Hilo before falling to PacWest power Point Loma 77-85.  Since then, SMU rattled off four-straight victories, including an impressive 93-88 win over seventh-ranked Cal Baptist this past Saturday.
 
The Saint's are led by Luke Chavez who is scoring 17/7 points per game, and shooting 54.5 percent from the field, including 53.6 percent from three-point territory.  As a team, SMU is shooting 48.3-percent from the field (42.9 from three), and outscoring its opponents 83.7-77.2.
 
One of the biggest struggle for the Saint's has been their defense as teams are shooting over 46-percent from the field.  Twice, SMU opponents have shot over 50-percent in a game, and in their last game Cal Baptist made 49.2-percent of its shots.
 
 
SCOUTING SEATTLE PACIFIC
Seattle Pacific is 4-2 on the season with losses to Sonoma State and Westminster.  The Falcons missed out on the GNAC tournament a year ago and officially finished tied for second to last in the GNAC despite being just one game away from the tournament.
 
Statistically, SPU and CWU match up almost identically with the Falcons holding opponents to a 38.8 shooting percentage and holding a 8.3-rebounding margin.  Both SPU's losses to Sonoma State and Westminster produced the two top shooting performances given up by the Falcons this season.
 
Tony Miller leads the offensive charge for the Falcons scoring 15.3 points per game, and is second on the team with 6.5 rebounds.  The Falcons biggest concern is ball security as they rank second to last in the GNAC in turnover margin at -3.0