2025-26 WAC Men's Basketball Release - Week 18

FINAL WEEK OF CONFERENCE PLAY IS HERE
The final six games of the 2025-26 WAC regular season are on tap for this week. Utah Valley enters play on March 5 one game ahead in the conference standings at 12-4 (.750). Both California Baptist (11-5, .688) and Utah Tech (11-6, .647) remain in contention to earn at least a piece of a regular season league championship, while UT Arlington will attempt to finish the season at .500 (7-9) following a short road trip to Tarleton State and Abilene Christian.

CBU’S DANIELS CLAIMS WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR THE SIXTH TIME In 2025-26
California Baptist guard Dominique Daniels Jr. picked up a sixth WAC Player of the Week citation this season on March 2 in recognition of his stellar play for the 2-0 Lancers last weekend. Daniels led all players in the conference last week with a 25.5 points per game average, adding 2.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game during the homestand. Daniels erupted for a game-high 28 points in a victory over UT Arlington on Feb. 26 and finished with 23 points versus Tarleton State on Feb. 28. Leading into the final week of the regular season, Daniels remained ranked second in the WAC with a 22.3 points per game average (23.4 PPG in WAC play) while extending his league best 20-point outings to 19 over his 28 starts this season. 

HAYHURST PROVIDES A SPARK TO THE SOUTHERN UTAH CAUSE
Junior transfer guard Tanner Hayhurst turned in a career night for Southern Utah in an 81-67 win over rival Utah Tech on Feb. 28, eliminating the Trailblazers from contention for an outright conference regular season title in the process. Hayhurst tallied a career-high 25 points after shooting 72.7 percent (8-of-11) from the field, which included five makes from 3-point range, to go along with four rebounds and three steals in the victory to earn WAC Newcomer of the Week on March 2.

CONFERENCE’S LEADING SCORER JOHNSON RETURNS FOR TARLETON STATE
After being absent from the lineup for over a month due to injury, Tarleton State guard Dior Johnson returned to the lineup for the Texans on their road trip to Utah Valley and California Baptist last weekend. Johnson scored a team-high 23 points and added seven rebounds and four assists in his first game back, a 79-72 defeat at Utah Valley on Feb. 26. Johnson poured in a game-high 24 points to close the weekend at CBU on Feb. 28, but the Texans ultimately fell 82-67 to the Lancers. Johnson remained the conference’s per-game scoring leader with an average of 23.6 points per contest across the 18 games he has played in, while averaging 24.3 points per game in nine conference appearances. Johnson’s seven 30-point performances thus far this season have also paced the conference.

POTTER CONTINUES ALL-CONFERENCE LEVEL PRODUCTION FOR UTAH TECH
Utah Tech senior transfer forward Ethan Potter has turned in a career year for the Trailblazers after joining the program this season following three campaigns at Utah Valley. Potter has registered career highs in points per game (15.9) and rebounds per game (7.9) across his first 31 starts in 2025-26, shooting a cumulative 59.1 percent from the floor entering games on March 5. Potter ranked second in both 10-rebound games (7) and double-doubles (6) amongst all WAC players on the eve of the regular season’s final week.

THE WAC IN THE NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS
As of the latest NCAA Division I statistical rankings that were released on March 2, Tarleton State remained first in turnovers forced per game with a 17.73 clip. The Texans were also second nationally in steals per contest with 10.5 thefts per game as a team, with Abilene Christian and Utah Valley in the top 10 tied at fifth and sixth respectively with 9.9 and 9.8 steals per game. UT Arlington remained in first place in 3-point percentage defense against at 27.3 percent, while Utah Tech moved up to sixth in the category at 29.0 percent. Utah Valley checked in sixth in the NCAA with 18.8 assists per game and eighth with 5.8 blocks per game. Individually, California Baptist’s Dominique Daniels Jr. moved up to eighth in points per game nationally with an average of 22.3 points per contest. Utah Valley’s Jackson Holcombe was ninth with 69 steals and 10th with 2.4 steals per contest.