CHICO STATE WILDCATS (0-0) at #24/25 NEVADA WOLF PACK (0-0)
Exhibition Game
Tues., Nov. 10, 2006 - 7:05 p.m. PT - Lawlor Events Center (11,536) - Reno, Nev.
TELEVISION: None
RADIO: None
SERIES HISTORY: Nevada leads the series with Chico State 59-31.
LAST MEETING: Nevada has won the last five meetings between the two teams, turning in a 105-64 victory over Chico State in the last regular-season meeting on Nov. 27, 1982 in Reno.
The three-time defending Western Athletic Conference champion Nevada Wolf Pack hits the hardwood for the first time in 2006-07 on Tuesday, Nov. 7 with an exhibition game against Chico State. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. at Lawlor Events Center. After Tuesday night’s tuneup, the Wolf Pack will open the regular season on Friday, Nov. 10, playing host to Alaska-Anchorage at 7:05 p.m. at Lawlor Events Center. Nevada has won its last three regular-season openers and 11 of the last 12 dating back to the 1994-95 season. Ranked 24th in the preseason Associated Press poll and 25th 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 championship.
ABOUT CHICO STATE
Under the direction of 20th-year head coach Prescott Puck Smith (273-255 in 19 years at CSU), the Chico State Wildcats return four starters and nine letterwinners from last year’s 9-18 team. The NCAA Division II Wildcats tied for seventh in the California Collegiate Athletic Association with a 8-12 league record one year ago. Chico State opened the 2006-07 season with a 78-53 loss at Pacific on Nov. 4 in Stockton, Calif.
First-team All-CCAA selection Andy Bocian is Chico State’s top returner. The 6-6, 220-pound forward/center averaged 18.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last year. Also returning is 6-0, 175-pound sophomore guard Justin Argenal. A second-team all-conference honoree in 2006, Argenal averaged 10. 6 points. 5.4 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game last year.
IN THE RANKINGS
Nevada has been featured in the national top 25 in the majority of the preseason polls again this year. 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).
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.
WINNING AT LAWLOR
Nevada brings a nine-game home winning streak into this season and had turned in a 45-5 record at Lawlor Events Center since the start of the 2003-04 season (.900 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 the arena opened in 1983-84 (248-91 all-time record).
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.
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 All-American by Athlon and Street & Smith's and 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. He ranks second on the Nevada career scoring list with 1,812 career points and needs just 66 points to surpass Edgar Jones, Nevada's career-leading scorer (1,877 points, 1975-79). He 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 (fifth-900), field goals made (third-653) and free throws made (third-418).
Fazekas turned in one of the finest seasons in school history in 2005-06. A third-team All-America selection by the Associated Press, 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 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.
UP NEXT
Nevada will officially open the 2006-07 season on Friday, Nov. 10, playing host to the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves at 7:05 p.m. at Lawlor Events Center. Under the direction of third-year head coach Rusty Osborne (30-28 record at UAA), NCAA Division II Alaska-Anchorage returns one starter and a total of five letterwinners from last year’s 19-12 team. The Seawolves finished in a tie for fourth in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament last year. Alaska-Anchorage opened the 2006-07 season with a pair of victories over Lancaster Bible College.
Following the home opener, the Wolf Pack will heads to Corvallis, Ore., to take on the Oregon State Beavers on Wednesday, Nov. 15 before returning to Lawlor Events Center for a two-game homestand against Arkansas-Pine Bluff (Nov. 18) and UC Irvine (Nov. 21).
