SAN DIEGO TOREROS (5-6) vs. NEVADA WOLF PACK (3-4)
GAME NO. 8
Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007 - 7:05 p.m. PT - Lawlor Events Center (11,536) - Reno, Nev.
TELEVISION: Live video streaming at www.nevadawolfpack.com (subscription basis)
RADIO: Wolf Pack Sports Network (ESPN Radio 630 AM, Reno)
Dan Gustin (play-by-play) & Don Marchand (color analyst)
Pregame, 6:35 p.m. PT
SERIES HISTORY: Nevada leads the all-time series 10-3.
LAST MEETING: Nevada won the last meeting between the two teams, turning in an 81-70 victory over San Diego on Dec. 28, 2002 at Lawlor Events Center.
Following an 82-76 victory over Montana State on Saturday, the four-time defending Western Athletic Conference champion Nevada Wolf Pack (3-4) continues its season-long four-game homestand against San Diego (5-6) on Wednesday night at Lawlor Events Center. With Saturday’s victory, Nevada snapped its first three-game losing streak since the 2000-01 season, while the team won for the 26th time in 28 games at Lawlor Events Center (2-1 home record this season). Wednesday’s game is the second of four home games for the Wolf Pack, which opened the year with four of six contests on the road. Following Wednesday’s game with the Toreros, the Wolf Pack will play host to Central Florida on Dec. 16 - in a rematch of the team’s season opener - and Colorado State on Dec. 19.
Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Mark Fox, the Wolf Pack returns one starter and a total of eight letterwinners from last year’s school-record 29-5 team, including 2007 first-team All-WAC selection Marcelus Kemp. This year’s team also features four new faces (one redshirt freshman, a sophomore transfer and a pair of true freshmen). Last season, Nevada set the school single-season record for victories with 29, turned in its fourth consecutive year with at least 25 wins, won its fourth straight WAC regular-season title and earned the team’s fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
WINNING AT LAWLOR
Nevada’s loss to California on Nov. 28 snapped the team’s 13-game home winning streak. The streak had been the longest active home winning streak in the WAC and the 12th-longest in the nation. The Wolf Pack has won 26 of its last 28 contests at Lawlor Events Center and prior to the Cal loss, had not dropped a home contest since falling to UNLV on Dec. 9, 2006. The team has also won 13 consecutive WAC home games, including a perfect 8-0 mark one year ago.
Including its 15-1 record last year and a 2-1 mark this season, the Wolf Pack has turned in a 62-7 record at Lawlor Events Center since the start of the 2003-04 season (.899 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 73.8 percent of its games at Lawlor Events Center since it opened in 1983-84 (262-93 all-time).
NEVADA TOP WAC TEAM OVER LAST FOUR YEARS
Over the last four-plus seasons dating back to 2003-04, Nevada has turned in a 109-31 record, the best record of any WAC team during that time (.779 winning percentage). In conference games, Nevada has won 56 games, the most in that same time period.
ABOUT THE SAN DIEGO TOREROS
San Diego has turned in a 5-6 record this season and has won two of its last three games. The team most recently dropped a 57-47 decision at New Mexico on Dec. 8 but prior to that had downed a pair of WAC teams, including an 81-67 win over Hawaii on Dec. 2 and a 60-40 victory over San Jose State on Dec. 5. Under the direction of first-year head coach Bill Grier (5-6 record at USD), the Toreros returned four starters and eight letterwinners from last year’s 18-14 squad. San Diego finished in sixth place in the West Coast Conference with a 6-8 league record last season.
Junior point guard Brandon Johnson (6-0, 195) is leading the Toreros in scoring at 16.8 points per game and has scored in double figures in all 11 games this season, including a season-high 25 points Dec. 2 against Hawaii. Johnson also has made a team-best 23 three-pointers and 36.5 percent of his attempts from long range. Junior forward Gyno Pomare (6-8, 240) is second on the team in scoring at 13.2 points per game and paces the Toreros in rebounding with 7.1 boards per contest.
IN THE SERIES
Nevada holds a 10-3 advantage in the all-time series with San Diego, which dates back to a first meeting in 1962-63. The Wolf Pack won the last meeting between the two teams, an 81-70 victory on Dec. 28, 2002 in Reno, and has turned in victories in six of the last seven meetings. Nevada also holds a 7-0 record in games played in Reno.
Nevada is 147-210 all time against teams from the West Coast Conference and spent seasons as a member of that league (1969-70 to 1978-79). The team has won its last four games against squads from the WCC, including a 67-54 victory over Santa Clara on Nov. 17 and three wins last season (at Santa Clara, vs. Saint Mary’s and vs. Gonzaga in the Battle in Seattle).
LAST TIME OUT
Senior Marcelus Kemp scored 23 points to lead Nevada past Montana State 82-76 on Saturday night at Lawlor Events Center.
Senior Demarshay Johnson added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds as the Wolf Pack ended its three-game losing streak. Carlos Taylor scored 23 points to lead the Bobcats, which saw their two-game winning streak come to an end.
Montana State went on a 10-0 run in the first four minutes of the second half to take its first lead of the game at 43-41. The Bobcats led by two on four different occasions, the last at 52-50 with 11:45 to play. A 3-pointer and a runner in the land by Kemp gave Nevada a 69-64 lead with 3:38 to go. Nevada scored its final nine points from the free throw line in the final 55 seconds.
The Wolf Pack led by as many as 11 points in the first half as senior David Ellis hit a jumper with two minutes to go for a 38-27 lead. The Bobcats scored the last five points of the half, topping it off with a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Taylor, who lead all scorers with 16 first-half points.
Nevada had a 39-33 lead at halftime behind Kemp's 14 points.
KEMP PACING TEAM IN SCORING
A preseason candidate for the Wooden Award and the Naismith Trophy, senior guard Marcelus Kemp is leading the team and ranked second in the WAC in scoring at 19.1 points per game. He has turned in three consecutive games with at least 20 points and has led the team in scoring in each of those three contests. After leading the team in scoring in 17 games last season, including five of the last six, Kemp has paced the Wolf Pack in scoring in five of seven games this season. He turned in a team- and season-high 26 points with a season-best four three-pointers Nov. 28 vs. California and notched his second career double-double with a game-best 20 points and a career-high-tying 12 rebounds Dec. 1 at Pacific. Last week, he led the team with 23 points and three treys in the win over Montana State. Kemp is leading the squad with 14 three-pointers made this year and has moved into third on the Nevada career list with 171 treys.
With his 23 points against Montana State, Kemp turned in his 17th consecutive game in double figures for scoring (all seven this year) and the 69th of his career. Dating back to the latter part of the 2005-06 season, Kemp’s sophomore year, he has scored in double figures in 48 of the last 50 games. He has also moved into eighth place on the Nevada career scoring list with 1,414 career points and needs 90 more to catch Darryl Owens (1986-89) who currently sits in seventh with 1,504 career points.
DEALING WITH REJECTION
Sophomore JaVale McGee and the Wolf Pack continue to lead the WAC in blocked shots per game. McGee is averaging a league-best 3.00 blocks per game, 1.5 blocks per game ahead of Idaho’s Darin Nagle (1.50), and ranks 15th in the NCAA in the category. He swatted a career-best six shots Nov. 28 against Cal, tying the mark he blocked in Nevada’s Nov. 11 season opener at UCF, and has blocked at least one shot in all seven games (five with two or more). With 51 career blocks in just 40 games, McGee needs just six more to enter Nevada’s career top 10 in the category. Last season, he ranked second on the team and ninth in the WAC with 0.9 blocked shots per game. He finished with 30 blocks on the year and had swatted a previous career best with four vs. Idaho on Jan. 6, 2007.
As a team, Nevada paces the conference and ranks 25th in the nation with an average of 5.86 blocks per game, including a season-best eight Nov. 13 at UC Irvine and seven Nov. 28 against Cal and Dec. 1 at Pacific. Senior Demarshay Johnson is second on the team and fifth in the league in the category with 1.29 blocks per game.
FIELDS FROM DOWNTOWN
Sophomore Brandon Fields Fields is leading the team and ranked seventh in the WAC in three-point percentage at 44.4 percent. He is second on the team with 12 three-pointers made this year, just behind senior Marcelus Kemp (14), and has knocked down at least one three-pointer in all seven games this year. He turned in career highs for three-pointers made in back-to-back games against Cal and Pacific. He made a then career-best 3-of-6 treys Nov. 28 vs. Cal and then bested that mark Dec. 1 at Pacific, knocking down a career-high four three-pointers (4-of-8). Fields made just three treys and shot just 27.3 percent from beyond the arc last season (3-11).
FINDING THEIR TOUCH
Nevada had one of its most solid shooting nights of the season in Saturday’s victory over Montana State, notching season highs for three-point and free throw percentage and turning in one of its best overall outings from the field as well. The team had shot just 37.2 percent from the field in its previous two games, but on Saturday, the Wolf Pack turned in its third 50-percent showing of the season at 51.8. Led by sophomore JaVale McGee who checks in at seventh in the WAC at 52.8 percent, Nevada ranks fourth in the league in field goal percentage this season (45.7 percent) and made a season-best 56.9 percent of its attempts Nov. 13 at UC Irvine
Nevada made a season-high 43.8 percent of its three-point attempts (7-16) in Saturday’s win over Montana State. After leading the WAC and ranking 10th in the nation in three-point shooting at 40.6 percent last year, the Wolf Pack has struggled to find its touch from beyond the arc early this season. Nevada checks in at seventh in the WAC at just 30.4 percent from three-point land this season (31-102). The team made a season-best eight treys Nov. 28 vs. Cal and knocked down seven against both Pacific on Dec. 1 and Montana State on Saturday.
The Wolf Pack also turned in its best free throw shooting effort of the year on Saturday, making 82.1 percent of its attempts from the charity stripe against the Bobcats (23-28). That marked the team’s third 80-percent effort of the season and came after the team had made just 63.1 percent in its previous four outings. Nevada is ranked third in the WAC in free throw percentage this year at 70.2 percent, while senior Marcelus Kemp checks in at second in the WAC and 30th in the nation at 90.0 percent. Kemp has made all four of his free throw attempts in each of the last two games.
DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Nevada has seen three different players turn in its three double-doubles this season. Most recently, senior Marcelus Kemp tallied his second career double-double with 20 points and a career-high-tying 12 rebounds Dec. 1 at Pacific. Sophomore JaVale McGee nabbed his first career double-double Nov. 24 at UNLV, matching his career best with 20 points and pulling down a career-high 13 rebounds, while senior Demarshay Johnson turned in his first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 11 boards Nov. 13 at UC Irvine.
PACK NEWS & NOTES
- Nevada saw four players notch double figures for scoring in Saturday’s victory over Montana, marking the second time this year that the team has had four players do that (UC Irvine was the other). Senior Marcelus Kemp turned in a team-best 23 points, while senior Demarshay Johnson, sophomore JaVale McGee and freshman Armon Johnson each added 11 against the Bobcats. The team also got a season-high 24 points from its bench in Saturday’s win, including a season-high seven by senior David Ellis and five from sophomore Ray Kraemer, the first points of Kraemer’s Wolf Pack career.
- Sophomore Matt LaGrone earned his first career start in Saturday’s game vs. Montana State. Nevada’s starting lineup on Saturday featured just one senior (Kemp), three sophomores (LaGrone, McGee, Fields) and one true freshman (A. Johnson).
- Four members of the Wolf Pack are averaging in doubles figures for scoring this year, led by senior guard Marcelus Kemp who ranks second in the WAC at 19.1 points per game. Kemp has led the team in scoring in five of seven games this year, including each of the last three. Sophomore JaVale McGee is adding 13.7 points per game (ninth in the WAC) with a career-high 20 at UC Irvine and again at UNLV and 19 vs. Cal. Sophomore Brandon Fields is adding 11.6 points per tilt, including a career-best 16 points Nov. 13 at UC Irvine and Dec. 1 at Pacific, while true freshman Armon Johnson is averaging 10.3 points per game.
- The Wolf Pack outrebounded Montana State 32-30, marking the third time this year that the team has outboarded its opponent. Coming into Saturday’s game, the Bobcats had outrebounded all seven of their previous opponents. Prior to Saturday, the Wolf Pack had been outrebounded in three of its last four games and a total of four times this season. In three of those games, Nevada had been outboarded by a total of just five combined rebounds (40-39 UCF, 27-25 vs. Santa Clara and 38-36 at Pacific). Nevada has outrebounded three teams this year (UC Irvine, UNLV and Montana State). Against UC Irvine, the Wolf Pack outboarded the Anteaters 43-20, including a 14-7 advantage on the offensive glass. Nevada is ranked third in the WAC in rebounding margin at +2.4 boards per contest this year. Last season, Nevada beat its opponents on the boards in 27 of 34 games (24-3 record) and led the league in rebounding margin (+6.5).
- Sophomore JaVale McGee is pacing the squad and ranked ninth in the WAC in rebounding at 7.0 boards per game. He has led the team in rebounding in four games this season, including a career-best 13 boards Nov. 24 at UNLV and nine Nov. 28 vs. Cal. Senior Marcelus Kemp is second on the team and 10th in the WAC at 6.4 rebounds per game.
- The Wolf Pack features three players ranked in the league’s top 10 for assists this year. Sophomore Brandon Fields is third in the WAC at 4.14 assists per game, while freshman Armon Johnson is seventh at 3.14 and senior Marcelus Kemp is ninth at 2.86. On Nov. 28 vs. California, Johnson had a team- and career-best six assists and Fields has tied his career high with five assists four times this season, including Saturday vs. Montana. Fields and Johnson are also ranked in the WAC’s top 10 in assist-to-turnover ratio with Fields checking in at second (1.71) and Johnson at seventh (1.10).
- Nevada opened the year with a 2-4 record for the first time since the 2002-03 season (now 3-4). That season, Nevada played five of its first seven games on the road and turned in a 2-5 mark before winning its next three contests. The 2002-03 team finished with an 18-14 record and made a trip to the postseason NIT, the first of five consecutive postseason appearances for the Wolf Pack (one NIT bid and four NCAA appearances). In 2003-04, Nevada opened the year with a 2-3 mark before reeling off wins in its next five games and seven of its next eight. The Wolf Pack finished with a 25-9 record that season, winning its first of four WAC regular-season championships and making the first NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance in school history.
- Saturday’s victory over Montana State snapped the Wolf Pack’s first three-game losing streak since dropping five straight contests at the end of the 2000-01 season. The Nov. 28 loss to Cal marked Nevada’s first back-to-back losses in the same season since 2005-06. The Wolf Pack lost its second-round NCAA game to Memphis last year and opened this season with a 63-60 loss at UCF on Nov. 11, but the team had not dropped back-to-back losses in the same season since falling to Fresno State and Utah State in January of 2006. Head coach Mark Fox’s squads have dropped back-to-back games just five times in his three-plus seasons and hold a 16-6 record following a loss in his tenure.
- Nevada has won 47 of its last 49 games when holding its opponent to 60 points or less, including a 13-1 record in 2005-06, a 6-1 mark last year and a 1-0 record this season.
- Sophomore forward JaVale McGee, sophomore guard Brandon Fields and true freshman guard Armon Johnson all made their first career starts for the Wolf Pack on Nov. 11 at UCF. Johnson marked the first Wolf Pack true freshman to start a game since Ramon Sessions started 31 of 32 games in 2004-05. Sessions was named the WAC Freshman of the Year that season.
CLOSE LOSSES
Nevada’s four losses this season have come by an average of just 6.25 points per game, while two of them - a 63-60 loss at UCF on Nov. 11 and last week’s 70-66 loss at Pacific - were decided by four points or less. Last year, Nevada’s five losses came by an average of just 6.8 points per game. In his three-plus years as Nevada’s head coach, Mark Fox’s squads have only lost six games by a margin in double figures.
KEMP NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR NOV. 12-18
Nevada guard Marcelus Kemp was named the WAC Player of the Week for Nov. 12-18. It marked the third career WAC Player of the Week honor for the senior from Seattle, Wash. Kemp averaged 17.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game in Nevada’s wins over UC Irvine and Santa Clara. He shot 60 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three-point land. He turned in 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting, six rebounds and two steals in Nevada’s win at UC Irvine on Nov. 13. He also scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting in the Wolf Pack’s victory over Santa Clara on Nov. 17, making 3-of-6 three-point attempts against the Broncos.
WOLF PACK ONE OF TWO SCHOOLS WITH FOUR STRAIGHT LEAGUE TITLES, NCAA BIDS
Last year, Nevada became one of just two schools in the country to win four consecutive regular-season conference titles and appear in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments (2004-07). The four-time Western Athletic Conference regular-season champion Wolf Pack joins just Gonzaga, which has won at least a share of the last five West Coast Conference regular-season crowns, on that list. A total of 15 schools appeared in the last four NCAA Tournaments, including Arizona, Boston College, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Illinois, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan State, Nevada, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Southern Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin.
FOX RETURNS FOR FOURTH SEASON
Fourth-year head coach Mark Fox is the first coach in school history to lead his squad to three consecutive 20-win and NCAA Tournament seasons. He holds an 84-22 career record in his three-plus seasons at the helm of the Wolf Pack program (.792 winning percentage). His 81 wins were tied with Gonzaga's Mark Few for the most victories in Division I history by a coach through three seasons (81-18 record in his first three seasons).
Fox has been named the Don Haskins Coach of the Year in each of his first three seasons as Nevada’s head coach to become the first coach in WAC history to earn the honor in three consecutive years. Last year, he was also one of 15 finalists for the 2007 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award and was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches District 13 Coach of the Year.
ROAD WARRIORS
Nevada has won 20 of its last 28 games away from the friendly confines of Lawlor Events Center, including 16 road wins and four neutral-site victories (dating back to midway through the 2005-06 season). Last year, the team turned in a 14-4 record away from home, including a 10-2 road mark and a 4-2 record in neutral-site games. The Wolf Pack has won four of its last eight regular-season road contests and 15 of its last 20. Last year, the team saw an 11-game regular-season road winning streak snapped with a Jan. 20, 2007 loss at New Mexico State. Prior to that, the team had not dropped a road contest since falling at Fresno State on Jan. 18, 2006.
In the last three-plus seasons since the start of the 2004-05 campaign, the Wolf Pack has tallied a 32-10 record in road contests (76.2 winning percentage).
This year, Nevada opened the season with four of its first six contests away from home, beginning with its season-opening two-game road trip to UCF and UC Irvine and trips to UNLV and Pacific (1-3 road record this year). The team racked up over 5,800 frequent flier miles in five days to open the season, traveling 2,833 miles from Reno to Orlando, 2,496 miles from Orlando to Anaheim for a game two days later and 544 miles from Anaheim back to Reno. According to a story by ESPN.com’s Kyle Whelliston, the Wolf Pack will travel the third-most miles of any team in the country this season (21,009 miles), behind just fellow WAC schools Hawai’i (38,621) and New Mexico State (24,941).
Last season, Nevada opened the year with four of its first seven games away from home (three road wins and a neutral-site victory), while in 2005-06, the team played 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 to 2006 NCAA runner-up UCLA). That year, Nevada traveled over 10,000 miles in 11 days in a four-game road stand that included trips to Vermont, UNLV, Kansas and Pacific.
UP NEXT
Following Wednesday’s game with San Diego, Nevada continues its four-game homestand with a pair of games. The Wolf Pack will play host to Central Florida on Sunday, Dec. 16 as part of a doubleheader with the Nevada women’s basketball team. The women will take on Cal State Fullerton at 2 p.m. followed by the men vs. UCF at 5:05 p.m. Nevada will then end its homestand with a game vs. Colorado State on Wednesday, Dec. 19 before returning to the road with a contest at Northern Iowa on Saturday, Dec. 22.
