#24/23 NEVADA WOLF PACK (1-0) vs. OREGON STATE BEAVERS (2-1)
GAME NO. 2
Wed., Nov. 15, 2006 - 7:05 p.m. PT - Gill Coliseum (10,400) - Corvallis, Ore.
TELEVISION: KREN-TV 27 (Randy Rosenbloom & Dave Bollwinkel)
RADIO: Wolf Pack Sports Network (ESPN Radio 630 AM, Reno)
Don Marchand (play-by-play)
Pregame, 6:35 p.m. PT
SERIES HISTORY: Oregon State leads the series 4-3.
LAST MEETING: Nevada has won the last three meetings between the two teams, most recently
turning in a 62-61 victory in the NIT in March of 1979 in Corvallis, Ore.
Coming off an 85-62 season-opening victory over Alaska-Anchorage on Friday night, the three-time defending Western Athletic Conference champion Nevada Wolf Pack (1-0) hits the road for the first time in 2006-07, traveling to Oregon State (2-1) on Wednesday night. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. at OSU’s Gill Coliseum, while the game will be televised locally in Reno on Nevada’s flagship station, KREN 27. Including last week’s win over the Seawolves, Nevada has now won its last four regular-season openers and 12 of the last 13, while the team looks to extend a five-game winning streak in regular-season road games Wedneday against the Beavers. Ranked 24th in the latest Associated Press poll and 23rd in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ poll, the Wolf Pack returns four starters from last year’s 27-6 team, including preseason All-American senior forward Nick Fazekas, senior guard Kyle Shiloh and junior guards Ramon Sessions and Marcelus Kemp. Under the direction of third-year head coach Mark Fox, the team also features four other returning letterwinners and six new faces (one redshirt freshman and five true freshmen). Nevada won its third straight WAC regular-season title last season and earned the team’s third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, garnering the league’s automatic NCAA bid after winning the 2006 WAC Tournament.
ROAD WARRIORS
Nevada brings a five-game winning streak in regular-season road games into Wednesday’s tilt at Oregon State. The Wolf Pack turned in a 10-3 record on the road last season, including a 6-2 WAC mark, and has tallied a 21-5 record in road contests in the last two-plus seasons. This year, Nevada will open the season with four of its first seven games away from Lawlor Events Center, including road games at Oregon State, Santa Clara (Nov. 25) and Louisiana-Lafayette (Nov. 29) and a neutral-site contest against Cal in the Pete Newell Challenge (Dec. 3).
Last year, Nevada opened the year with five of its first six games away from the friendly confines of the Lawlor Events Center (four road wins and a loss on a neutral floor vs. NCAA runner-up UCLA) and saw streaks of 14 straight road wins and 10 consecutive WAC road victories, which dated back to the 2004-05 season, come to an end.
ABOUT THE OREGON STATE BEAVERS
Oregon State tallied a 2-1 record in last week’s Oregon Rain Invitational in Corvallis, opening the year with a 65-48 victory over Portland. The team then dropped a game to Southeastern Louisiana 65-63 and rebounded with a 78-65 win over Cal Poly. Led by fifth-year head coach Jay John (57-65 in four-plus years at OSU), the Beavers returned three starters and 10 letterwinners from last year’s 13-18 team. Last season, Oregon State finished in a tie for eighth in the Pac-10 Conference with a 5-13 league mark.
Junior forward Marcel Jones (6-8, 220) is leading the team in scoring and rebounding through the first three games of the 2006-07 season, averaging 18.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest. He turned in 25 points and 12 boards in the Beavers’ season-opening victory over Portland and added 21 points vs. Cal Poly. Junior forward Sasa Cuic (6-10, 255) is averaging 16.7 points per game, while redshirt freshman Josh Tarver (6-3, 185) is chipping in with 12.7 points and 3.3 assists per contest.
IN THE SERIES
Oregon State holds a 4-3 advantage in the series with Nevada, although the Wolf Pack has won the last three meetings between the two teams. Wednesday’s game will mark the first meeting between the two squads in 28 years in a series which dates back to the 1921-22 season. Nevada most recently turned in a 62-61 victory in the National Invitational Tournament in March of 1979 in Corvallis, Ore.
LAST TIME OUT
Senior Nick Fazekas had 29 points and 10 rebounds and No. 24/25 Nevada went on a 17-0 run early in the second half to beat Division II Alaska-Anchorage 85-62 on Friday, Nov. 7 at Lawlor Events Center in the Wolf Pack's season opener.
Junior Marcelus Kemp scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half, and junior Ramon Sessions added 15 points and six assists for the Wolf Pack.
Junior Eric Draper scored 12 points to lead three Seawolves in double figures. Alaska-Anchorage, which trailed by as much as 33 points, 77-44, when Kemp hit his career-high-tying fifth three-pointer of the game with 8:15 remaining.
Fazekas scored 23 points while playing just 12 minutes in the first half, including 19 during one seven-minute stretch as Nevada opened a 41-29 halftime lead. He ended up playing only 21 minutes total, hitting 11-of-14 shots from the field and making all six attempts from the free-throw line.
Draper's 3-pointer made it 46-34 about three minutes into the second half, but over the next four minutes, Sessions scored eight points, senior Denis Ikovlev had five and Fazekas added four while the Seawolves went scoreless to put Nevada on top 63-34 with 13:08 left in the game.
Fazekas and Ellis each scored four points in the first 3:30, and freshman JaVale McGee scored off a rebound to put Nevada ahead 12-2 at 13:50 in the first half. The Seawolves responded with five three-pointers -- two each by Buddy Bailey and Cameron Burney -- to pull within 24-17 at 8:06 before the half but could pull no closer the rest of the game.
IN THE RANKINGS
Nevada has been featured in the national top 25 in the majority of the preseason polls again this year, checking in at 24th in the Nov. 13 Associated Press poll and climbing two spots to 23rd in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ rankings.
The Wolf Pack appeared at 24th in the preseason Associated Press poll, released on Nov. 6, and checked in at 25th in the first ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ poll, released on Oct. 27. That marks the second consecutive season Nevada has been ranked in the preseason by both of the major polls after checking in at 22nd (AP) and 25th (coaches) prior to the 2005-06 season. The Wolf Pack spent 11 weeks ranked in one of the two major national polls in 2005-06 and ended up ranked 20th in the final Associated Press poll of the year. In addition, Nevada has been picked to win the WAC and featured in the top 25 in the majority of the other preseason publications, including Lindy’s (19th), Street & Smith’s (20th), Sporting News (23rd), Collegehoopsnet.com (23rd) and CBS SportsLine (23rd).
NEVADA IN SEASON OPENERS
Including Friday’s victory over Alaska-Anchorage, Nevada has now won its last four season openers and 12 of the last 13, dating back to the 1994-95 season. The Wolf Pack now holds a 52-42 all-time record in season openers. Last year, Nevada turned in an 82-74 win over Sacramento State on Nov. 19, 2005 at Lawlor Events Center. In 2004-05, Nevada downed Colorado-Colorado Springs 88-33 on Nov. 20, 2004 to give Mark Fox his first win as a collegiate head coach. Last year, the Wolf Pack opened the season with six consecutive victories, hitting the road for four of the first six games of the campaign.
WINNING AT LAWLOR
Nevada is riding a 10-game home winning streak dating back to last year and has turned in a 46-5 record at Lawlor Events Center since the start of the 2003-04 season (.902 winning percentage). In 2005-06, the Wolf Pack turned in a 17-1 record at Lawlor Events Center, setting the school record for home victories in a single season. That bested the 15 victories the team turned in during the 2003-04 season. The Wolf Pack also turned in the second-best home winning percentage in school history in 2005-06 (.944), second only to the perfect 15-0 record the team turned in during that 2003-04 campaign. The Wolf Pack has won 73.2 percent of its games at Lawlor Events Center since it opened in 1983-84 (249-91 all-time). Nevada was listed as having the best home-court advantage in the WAC in this year’s Street & Smith’s Basketball Preview.
WHO’S BACK
The Wolf Pack returns four starters and a total of eight letterwinners from last year’s 27-6 team, including four of the team’s top five scorers, three of its top five rebounders and five of its top six assists leaders from one season ago. Returning starters include senior Nick Fazekas, senior guard Kyle Shiloh and junior guards Marcelus Kemp and Ramon Sessions. Other returning letterwinners include senior forward Denis Ikovlev, junior center David Ellis, junior guard Curry Lynch and sophomore guard Lyndale Burleson. Senior forward Demarshay Johnson returns but is academically ineligible for the first semester and may redshirt.
NEVADA NEWCOMERS
Nevada’s roster features six faces in five true freshmen and one redshirt freshman. Freshman guard Brandon Fields (6-4, 185) comes to Nevada after earning all-state and all-region honors at Bowie High School in Arlington, Texas, while freshman forward Tyrone Hanson (6-6, 195) helped Bridgton (Maine) Academy to the New England Class A Prep Championship. Hanson is originally from New York City where he lettered all four years at St. Mary's High School. Originally from San Diego, Calif., freshman forward Matt LaGrone (6-8, 215) played basketball and football at McQueen High School in Reno last season and ranked third in the state in rebounding. A native of Flint, Mich., freshman forward JaVale McGee (6-11, 225) was the sixth-ranked player in the city of Chicago and earned second-team all-state honors at Hales Franciscan High School last year. His mother, Pamela, was a Kodak All-American who won NCAA titles at USC in 1983 and 1984, while his father, George Montgomery, played college basketball at Illinois and was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers. Redshirt freshman forward Richie Phillips (6-7, 220) will get his chance this year after redshirting in his first year at Nevada. He was a teammate of sophomore Lyndale Burleson at Franklin High School in Seattle, where he averaged 14 points and nine rebounds as a senior. Freshman forward Adam Carp (6-7, 188) is a walk-on who comes to Nevada from Clayton Valley High School in Clayton, Calif., and will redshirt this year.
PACK PICKED TO WIN WAC BY COACHES AND MEDIA
The Wolf Pack has been picked to win the Western Athletic Conference in 2006-07, while senior forward Nick Fazekas was named the Preseason WAC Player of the Year for the second consecutive season by the league’s coaches and media. Nevada received seven first-place votes and 63 points in the poll of the league’s nine head coaches, while 0the team received 199 points and 17 of 23 first-place votes in the media poll. The coaches and media also picked All-WAC teams with Fazekas being named to the first team by both groups and junior forward Marcelus Kemp earning second-team honors from the league’s coaches
FABULOUS FAZEKAS
The 2005 and 2006 Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year, senior forward Nick Fazekas returns for his senior year poised to finish his career as one of the most decorated players in school history. He is the preseason favorite to win his third consecutive WAC Player-of-the-Year honor and could become just the second player in league history to be named the WAC Player of the Year three times in his career (Utah's Keith Van Horn is the other).
A preseason first-team All-American by Athlon and Street & Smith's and one of 50 players on the preseason watch list for the prestigious John Wooden Award, Fazekas heads into his senior year ranked in the Nevada career top 10 in just about every statistical category. The honorable-mention 2006-07 preseason Associated Press All-American ranks second on the Nevada career scoring list with 1,841 career points and after scoring 29 in the season opener vs. Alaska-Anchorage, he needs just 37 points to surpass Edgar Jones, Nevada's career-leading scorer (1,877 points, 1975-79). Fazekas has already set Nevada's career record for blocked shots with 144, overtaking Jones who had 142 in his career and ranks in the Wolf Pack career top five for rebounding (fourth-910), field goals made (third-664) and free throws made (third-424).
Fazekas turned in one of the finest seasons in school history in 2005-06. A third-team 2006 AP All-America selection, he led the WAC and ranked 16th in the nation in scoring with 21.8 points per game after pacing the conference with 20.7 points per game in 2004-05. With 721 points on the year, he also broke the school single-season scoring record, passing Ken Green’s 697 points in 1982-83. Fazekas finished first on the squad, second in the conference and 15th in the NCAA in rebounding with 10.4 boards per contest. He was one of 21 players in NCAA Division I basketball to average a double-double on the year. He knocked down 52.9 percent of his field goal attempts (268-507), which was good for fourth in the WAC, and finished second in the league and 41st in the nation in free throw shooting at 84.6 percent (154-182). Fazekas added a team-best 49 blocked shots (third in the WAC at 1.48 per game).
In addition to winning the 2006 WAC Player of the Year Award and being named to the All-WAC first team, both for the second straight year, Fazekas was one of 22 finalists on the national ballot for the 2006 John R. Wooden Award and was a finalist for the Adolph Rupp Award. He was recognized on several All-America teams in addition to his AP honor, including ESPN.com (second team), collegeinsider.com, Rivals.com (third team) and Collegehoopsnet.com (third team). Fazekas was named the 2006 United States Basketball Writers Association District VIII Player of the Year and earned National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 13 first-team accolades.
NEVADA NOTCHES THIRD STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASON
Including last season’s 27-6 record, Nevada has won at least 25 games in each of the last three seasons (25-9 in 2003-04, 25-7 in 2004-05, 27-6 in 2005-06). The Wolf Pack’s 27 victories last year marked the second-most wins in school history, just one shy of the single-season record. Head coach Jake Lawlor's 1945-46 squad turned in a school-record 28 victories (28-5 overall record that year). In addition to being the team’s third consecutive 20-win campaign, last season also marked the eighth in school history.
TOUGH DEFENSE
The Wolf Pack led the WAC in field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal percentage defense, ranked second in scoring defense and ended up third in rebounding defense in 2005-06. Nevada held teams to just 63.7 points per game, including a season-low 44 Jan. 12 by Idaho, and 34.1 rebounds per contest. The Wolf Pack allowed teams to shoot just 30.4 percent from beyond the arc and 40.1 percent from the field. The team also ranked 28th in the nation in field goal percentage defense. Nevada held 20 of its 33 opponents under 40 percent from the field in 2005-06, including a season-low 29.6 percent Jan. 12 by Idaho.
EARLY SIGNEES
Malik Cooke of Charlotte, N.C., and Armon Johnson of Reno, Nev., have signed national letters of intent to study and play basketball at the University of Nevada beginning in 2007-08, third-year head coach Mark Fox announced on Nov. 10.
A 6-5, 190-pound forward, Cooke is an all-state and all-league selection at Christ School in Arden, N.C. He averaged 19 points and 9.5 rebounds last year, while as a sophomore in 2004-05, he helped lead his team to a state title. He earned team MVP honors in 2005-06 after leading the Greenies to an 18-14 record, a tie for second place in the conference and a berth in the North Carolina state tournament.
Johnson is a 6-3, 190-pound guard out of Hug High School in Reno. Last season, he was named the Northern 4A Region Co-Player of the Year. He led the Northern Region in scoring at 30.4 points per game to go along with 7.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.4 steals per game. A first-team all-state selection, Johnson led the Hug Hawks to the Sierra League championship and the Class 4A state semifinals last season.
NEWS AND NOTES
- Over the last four-plus seasons, Nevada has turned in a 97-36 overall mark (.729), which is the most wins and the second-best record of any WAC team during that time (second only to Utah State’s 96-31 record, .756). In conference games, the Wolf Pack has won 53 games, which is the most among league schools in that same time period. The next closest team is Fresno State, which has won 40 league contests.
- The Wolf Pack’s 2006-07 schedule features 16 games and contests with four schools that received NCAA Tournament bids one year ago (Cal, Pacific, Gonzaga and Utah State). The team will play in three special events this year: the Dec. 3 Pete Newell Challenge vs. California, the Battle in Seattle vs. Gonzaga on Dec. 30 and the ESPN BracketBusters on Feb. 17.
- Five Nevada players made their Wolf Pack regular-season collegiate debuts in last week’s season opener vs. Alaska-Anchorage, including true freshmen Brandon Fields, Tyrone Hanson, Matt LaGrone and JaVale McGee and redshirt freshman Richie Phillips.
- Senior Denis Ikovlev made his first career start against the Seawolves, turning in nine points and five rebounds (both career highs).
- Junior Marcelus Kemp tied his career bests with five three-pointers made and seven attempts in Nevada’ season opener against Alaska-Anchorage. He led the team with 52 three-pointers made and shot 35.9 percent from beyond the arc last year.
- Kemp led the WAC and ranked 34th in the nation in free throw percentage last season, shooting 85.1 percent from the line (86-101).
- With six assists in Nevada’s season opener, junior Ramon Sessions moved into a tie for eighth in the Nevada career record books with 325 assists. He has tallied that total in just 64 career games, while the player he is tied with - Matt Williams (1987-91) - needed 113 contests reach the same total. On the preseason watch list for the Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award, Sessions has led the team in assists in each of his first two years at Nevada. Last year, he ranked second in the WAC with 4.9 assists per game last year.
- Third-year head coach Mark Fox is the first coach in school history to lead his squad to back-to-back 20-win seasons. He holds a 53-13 career record in his three seasons at the helm of the Wolf Pack program. Fox has been named the Don Haskins WAC Coach of the Year in each of his first two seasons as Nevada’s head coach.
- As a team, the Wolf Pack led the WAC in field goal percentage defense (40.1 percent) and three-point field goal percentage defense (30.4 percent) last year. The squad was also second in scoring (72.8 ppg), rebounding (38.4 rpg), assists (15.6 apg), blocked shots (4.9 bpg), free throw percentage (71.8 percent) and scoring defense (63.7 ppg).
- Nevada has won 41 of its last 42 games when holding its opponent to 60 points or less, including a 13-1 record last season.
- Senior Kyle Shiloh turned in the second-best three-point shooting season in school history last year, making 46.6 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc (48-103).
- 2005-06 marked the third straight year that the Wolf Pack took on the eventual national champion or runner-up at some point during the year (UCLA in the Wooden Classic). In 2003-04, the team faced eventual NCAA champion UConn during the regular season and fell to national runner-up Georgia Tech in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen, while in 2004-05, Nevada fell to NCAA runner-up Illinois in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
UP NEXT
Following Wednesday’s game at Oregon State, the Wolf Pack returns to Lawlor Events Center for a two-game homestand against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Friday, Nov. 18 and UC Irvine on Monday, Nov. 21.
