Game #27
ART U Urban Knights (18-8, 12-6 PacWest) vs. FPU Sunbirds (8-17, 5-13 PacWest) 
Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023 at 7 p.m. *Senior Night*
Belmont, Calif. – Walter Gleason Gym
Live Stats and Video
ART U Game Notes 2-23-23

Game #28
ART U Urban Knights (18-8, 12-6 PacWest) at DU Penguins (12-15, 7-12 PacWest) 
Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023 at 3:30 p.m. 
San Rafael, Calif. – Conlan Center
Live Stats | Live Video
ART U Game Notes 2-25-23

REGULAR SEASON FINISH LINE
The regular season will draw to a close for Academy of Art men's basketball following their two games this week, starting with ART U playing host to Fresno Pacific on Senior Night this Thursday before hitting the road to battle Dominican in the season finale on Saturday. Prior to the contest against FPU, the Urban Knights will honor the careers of graduate student Stephon Hall, graduate student guard Will Balata, graduate student guard Deang Deang, senior forward Mike Asante and senior guard Klay Brown.

TIP-OFF
Senior Night against the Sunbirds on Thursday will tip off at 7 p.m. following a short senior ceremony, while the season concludes at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday against the Penguins. Remember to follow @ARTU_Knights via the athletics app (Apple App Store, Google Play Store) and on Twitter & Instagram, as well as "Like" the Urban Knights on Facebook for score updates, videos, and recaps.

PACWEST TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
Academy of Art has earned the honor to participate in the Pacific West Conference Championship Tournament for the fourth time in as many seasons (excludes shortened 2020-21 campaign), and the entire championship field has been set as ART U will join Point Loma, Azusa Pacific, UH Hilo, Biola and Chaminade in Honolulu for the tournament hosted by the Silverswords running from Mar. 2-4. The Urban Knights stand ready to defend their first ever PacWest Tournament title after a thrilling ride last season, as ART U had never won a PacWest tournament game prior to knocking off host school Fresno Pacific, No. 1 seed Point Loma, and No. 2 seed Azusa Pacific in an expanded eight-team field en route to claiming the PacWest's automatic qualifying berth in the NCAA DII West Regionals. This year's version of the tournament returns to a traditional format of six teams, and while they have all been decided, seeding other than the top two currently remains unsettled. With a nearly flawless conference season, the No. 5 team in the nation Point Loma has secured the top seed in the tournament, while Azusa Pacific will enjoy the other first round bye with the second seed. Hilo currently leads ART U by just a half-game for the third seed with one game remaining against PLNU, and due to the nature of holding the tiebreaker due to their two regular season victories, ART U could pass the Vulcans should they win both of their remaining games (or just one should Hilo lose to PLNU). Biola and Chaminade look to round out the field as the respective five and six seeds. Tickets for the 2023 PacWest Championships are on sale now here.

KNIGHTS' QUEST
On an impressive stretch with wins in eight of their past 10 contests and four consecutive games (all wins by double-digits), Academy of Art was 2-0 last week with a pair of 90-point performances leading to their second and third 30-points victories of the season, which is a new program record (previous: one, three times). It began with a detour of conference play against UC Santa Cruz where the Knights scored their largest win in program history with a 94-60 toppling of the Banana Slugs, with the defense shining by setting their season high and tying the second-best mark in program history with 19 steals on the night while also forcing 32 turnovers, all of which led ART U to score an eye-popping 43 points off of turnovers. Meanwhile, the Knights set a new program record with their 18th regular season win (previous: 17, 2021-22) last time out against Holy Names, matching their season-high (and fifth-highest in school history) point total as ART U dominated the Hawks 98-65 in the final ever meeting between the teams. The shooting hand for the Urban Knights has been on fire as of late, as ART U has now shot above 50 percent in eight of their last 10 periods of game action dating back to their clash with Azusa Pacific on Feb. 2.

Asante was recognized for his efforts over the 2-0 week, as he was picked as the PacWest Player of the Week on Feb. 20 after he averaged a double-double with 20.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals and 1.0 assists per game. During the win over UCSC he tied for the team-lead in points, as he totaled 19 which he paired with nine rebounds, both of which were also game-highs. The following game Asante contributed his second 20-point game of the year in the commanding win over the Hawks by setting his new season best of 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting (66.7 percent), which he turned into his sixth double-double of the year with 11 rebounds. While this is the fifth overall weekly award for ART U this season, it is the first time that an Urban Knight has been named the PacWest Player of the Week since Stefan Milivojevic was picked twice on Dec. 16, 2019 and Feb. 17, 2020 of the 2019-20 campaign (excluding shortened 2020-21 pod campaign). As a squad, ART U remains just over halfway to the five Urban Knights and seven total awards earned last season (both program records).

After winning the first four games of the season for the first time in program history (all opponents in the CCAA), ART U dropped three of their next four games including their first two PacWest contests against Point Loma and Concordia. This was the first time since 2018-19 that ART U was defeated in its first two PacWest games, with the losses occurring to the same two teams, however, that season culminated in ART U's first ever PacWest Tournament appearance. Academy of Art got back on track winning five of their next seven contests, which included tying the program-record with four straight PacWest victories (accomplished twice last season under Head Coach Scott Waterman) and consecutive 90-point performances with their largest point total of the season (98) against Biola, while the losses came against preseason PacWest favorite Azusa Pacific and NCAA Division I opponent Saint Mary's.

Though Chaminade put a stop to that stretch and snapped the conference winning streak, the Knights have still won seven of their last 10 games which included a new program record of three straight times eclipsing 90 points (93.0 ppg avg.), starting in the loss to the Silverswords (only loss scoring 75 points or more). The streak continued with Hilo and CUI, which also happened to see the Knights set a program record with their third and fourth 20-point win of the year (previous record: three, 2021-22) after beating Hilo by 22 before topping Concordia by 31 in the rematch. The other losses in that span came to No. 20 Point Loma, dropping the Knights to 1-1 against ranked opponents this season after an earlier win against then-No. 19 Saint Martin's, and a defeat at the hands of the No. 2 team in the PacWest Azusa Pacific. More recently ART U is on a four-game winning streak with all four victories by double digits, knocking off Biola and Dominican in conference action before consecutive 30-point wins (second and third of season; program record) and 90-point performances against UCSC and Holy Names (98 points ties season best). 

KNIGHT WATCH
ART U has scored 75 or more points in 16 of their 26 contests this year (15-1, 87.6 ppg in those games), including reaching the fifth-most (98 at Biola and vs. HNU), sixth-most (97 at HNU) and ninth-most (95 at CUH) points in program history. In all, they have hit the 90-point barrier seven times which sets a program record (previous: 2021-22). All told, that leads to an overall season average of 79.0 ppg, which would be a new program record. In 18 of 26 games ART U has shot above 40.0 percent from the field, including 13 of the past 16 contests, while reaching above 50.0 percent in eight of those 13 (including in consecutive games against Hilo and CUI) and nine instances overall with their season best recently against Dominican (61.8 percent, 34-for-55). The hot hand has been sizzling lately, with ART U knocking down more than 50 percent of their attempts in eight of their last 10 periods of game action dating back to APU on Feb. 2. The current scoring margin of +8.3 would easily be an ART U record, which is lifted by their new program record of six 20-point wins with their season-best 34-point victory recently against UCSC their largest in program history (previous: 81-48 vs. UH Hilo, Feb. 13, 2022). 

In comparison opponents are averaging 70.7 ppg against ART U this season, only nine times allowing an opponent to score 75 or more points (high of 98 at CUH). They allowed a season-low 52 points against FPU on Jan. 2, which was the fewest allowed since they gave up just 48 to UH Hilo last season Feb. 13, 2022, and is tied for the sixth-fewest points allowed in school history. Meanwhile, opponents are shooting 41.7 percent (649-for-1558) shooting from the field, 18 times allowing opponents to shoot above 40 percent for the game (high of 50.0 percent vs. SMC). On Jan. 2, FPU was held to just 28.8 percent shooting from the field, the second-lowest percentage ART U has held an opponent to in program history (first: 27.8 percent at HNU, Jan. 6, 2009). Thirteen times has ART U totaled double-digit steals with their season best of 19 against the Slugs on Feb. 14 tying the second-best mark in program history. In the battle on the boards, ART U has snatched 1,019 rebounds (39.2 per game) to the 930 of their opponents (35.8 per game), 11 times grabbing 40 or more with their season-best of 53 against HPU tied for third-most in a game in program history.

Leading the Urban Knights in scoring is graduate student guard Will Balata, as his 12.3 ppg are just in front of the 12.1 ppg from senior forward Mike Asante. Trailing them both is senior guard Klay Brown with 11.8 ppg, though Brown also leads the team in blocks with a season best of three on four occasions (1.0 bpg; fifth in PacWest). Asante tops the trio having reached double figures a total of 16 times, Brown has done so in 15 times this season, while Balata has done so 14 times. Many have cleaned up the glass for ART U, but Asante's 8.2 rpg leads the Knights and is fourth in the PacWest, and he just recently set a new career mark and tied the program record for rebounds in a game with 20 (also: Hunter Hayden vs. DSU, 1/17/11). Meanwhile, Williams pulls down 6.8 rpg which places him behind Asante for sixth in the PacWest, grabbing 19 boards against HPU to also set his career high and rank third-most in program history. When moving the ball, Brown's 2.8 apg (74 total) leads the team and ranks 10th in the conference, while the duo of sophomore guard Rodney Munson and Asante add 2.1 apg. Defensively, Brown has notched multiple steals in 18 of 26 games (high of five vs. UCSC) for a team-best average of 2.2, leading the PacWest in steals average and total steals (59). Meanwhile, graduate student guard Deang Deang trails shortly behind in fourth in the PacWest with 1.7 spg (42 total, fifth), while Munson sits 10th with 1.5 per game (38 total, 10th).

Academy of Art appears among the national leaders in multiple categories, ranking eighth in steals per game (10.08), 12th in average turnovers forced (17.69), 20th in turnover margin (+3.7), 24th in rebounding average (39.2 rpg), and 42nd in both opponent field goal percentage (41.6) and scoring margin (+8.3). Individually, Brown sits just outside the top 10 as he is 11th in both total steals (59) and steals per game (2.27 spg).

NO FLY ZONE
Already mathematically eliminated from postseason contention, Fresno Pacific enters the matchup at 8-17 overall though they have split their last six games with a 3-3 mark, most recently coming off a loss against Chaminade on Feb. 15. Despite boasting the fifth-best scoring defense in the conference (opponents average 72.2 ppg), they have the lowest scoring offense in the PacWest (67.8 ppg) leading them to sit ninth in scoring margin (-4.4). Meanwhile, FPU sits at or near the bottom of the PacWest in every other statistical category including 3-point percentage (30.6 percent), with one exception of blocked shots as they swat away the second-most shot attempts with an average of 3.12 per game. Doing it all for FPU has been Darrin Person Jr., who leads the Sunbirds in both scoring average (13.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.6 per game), with his work on the glass ranking seventh in the conference). The only other Sunbird averaging double figures is Nate Kendricks, who trails shortly behind with 12.5 ppg while also leading the team with 2.6 assists per game. Academy of Art is looking for its fourth straight victory over Fresno Pacific, as ART U won the final two meetings of last year including the PacWest Championship before holding FPU to a season-low scoring in their earlier matchup this campaign, but Fresno Pacific holds the lead in the all-time series 14-8. 

DOMINATING DOMINICAN
The first team outside of the PacWest Championship field is Dominican, as the Penguins enter at 12-15 overall after having lost four of their previous five contests, with the only win in that span coming against NCAA DIII opponent UC Santa Cruz in overtime. Dominican's ninth-ranked offense (71.1 ppg) and their seventh-ranked defense (74.5 ppg) leads them to sit eighth in the PacWest in scoring margin (-3.4), though they find themselves in the top half of the conference in shooting percentage (44.8 percent, sixth) and turnover margin (+1.22, fourth). However, their free throw shooting falls last while they are the only team in the PacWest to not record double-digit assists with only 9.37 per game. Marcus McCutchen has been a two-way threat for the Penguins, leading the team in scoring and rebounding with 13.9 ppg and 5.4 rpg. He leads the four Penguins that average double-digit scoring, as joining him is PJ Volz (13.6 ppg), Jaayden Bush (12.8 ppg), and Garrett Siebels (11.5 ppg). ART U seeks its second consecutive regular season sweep over DU, as they have won each of the past three matchups including earlier this season, but Dominican continues to lead the all-time series 20-11. 

ACADEMY OF ART OFFENSE ROLLS IN COMMANDING 98-65 WIN
Following their last contest where defense set the tone, Academy of Art men's basketball showcased its offense on Sunday against Holy Names by tying their season-best point total while connecting on over 50 percent of their attempts in both halves of a 98-65 Pacific West Conference victory, setting a new ART U program record for wins in a regular season with their 18th of the campaign. 

LOOKING AHEAD
Academy of Art men's basketball is off to the Pacific West Conference Championship Tournament, as the Knights have long clinched their berth in the PacWest postseason. This year's iteration of the tournament will be hosted by Chaminade in Honolulu, with action slated to begin on Thursday, Mar. 2.