1997–98 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks men's basketball team

1997–1998 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks men's basketball
1997–1998 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks men's basketball
Big Sky Regular season champions; Big Sky tournament champions
NCAA tournament
Conference	Big Sky Conference
Record	21–8 (13–3 Big Sky)
Head coach	Ben Howland (4th season);
Home arena	Walkup Skydome
	Seasons ← 1996–97 1998–99 →

1997–98 Big Sky men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Northern Arizona †	13	–	3	.813	21	–	8	.724
Weber State	12	–	4	.750	14	–	13	.519
Portland State	10	–	6	.625	15	–	12	.556
Eastern Washington	10	–	6	.625	16	–	11	.593
Montana	9	–	7	.563	16	–	14	.533
Montana State	9	–	7	.563	19	–	11	.633
Cal State Northridge	7	–	9	.438	12	–	16	.429
Idaho State	2	–	14	.125	6	–	20	.231
Sacramento State	0	–	16	.000	1	–	25	.038

† Conference tournament winner

The 1997–98 Northern Arizona Lumberjacks men's basketball team represented Northern Arizona University in the 1997-98 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks were led by head coach Ben Howland, and played their home games at the Walkup Skydome as members of the Big Sky Conference. After finishing atop the conference regular season standings, Northern Arizona won the Big Sky tournament to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament – the first appearance in school history. As No. 15 seed in the West region, the Lumberjacks lost to No. 2 seed Cincinnati in the opening round, 65–62.^[1]

Roster[edit]

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
C	50	Dan McClintock	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	260 lb (118 kg)	So	Visalia	Visalia, California

Head coach

Ben Howland

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Source^[2]

Schedule and results[edit]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 15, 1997*		Sonoma State	W 89–67	1–0	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Nov 19, 1997*		at Stephen F. Austin	L 70–72	1–1	William R. Johnson Coliseum Nacogdoches, Texas
Nov 22, 1997* 6:30 pm		at Texas-Pan American	W 62–57	2–1	UTPA Fieldhouse Edinburg, Texas
Nov 25, 1997*		San Diego	L 68–73	2–2	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Dec 3, 1997*		at Arizona State	L 76–87	2–3	Wells Fargo Arena Tempe, Arizona
Dec 6, 1997* 7:05 pm		Texas-Pan American	W 105–56	3–3	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Dec 13, 1997*		Western Oregon	W 91–63	4–3	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Dec 18, 1997*		at No. 11 UCLA	L 68–90	4–4	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California
Dec 21, 1997*		UC Irvine	W 88–56	5–4	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Dec 30, 1997*		at San Jose State	W 77–64	6–4	Event Center Arena San Jose, California
Big Sky regular season
Jan 3, 1998		at Eastern Washington	W 83–48	7–4 (1–0)	Reese Court Cheney, Washington
Jan 5, 1998		at Portland State	L 70–72	7–5 (1–1)	Viking Pavilion Portland, Oregon
Jan 9, 1998		Montana	W 73–60	8–5 (2–1)	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Jan 10, 1998		Montana State	W 76–72	9–5 (3–1)	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Jan 14, 1998		at Idaho State	W 87–60	10–5 (4–1)	Holt Arena Pocatello, Idaho
Jan 16, 1998		at Weber State	L 75–83	10–6 (4–2)	Dee Events Center Ogden, Utah
Jan 24, 1998		Idaho State	W 87–61	11–6 (5–2)	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Jan 31, 1998		Cal State Northridge	W 86–85 ^OT	12–6 (6–2)	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Feb 5, 1998		at Montana State	W 102–96 ^OT	13–6 (7–2)	Worthington Arena Bozeman, Montana
Feb 7, 1998		at Montana	L 66–73	13–7 (7–3)	Dahlberg Arena Missoula, Montana
Feb 12, 1998		Portland State	W 87–54	14–7 (8–3)	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Feb 14, 1998		Eastern Washington	W 94–79	15–7 (9–3)	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Feb 19, 1998		Sacramento State	W 86–49	16–7 (10–3)	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Feb 21, 1998		Weber State	W 79–70 ^OT	17–7 (11–3)	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Feb 25, 1998		at Cal State Northridge	W 64–61	18–7 (12–3)	The Matadome Northridge, California
Feb 27, 1998		at Sacramento State	W 92–52	19–7 (13–3)	Hornets Nest Sacramento, California
Big Sky tournament
Mar 6, 1998*	(1)	(6) Cal State Northridge Semifinals	W 86–79	20–7	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
Mar 7, 1998*	(1)	(4) Montana State Championship game	W 77–50	21–7	Walkup Skydome Flagstaff, Arizona
NCAA tournament
Mar 12, 1998*	(15 W)	vs. (2 W) No. 9 Cincinnati First round	L 62–65^[1]	21–8	BSU Pavilion Boise, Idaho
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Mountain.

Source^[3]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b "Cincy Shoots Down N. Arizona, 65-62". CBS News. March 12, 1998. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
^ "1997-98 Men's Basketball Roster". Northern Arizona University Athletics. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
^ "1997-98 Men's Basketball Schedule". Northern Arizona University Athletics. Retrieved March 4, 2023.

[cincinnati-1] "Cincy Shoots Down N. Arizona, 65-62". CBS News. March 12, 1998. Retrieved March 4, 2023.

[2] "1997-98 Men's Basketball Roster". Northern Arizona University Athletics. Retrieved March 4, 2023.

[3] "1997-98 Men's Basketball Schedule". Northern Arizona University Athletics. Retrieved March 4, 2023.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Northern Arizona Lumberjacks men's basketball
Venues	Lumberjack Gymnasium (1951–1977) Walkup Skydome (1977–present)
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 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