November has come to a close, and each team in the Western Athletic Conference has gotten its season up on the road. The season for these squads is still young, but November proved to be a time to see how each gels with their new and returning athletes.
There are plenty of grains of sand yet to fall until it is time for the conference tournament, but the positives and negatives of these squads are starting to show as we see who has an upper hand as conference play looms.
California Baptist has certainly garnered recognition and distinction in November, standing 7-0 in non-conference play, but the rest of the field looks to continue their own building process to get through the remainder of non-conference play and prepare for WAC Play.
Cal Baptist (7-0)With an offensive powerhouse in the conference featuring three players averaging double-digit points, including grad student Dominique Daniels Jr. leading the conference with 17.8 PPG, Rick Croy has devised an effective offense along with a skilled defense, averaging 7.3 steals per game, prepared to take their winning ways into December and beyond.
Utah Valley (5-2)Leading the conference in scoring at 85.9 PPG, with redshirt sophomore Jackson Halcombe being a focal point, leading the squad in points and rebounds, averaging 15.4 PPG and 6.9 RPG, Todd Philips is perfecting a team looking to make some noise and march towards a successful season that could perhaps cap off with the school’s first tournament appearance.
UT Arlington (6-2)The Mavericks have shown in November that they have a hard-hitting defense, allowing 63.1 points per contest due to skilled athleticism, with 8.5 steals per game and 4.9 blocks per game, which should have every squad they face on notice.
Tarleton State (5-3)Despite starting off slow with a couple of losses early, the Texans caught their stride with plenty of credit needing to be given to junior guard Dior Johnson, who is averaging over 23 PPG including an offensive showcase against Baylor in which the New York native accounted for more than half of the squad’s points with 42 in the defeat.
ACU (5-3)Senior Bradyn Hubbard has been a significant contributor to the squad offensively with 16.6 PPG, and the 4.3 assists per game by Rich Smith have certainly been key in the facet of ball movement, but other players will have to step into a more intense offensive role for the scoring ability of this team to truly begin to click.
Utah Tech (5-5)The Trailblazers are playing .500 basketball, but Ethan Potter has been a standout for not only his squad, but for the conference overall, with seven rebounds per game and 16.9 PPG, contributing to performances that most recently gained the Utah native WAC Player of the Week Honors for the final week of November after scoring a career-high 26 points over UC Riverside Saturday.
Southern Utah (3-6)The Thunderbirds have not started the season the way head coach Rob Jeter would have liked, but freshman Elijah Duval has proven to be a significant playmaker early on in his collegiate career as he leads the team in both assists per game and PPG at 3.6 and 13.8, respectively.
