2024–25 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball season

2024–25 WAC men's basketball season
2024–25 WAC men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	9
TV partner(s)	ESPN, ESPN+
Regular season
WAC tournament
WAC men's basketball seasons
	← 2023–24 2025–26 →

2024–25 WAC men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Grand Canyon	0	–	0	–	10	–	4	.714
Abilene Christian	0	–	0	–	8	–	6	.571
Southern Utah	0	–	0	–	8	–	6	.571
Utah Valley	0	–	0	–	8	–	6	.571
California Baptist	0	–	0	–	7	–	7	.500
UT Arlington	0	–	0	–	7	–	7	.500
Seattle	0	–	0	–	5	–	9	.357
Tarleton	0	–	0	–	5	–	10	.333
Utah Tech	0	–	0	–	4	–	11	.267

† 2025 WAC tournament winner As of December 30, 2024

The 2024–25 WAC men's basketball season began with practices in October followed by the start of the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in early November 2024. The conference began play in January 2025. This is the WAC's 63rd season of basketball. The WAC competed with nine teams due to two teams having left the conference since the prior season. UTRGV and Stephen F. Austin both joined the Southland Conference since the prior year.^[1] The WAC tournament will be held in March 2025 with all nine teams competing for the automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The opening round will be held at Burns Arena in St. George, Utah with the remaining rounds at the Orleans Arena in the Las Vegas-area community of Paradise, Nevada.^[2] This was the last WAC season for both Grand Canyon and Seattle, which announced that they would join the West Coast Conference the following year.^[3]

Pre-season

WAC Media days

The WAC's 2024 men's basketball media day was held on October 15.^[4]

Men's Basketball Coaches Preseason Poll
Place	Team	Points	First place votes
1.	Grand Canyon	64	8
2.	UT Arlington	49	--
3	Seattle U	46	1
4.	California Baptist	45	--
5.	Utah Valley	38	--
6.	Tarleton	30	--
7.	Abilene Christian	29	--
8.	Utah Tech	12	--
9.	Southern Utah	11	--

WAC Preseason All-Conference

First Team

Name	School	Yr.	Pos.
Tyon Grant-Foster†	Grand Canyon	Senior	G
Dominique Daniels Jr.	California Baptist	Senior	G
Ray Harrison	Grand Canyon	Senior	G
John Christofilis	Seattle U	Junior	G
Freddy Hicks	Tarleton State	Senior	G/F

† Denotes Preseason Player of the Year

Regular season

Early season tournaments

Team	Tournament	Finish
Abilene Christian	Montana State MTE^[5]	2nd
California Baptist	Acrisure Holiday Invitational^[6]	3rd
Grand Canyon	Acrisure Holiday Invitational^[6]	1st
Seattle U	Vegas Showdown^[7]	4th
Southern Utah	San Diego MTE^[8]	1st
Tarleton	Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship^[9]	4th
UT Arlington	Jacksonville Classic^[10]	4th
Utah Tech	Montana MTE^[11]	3rd
Utah Valley	Samford MTE^[12]	3rd

Conference USA-Western Athletic Conference Challenge

Date	Conference USA team	WAC team	Score	Location	Leader
November 9	New Mexico State	Utah Tech	75–63	Burns Arena • St. George, UT	CUSA (1–0)
	UTEP	Utah Valley	89–60	UCCU Center • Orem, UT	Tied (1–1)
	Sam Houston	Tarleton	91–62	Wisdom Gym • Stephenville, TX	CUSA (2–1)
	Western Kentucky	Grand Canyon	74–72	Global Credit Union Arena • Phoenix, AZ	Tied (2–2)
	Louisiana Tech	UT Arlington	92–77	College Park Center • Arlington, TX	CUSA (3–2)
	Liberty	Seattle	66–64	Redhawk Center • Seattle, WA	CUSA (4–2)
	Middle Tennessee	Abilene Christian	79–56	Moody Coliseum • Abilene, TX	CUSA (5–2)
	Kennesaw State	California Baptist	88–84	Fowler Events Center • Riverside, CA	CUSA (5–3)
	Florida International	Southern Utah	80–75	America First Event Center • Cedar City, UT	CUSA (5–4)
November 20	Kennesaw State	Abilene Christian	84–78	Convocation Center • Kennesaw, GA	CUSA (6–4)
December 14	Jacksonville State	Utah Valley	70–66	Pete Mathews Coliseum • Jacksonville, FL	CUSA (7–4)
December 16	UTEP	Tarleton	67–62	Don Haskins Center • El Paso, TX	CUSA (8–4)
	Louisiana Tech	Grand Canyon	74–66	Thomas Assembly Center • Ruston, LA	(CUSA 9–4)
	Middle Tennessee	California Baptist	75–64	Murphy Center • Murfreesboro, TN	CUSA (10–4)
	New Mexico State	Southern Utah	72–66	Pan American Center • Las Cruces, NM	CUSA (11–4)
December 17	Western Kentucky	Seattle	86–73	E. A. Diddle Arena • Bowling Green, KY	CUSA (12–4)
December 21	Liberty	UT Arlington	79–56	Liberty Arena • Lynchburg, VA	CUSA (13–4)
December 30	Florida International	Utah Tech	80–66	Ocean Bank Convocation Center • Miami, FL	CUSA (14–4)
WINNERS ARE IN BOLD. HOME TEAM IN ITALICS. Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game. Did not participate: none

Records against other conferences

2024–25 records against non-conference foes:

Regular season

Power Conferences & Gonzaga	Record
ACC	1–5
Big East	0–0
Big Ten	1–3
Big 12	0–8
Pac-12	0–0
SEC	0–1
Gonzaga	0–0
Power Conference Total	2–17

Other NCAA Division I Conferences	Record
America East	0–0
American	0–0
A-10	1–2
ASUN	2–0
Big Sky	5–7
Big South	0–0
Big West	4–4
CAA	1–0
C-USA	5–14
Horizon	0–0
Ivy League	0–0
MAAC	0–1
MAC	0–0
MEAC	1–0
MVC	2–4
Mountain West	2–4
NEC	2–0
OVC	0–0
Patriot League	0–0
SoCon	0–2
Southland	1–2
SWAC	0–0
Summit	5–2
Sun Belt	4–2
WCC (except Gonzaga)	1–1
Other Division I Total	37–38
Non-Division I Total	17–0
NCAA Division I Total	39–55

Record against ranked non-conference opponents

This is a list of games against ranked opponents only (rankings from the AP poll/Coaches poll):

Date	Visitor	Home	Score
November 17	Tarleton	#14/12 Baylor	L, 41–104
November 29	Seattle	#10/11 Duke	L, 48–70
December 9	Baylor	#RV/25 Baylor	L, 57–88
December 11	Cal Baptist	#23/24 San Diego State	L, 75–81

Team rankings are reflective of AP poll/Coaches poll when the game was played, not current or final ranking.

Rankings

		Improvement in ranking
		Drop in ranking
RV		Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25
NV		No votes received

		Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8
Abilene Christian	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Abilene Christian	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

California Baptist	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
California Baptist	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

Grand Canyon	AP	RV	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Grand Canyon	C	RV	RV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

Seattle U	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Seattle U	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

Southern Utah	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Southern Utah	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

Tarleton	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Tarleton	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

UT Arlington	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
UT Arlington	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

Utah Tech	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Utah Tech	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

Utah Valley	AP	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV
Utah Valley	C	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV	NV

Head coaches

Coaching changes

No coaching changes were made during the offseason.

Coaches

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and WAC records are from time at current school.

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Seasons at school	Overall record	WAC record	WAC titles	NCAA tournaments
Abilene Christian	Brette Tanner	(Associate HC)	4th	54–46 (.540)	28–28(.500)	0	0
California Baptist	Rick Croy	St. Mary's (assistant)	12th	101-84 (.546)	47-55 (.461)	0	0
Grand Canyon	Bryce Drew	Vanderbilt	5th	94-32 (.746)	50-18 (.735)	2	3
Seattle U	Chris Victor	(Assistant/interim HC)	4th	66-35 (.653)	36-20 (.643)	1	0
Southern Utah	Rob Jeter	Western Illinois	2nd	10-21 (.323)	5-15 (.250)	0	0
Tarleton	Billy Gillispie	Ranger College	5th	59-51 (.536)	34-28 (.548)	0	0
UT Arlington	K. T. Turner	Kentucky (assistant)	2nd	20-14 (.588)	13-7 (.650)	0	0
Utah Tech	Jon Judkins	Snow College	20th	319-168 (.655)	22-48 (.314)	0	0
Utah Valley	Todd Phillips	(Associate HC)	2nd	16-16 (.500)	11-9 (.550)	0	0

Notes:

Overall and WAC records, conference titles, etc. are from time at current school and are through the end of the 2023–24 season.
Records and season totals only include time spent at Division I as head coach.
NCAA tournament appearances are from time at current school only.
NCAA Final Fours and Championship include time at other schools.

Post season

WAC tournament

The WAC tournament will be held in March 2025 with all nine teams competing for the automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The opening round will be held at Burns Arena in St. George, Utah with the remaining rounds at the Orleans Arena in the Las Vegas-area community of Paradise, Nevada.

NCAA tournament

Teams from the conference that were selected to participate: 0

Seed	Region	School	First Four	First round	Second round	Sweet Sixteen	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship
			–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Bids	W-L (%):	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	TOTAL: 0–0 (–)

National Invitation Tournament

Number from the conference that were selected to participate: 0

Seed	School	First round	Second round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
		–	–	–	–	–
	W-L (%):	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	TOTAL: 0–0 (–)

College Basketball Invitational

Number from the conference that were selected to participate: 0

Seed	School	First round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
		–	–	–	–
	W-L (%):	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	TOTAL: 0–0 (–)

CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

Number from the conference that were selected to participate: 0

School	First round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
	–	–	–	–
	–	–	–	–
W-L (%):	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	TOTAL: 0–0 (–)

Index to colors and formatting
WAC member won
WAC member lost

*Denotes overtime period

Awards and honors

Players of the week

Throughout the conference regular season, the WAC offices name a player of the week and a newcomer of the week each Monday.

Week	Player of the Week	School	Newcomer of the Week	School
November 11	JaKobe Coles	Grand Canyon	JaKobe Coles	Grand Canyon
November 18	Jaden Wells	UT Arlington	Jaden Wells	UT Arlington
November 25	Jamir Simpson	Southern Utah	Jamir Simpson	Southern Utah
December 2	Dominique Daniels Jr.	Cal Baptist	Carter Welling	Utah Valley
December 9	Hunter Jack Madden	Abilene Christian	Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe	Seattle U
December 16	Dominique Daniels Jr.	Cal Baptist	Lance Ware	UT Arlington
December 23	Carter Welling	Utah Valley	Carter Welling	Utah Valley

Totals per school - Players of the week

School	Player of the week	Newcomer of the week	Total
Abilene Christian University	1		1
California Baptist University	2		2
Grand Canyon University	1	1	2
Seattle University		1	1
Southern Utah University	1	1	2
Tarleton State University
University of Texas at Arlington	1	2	3
Utah Tech University
Utah Valley University	1	2	3
Total	7	7	14

All-Americans

All-WAC

First team

Name	School

‡ WAC Player of the Year
‡‡ WAC Defensive Player of the Year

Second team

Name	School

All-Freshman team

Name	School

† Freshman of the Year

All-Defensive team

Name	School

‡WAC Defensive Player of the Year

Other awards

Sixth Man of the Year:

Coach of the Year:

2025 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	School/club team
−	−				−

Home game attendance

Team	Stadium	Capacity	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5	Game 6	Game 7	Game 8	Total	Average	% of Capacity
Abilene Christian	Moody Coliseum	3,600	1,832	1,434	1,026	1,024	1,065	1,191			7,572	1,262	35%
California Baptist	CBU Events Center	5,050	3,294	N/A	3,607	4,233	2,737	2,064			15,935	3,187	63%
Grand Canyon	GCU Arena	7,000	7,053	7,332	7,002	7,022	7,004	7,038	7,024	7,112	56,587	7,073	101%
Seattle U	Redhawk Center/Climate Pledge Arena	999/18,100^[13]	999	966	1,194	688	852				4,699	940	94%
Southern Utah	America First Event Center	5,300	1,486	2,856	965	1,006	995	900	741		8,949	1,278	24%
Tarleton State	Wisdom Gymnasium	3,000	1,487	1,176	1,379	856					4,898	1,225	41%
UT Arlington	College Park Center	7,000	1,001	3,195	1,169	1,369	1,256				7,990	1,598	23%
Utah Tech	Burns Arena	4,779	1,392	1,126	1,559	1,046	1,016				6,139	1,228	26%
Utah Valley	UCCU Center	8,500	2,075	1,653	2,135						5,863	1,954	23%
Total		62.329									118,632	19,745	48%

Bold – At or exceed capacity; capacity ratios for Seattle U computed based on smaller home arena; attendance is for regular season only

†Season high
‡Climate Pledge Arena
‡‡Bert Ogden Arena

References

^ "CONFIRMED: SFA returning to the Southland Conference". Dave Campbell's Texas Football. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
^ "Championship Format And Dates For 2025 Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament Set". wacsports.com. October 15, 2024. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
^ "WCC to add Grand Canyon, Seattle in 2025-26". ESPN.com. May 10, 2024. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
^ "Grand Canyon The Unanimous Top Choice In The 2024-25 WAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll". wacsports.com. August 15, 2024. Retrieved October 19, 2024.
^ "Men's Basketball Releases 2024-2025 Schedule". Montana State University Athletics. August 22, 2024. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
^ ^a ^b Reyes, Jesus (June 3, 2024). "21 top collegiate teams to play 19 games across Thanksgiving week at Acrisure Arena". KESQ. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
^ DiCristoforo, Andrea (May 23, 2024). "ESPN Events Announces 2024 Vegas Showdown Matchups". ESPN Press Room U.S. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
^ ChrisDobbertean (May 13, 2024). "2024-25 Men's College Basketball Exempt Multi-Team Events (MTEs) Tracker". Blogging the Bracket. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
^ "Tarleton State accepts Invitation to 2024 Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship". Tarleton State University Athletics. September 9, 2024. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
^ "UTA Men's Basketball Releases Non-Conference Schedule". University of Texas Arlington Athletics. September 24, 2024. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
^ information, UM sports (September 17, 2024). "Montana Grizzlies finalize 2024-25 men's basketball nonconference schedule". 406 MT SPORTS. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
^ "Samford Men's Basketball Releases Non-Conference Schedule". Samford University Athletics. September 13, 2024. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
^ Seattle U uses two home arenas: Redhawk Center, which is located on campus, and the newly renovated Climate Pledge Arena in uptown Seattle.

[1] "CONFIRMED: SFA returning to the Southland Conference". Dave Campbell's Texas Football. Retrieved October 19, 2024.

[2] "Championship Format And Dates For 2025 Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament Set". wacsports.com. October 15, 2024. Retrieved October 19, 2024.

[3] "WCC to add Grand Canyon, Seattle in 2025-26". ESPN.com. May 10, 2024. Retrieved October 19, 2024.

[4] "Grand Canyon The Unanimous Top Choice In The 2024-25 WAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll". wacsports.com. August 15, 2024. Retrieved October 19, 2024.

[5] "Men's Basketball Releases 2024-2025 Schedule". Montana State University Athletics. August 22, 2024. Retrieved October 22, 2024.

[:0-6] Reyes, Jesus (June 3, 2024). "21 top collegiate teams to play 19 games across Thanksgiving week at Acrisure Arena". KESQ. Retrieved October 22, 2024.

[7] DiCristoforo, Andrea (May 23, 2024). "ESPN Events Announces 2024 Vegas Showdown Matchups". ESPN Press Room U.S. Retrieved October 22, 2024.

[8] ChrisDobbertean (May 13, 2024). "2024-25 Men's College Basketball Exempt Multi-Team Events (MTEs) Tracker". Blogging the Bracket. Retrieved October 22, 2024.

[9] "Tarleton State accepts Invitation to 2024 Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship". Tarleton State University Athletics. September 9, 2024. Retrieved October 22, 2024.

[10] "UTA Men's Basketball Releases Non-Conference Schedule". University of Texas Arlington Athletics. September 24, 2024. Retrieved October 22, 2024.

[11] rmation, UM sports (September 17, 2024). "Montana Grizzlies finalize 2024-25 men's basketball nonconference schedule". 406 MT SPORTS. Retrieved October 22, 2024.

[12] "Samford Men's Basketball Releases Non-Conference Schedule". Samford University Athletics. September 13, 2024. Retrieved October 22, 2024.

[13] Seattle U uses two home arenas: Redhawk Center, which is located on campus, and the newly renovated Climate Pledge Arena in uptown Seattle.

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v t e Western Athletic Conference men's basketball
Teams	Abilene Christian Wildcats California Baptist Lancers Grand Canyon Antelopes (leaving in 2025) Seattle Redhawks (leaving in 2025) Southern Utah Thunderbirds Tarleton Texans UT Arlington Mavericks Utah Tech Trailblazers Utah Valley Wolverines
Championships & awards	WAC men's basketball tournament Player of the Year
Seasons	1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

Pre-season

WAC Media days

WAC Preseason All-Conference

Regular season

Early season tournaments

Conference USA-Western Athletic Conference Challenge

Records against other conferences

Record against ranked non-conference opponents

Rankings

Head coaches

Coaching changes

Coaches

Post season

WAC tournament

NCAA tournament

National Invitation Tournament

College Basketball Invitational

CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

Awards and honors

Players of the week

Totals per school - Players of the week

All-Americans

All-WAC

All-Freshman team

All-Defensive team

Other awards

2025 NBA draft

Home game attendance

See also

References