PACIFIC TIGERS (1-1) at NEVADA WOLF PACK (2-1)
GAME #4
Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008 - 7:05 p.m. PT - Lawlor Events Center (11,536) - Reno, Nev.
TELEVISION: Live internet streaming at www.nevadawolfpack.com (nominal fee)
RADIO: University of Nevada Sports Network (ESPN Radio 630 AM, Reno;
KELK 1240 AM, Elko; KHWG 750 AM, Fallon & KSVL 92.3 FM, Yerington)
Ryan Radtke (play-by-play), pregame show starts at 6:35 p.m. PT
SERIES HISTORY: Pacific leads the all-time series with Nevada 49-44.
LAST MEETING: Pacific won the last meeting between the two teams with its 70-66 victory on Dec. 1, 2007 in Stockton, Calif.
Following a 79-71 victory over Oregon State on Saturday, the five-time defending Western Athletic Conference champion Nevada Wolf Pack (2-1) wraps up its two-game homestand with the Pacific Tigers (1-1) on Wednesday, Nov. 26. Wednesday’s game at Lawlor Events Center will tip off at 7:05 p.m. and can be heard on Nevada’s radio flagship, ESPN 630 AM, and affiliates with Ryan Radtke calling the action. The Wolf Pack has won 13 of its last 15 games overall at Lawlor Events Center. Following Wednesday night’s game, Nevada hits the road for contests at Portland and Colorado State, concluding a stretch of four of six away from home to begin the year.
Under the direction of fifth-year head coach Mark Fox, the Wolf Pack returns two starters and a total of seven letterwinners from last year’s 21-12 team, including the coaches’ preseason WAC Player of the Year Armon Johnson who started 32 of 33 games last season as a true freshman. This year’s team also features five new faces (a junior college transfer and four true freshmen). Last season, Nevada turned in its fifth consecutive year with at least 20 wins, won its fifth straight WAC regular-season title and earned the team’s six consecutive postseason appearance with an invitation to the inaugural College Basketball Invitational.
WINNING AT LAWLOR
The Wolf Pack has won 38 of its last 42 contests at Lawlor Events Center, including 13 of its last 15 home games dating back to last season. Including a 13-3 mark in 2007-08, the Wolf Pack has turned in a 74-9 record at Lawlor Events Center since the start of the 2003-04 season (.892 winning percentage). Nevada’s loss to California on Nov. 28, 2008 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. Prior to the Cal loss, Nevada had not dropped a home contest since falling to UNLV on Dec. 9, 2006.
Nevada has also captured 20 of its last 21 WAC regular-season home games and 23 of its last 25 home games against WAC opponents counting the 2006 WAC Tournament. A Jan. 19, 2008 loss to Boise State snapped the Wolf Pack’s 14-game winning streak in WAC home games, including a perfect 8-0 mark in 2006-07 and a 2-0 mark to start the 2007-08 season (finished 7-1). That 14-game win streak had dated back to January of 2006.
ABOUT THE PACIFIC TIGERS
Pacific has opened the season with a 1-1 mark, dropping a 68-56 game at California on Nov. 15 and winning a 66-58 contest against UC San Diego on Nov. 19 in Stockton, Calif. Under the direction of 21st-year head coach Bob Thomason (344-251 record at Pacific), Pacific returns three starters and nine letterwinners from last year's 21-10 squad. The Tigers finished fourth in the Big West Conference with an 11-5 league mark one year ago.
Senior forward Anthony Brown (6-7, 220) is leading the Tigers in scoring with 13.5 points per game this year, including a game-high 19 vs. UC San Diego. Sophomore forward/center Sam Willard (6-9, 220) is Pacific’s top rebounder with 7.5 boards per contest and is second in scoring with 10.0 points per game. He turned in a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds vs. UC San Diego. Brown is also pulling down 6.5 rebounds per game this year.
IN THE SERIES
Wednesday will mark the 94th overall meeting on the hardwood between the Wolf Pack and Tigers with Pacific holding a 49-44 advantage in the all-time series. Pacific turned in a 70-66 victory over Nevada on Dec. 1, 2007 in Stockton, while Nevada had won the previous two meetings between the two teams, including a 60-53 win on Dec. 16, 2006 at Lawlor Events Center.
The Wolf Pack was a member of the Big West Conference from 1992-2000 and holds a 157-97 all-time record against the teams that currently make up the league.
LAST TIME OUT
Freshman Luke Babbitt scored 20 points to lead Nevada past Oregon State 79-71 Saturday at Lawlor Events Center.
Junior Joey Shaw had 15 points, sophomore Malik Cooke 14 and sophomore Armon Johnson 11 for the Wolf Pack, which won its sixth consecutive home opener.
The game was tight until the final three minutes. With the score tied at 65, Nevada went on a 10-2 run with Cooke hitting four free throws and a short jumper, and Babbitt hitting a jumper and two free throws to put Nevada ahead 75-67 with 56 seconds to play.
Oregon State pulled to within five at 75-70 on a 3-pointer by Daniel Deane with 39.8 seconds left, but could get no closer.
The Wolf Pack outscored the Beavers 15-0 on fast break points and 18-6 on second-chance opportunities. Nevada also had a 35-27 advantage in rebounds.
Nevada led 36-35 at halftime after trailing most of the first half. Roeland Schaftenaar and Deane each hit a pair of 3-pointers as the Beavers built a 20-8 lead with 13:18 left in the half. The Wolf Pack chipped away at the lead and tied the game at 32 on a layup by junior Brandon Fields with 2:23 left.
After Babbitt hit a short jumper, Deane hit his third 3-pointer of the half to put Oregon State up 35-34. Junior Ray Kraemer was fouled with 3.1 seconds left in the half and hit both free throws to put the Wolf Pack back on top.
WOLF PACK NEWS & NOTES
- Freshman Luke Babbitt is leading the Wolf Pack and ranked in the WAC’s top 10 in scoring and rebounding early this season. He is tied for 10th in the league with 14.3 points per game and is eighth in the WAC with 8.0 rebounds per game. He has turned in a pair of career-high 20-point efforts on the season (at Montana State and vs. Oregon State).
- Babbitt leads four Wolf Pack players in double figures for scoring this season. Junior Joey Shaw is turning in 12.7 points per game followed by sophomore Armon Johnson at 12.3 and sophomore Malik Cooke at 11.0.
- Sophomore Armon Johnson dished out a career-high 11 assists in Saturday’s win over Oregon State to lead Nevada’s season-high 20-assist effort. Johnson also added 11 points for his first career double-double and the Wolf Pack’s first points-assists double-double since Ramon Sessions had 11 points and 10 assists in an 84-66 victory over Boise State on Jan. 15, 2005. Johnson ranks second in the WAC with 6.0 assists per game this year and has the conference’s best assist-to-turnover ratio (3.60, 18 assists and only five turnovers). As a team, Nevada is leading the WAC with a 1.11 assist-to-turnover ratio.
- Nevada shot a season-high 45.8 percent from the field (27-59), including a season-best 45.0 percent clip from three-point land (9-20), in Saturday’s win over Oregon State. The team made 5-of-8 of its three-point attempts in the second half against the Beavers. The Wolf Pack had shot just 33.6 percent overall and 20.0 percent from three-point land in its first two games.
- Junior Joey Shaw and senior Lyndale Burleson each made a career-best three treys in Saturday night’s victory over Oregon State.
- Nevada is second in the WAC in free throw percentage, hitting 74.6 percent of its attempts from the charity stripe so far this season (50-67). Juniors Joey Shaw and Ray Kraemer are leading the WAC in free throw percentage, both making all six of their free throw attempts on the year, while freshman Luke Babbitt has made 10-of-13 (.769) and sophomore Malik Cooke is 11-of-15 (.733).
- The Wolf Pack also turned in a season-high 12 steals in the win over Oregon State with four by junior Joey Shaw and three apiece by freshman Luke Babbitt and sophomore Malik Cooke. Shaw and Cooke are tied for fourth in the WAC with 2.0 steals per game each.
NEVADA TOP WAC TEAM OVER LAST FIVE YEARS
Over the last five seasons dating back to 2003-04, Nevada has turned in a 129-40 record, the best record of any WAC team during that time (.763 winning percentage). In conference games, Nevada has won 68 games, the most in that same time period.
ON THE ROAD
Nevada has won 28 of its last 44 games away from the friendly confines of Lawlor Events Center, including 23 road wins and five neutral-site victories (dating back to midway through the 2005-06 season). In 2006-07, 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 11 of its last 21 regular-season road contests and 22 of its last 33 and turned in a 7-9 road mark last season. In 2006-07, 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 four-plus seasons since the start of the 2004-05 campaign, the Wolf Pack has tallied a 39-17 record in road contests (.696 winning percentage). That includes a 26-8 record in WAC road games (.765).
FOX RETURNS FOR FIFTH SEASON
Nevada head coach Mark Fox holds a 104-31 career record in four-plus seasons at the helm of the Wolf Pack program (.770 winning percentage) and is already fourth in all-time wins at Nevada. He is the first coach in school history to lead his squad to four consecutive 20-win seasons and three NCAA Tournament appearances.
Nevada’s March 1, 2008 victory over Louisiana Tech gave Fox the 100th win of his career. He tied for 21st on the NCAA's list of fastest coaches to reach 100 wins (among coaches with at least half of their seasons at the Division I level). Duke's Vic Bubas also took 128 wins to reach the milestone, doing it in his fifth season (1964). Fox also became the fastest coach in school history to reach the 100-win plateau. It took Jake Lawlor, the winningest coach in school history, seven seasons (10th game into that season) and 168 games to hit that milestone, while Sonny Allen reached the mark in the first game of his seventh season (100 wins in 174 games). Nevada has seen three of its previous head coaches notch at least 100 wins, including Lawlor (201-159 career record), Allen (114-89) and Jack Spencer (123-199).
Fox’s 81 wins after his first three seasons 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 was 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. He was also one of 15 finalists for the 2007 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award and was named the 2007 National Association of Basketball Coaches District 13 Coach of the Year.
UP NEXT
Following Wednesday’s game with Pacific, the Wolf Pack heads out on the road for a pair of games at Portland (Nov. 29) and Colorado State (Dec. 2) to end a stretch of four of six contests away from home to open the season. Nevada will then return home for seven of its next eight games, starting with UNLV on Saturday, Dec. 6.
