NEVADA WOLF PACK (1-0) at UNLV RUNNIN' REBELS (1-0)
GAME #2
Wed., Nov. 18, 2009 - 7:30 p.m. PT - Thomas & Mack Center (18,500) - Las Vegas, Nev.
TELEVISION: The Mtn.
James Bates (play-by-play) & Dave Bollwinkel (analyst)
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 7 p.m.
SERIES HISTORY: UNLV leads the all-time series with Nevada 51-19.
LAST MEETING: UNLV has won the last three meetings between the two teams, including a 64-57 victory on Dec. 6, 2008 in Reno.
Following a 75-61 season-opening victory over Montana State, the Nevada Wolf Pack (1-0) hits the road for the first time in the 2009-10 season this week, traveling to Las Vegas to take on the UNLV Runnin' Rebels (1-0) on Wednesday night. Wednesday's game at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center will tip off at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally by The Mtn. with James Bates and Dave Bollwinkel calling the action. Ryan Radtke will call the game on Nevada's radio flagship ESPN 630 AM. With the victory over Montana State, the Wolf Pack won its season opener for the sixth time in the last seven seasons, while Wednesday's game at UNLV starts a stretch of four of five on the road for the Wolf Pack. Nevada also heads to Las Vegas looking to snap a three-game losing streak at the hands of its in-state rival and earn its first victory over the Rebels since 2005. Following Wednesday's game, the Wolf Pack heads to the East Coast for a two-game swing at VCU on Nov. 27 and at North Carolina on Nov. 29.
Under the direction of first-year head coach David Carter, the Wolf Pack returns three starters and a total of eight letterwinners from last year's 21-13 team, including the preseason WAC Player of the Year in sophomore forward Luke Babbitt who led the team in scoring and rebounding last season as a true freshman and preseason first-team All-WAC selection junior guard Armon Johnson who was second on the team in scoring and paced the Wolf Pack in assists last year. This season's team also features three seniors in guards Brandon Fields and Ray Kraemer and forward Joey Shaw as well as five new faces. Last season, Nevada turned in its sixth consecutive year with at least 20 wins and earned the team's seventh consecutive postseason appearance with an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational.
NEVADA IN SEASON OPENERS
Including Saturday's 75-61 win over Montana State, Nevada has now won six of its last six regular-season openers and 14 of the last 16 dating back to the 1994-95 season. Last year, the Wolf Pack opened the season with a 72-63 victory at Montana State on Nov. 15, 2008. In 2007-08, Nevada had a streak of four consecutive season-opening wins snapped with a 63-60 loss at Central Florida on Nov. 11, 2007. Prior to that, the Wolf Pack had had not opened the year with a loss since falling at San Diego 77-75 on Nov. 23, 2002 to start the 2002-03 campaign. The Wolf Pack holds a 53-43 all-time record in season openers.
This year marked the first time in three seasons that Nevada opened the year at home. Last year, the Wolf Pack started the season with a two-game road trip to Montana State and San Diego, while in 2007-08, the Wolf Pack crisscrossed the country to open the year, traveling more than 5,800 miles with games at UCF (Nov. 11) and UC Irvine (Nov. 13).
In 2006-07, Nevada turned in an 85-62 victory over Alaska-Anchorage on Nov. 10, 2006 at Lawlor Events Center. In 2005-06, Nevada started the year with an 82-74 win over Sacramento State on Nov. 19, 2005 at Lawlor Events Center, while the team downed Colorado-Colorado Springs 88-33 on Nov. 20, 2004 to give then head coach Mark Fox his first victory.
CARTER WINS HIS HEAD COACHING DEBUT
Saturday's win over Montana State gave first-year Nevada head coach David Carter his first career coaching victory. He becomes the eighth head coach in school history to win his first game, joining recent head coaches Trent Johnson and Mark Fox who also won their Wolf Pack coaching debuts.
After spending 10 years as an assistant on the Wolf Pack bench, including the last five as Nevada's associate head coach, Carter was named the 17th head coach in the history of the Nevada men's basketball program on April 3, 2009, just one day after fifth-year head coach Mark Fox announced that he was leaving Nevada after five seasons for the University of Georgia. Carter has been an integral part of Nevada's five WAC regular-season championships and seven postseason appearances, including four straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2004-07. Carter was also recognized as one of the top assistant coaches in the nation, making FOXSports.com's list of the top 10 Mid-Major Assistant Coaches in 2007-08 and being named the best assistant coach in the Western Athletic Conference in Street's & Smith's 2004-05 College Basketball National Preview.
ABOUT THE UNLV RUNNIN' REBELS
Under the direction of sixth-year head coach Lon Kruger (113-53 career record), the UNLV Runnin' Rebels returns two starters and six letterwinners from last year's 21-11 NIT team. UNLV finished in fifth in the Mountain West Conference last season with a 9-7 league mark. The Rebels opened the 2009-10 season with a 91-52 victory over Pittsburg State on Saturday, Nov. 14 in Las Vegas.
Junior guard Tre'Von Willis (6-4, 195) is UNLV's top returning scorer from one year ago after turning in 11.4 points per game. He led the team in its season-opening win over Pittsburg State with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting and went 7-for-7 from the free throw line. Willis is also the team's top returning rebounder from one season ago with 4.3 boards per contest.
IN THE SERIES
UNLV holds a 51-19 advantage in the series with Nevada, which dates back to the 1961-62 season. The Rebels have won the last three games in the series, including a 64-57 victory over the Wolf Pack on Dec. 6, 2008 in Reno. UNLV also won the last meeting in the Thomas & Mack Center, turning in a 79-67 win on Nov. 24, 2007 in Las Vegas. In 2006-07, UNLV turned in a 58-49 victory over the Wolf Pack on Dec. 9, 2006 to snap Nevada's three-game winning streak in the series. Prior to the 2006-07 loss, the Wolf Pack had won the last three meetings and four of the last six games between the two teams, including a 68-61 win at UNLV on Nov. 26, 2005 in Las Vegas.\
ON THE ROAD
Nevada has won 35 of its last 55 games away from the friendly confines of Lawlor Events Center, including 30 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 18 of its last 32 regular-season road contests and 29 of its last 44 and turned in an 8-5 road mark last season (6-2 in WAC play). 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 six seasons since the start of the 2004-05 campaign, the Wolf Pack has tallied a 46-21 record in road contests (.687 winning percentage). That includes a 32-10 record in WAC road games (.762).
BABBITT PICKING UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF LAST YEAR
Sophomore forward Luke Babbitt has just picked up where he left off last season, leading the Wolf Pack with 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting in the team's season-opener vs. Montana State. It marked his 12th career game with at least 20 points and the 16th time in his career that he has paced the team in scoring (15 times last year). The preseason WAC Player of the Year, Babbitt also has been named to the preseason watch lists for the 2009-10 John R. Wooden Award and Naismith Trophy. Both awards are annually presented to the top player in college basketball.
Babbitt, a 6-9, 225-pound forward from Reno, Nev., was named the 2009 WAC Freshman of the Year last season after leading the team in scoring and rebounding with 16.9 points and 7.4 boards per game. An all-district selection by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the United States Basketball Writers Association, he ranked second among the nation's freshmen in scoring. He finished third in the WAC in scoring and rebounding and led the league in free throw shooting. Babbitt also set nearly every Wolf Pack freshman single-season record, including scoring with 573 total points.
The Naismith watch list was compiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of Selectors, which based its criteria on player performances from the previous year and expectations for the 2009-10 college basketball season. In late February, the Atlanta Tipoff Club's Board of Selectors will compile a mid-season team of the Top 30 players in the nation. In March, the voting academy will vote to narrow the list to the four finalists, while the Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T will be awarded at the 2010 NCAA Men's Final Four in Indianapolis, Ind.
In late December, the Wooden Award Committee will release the Midseason Top 30 list, followed in March by the National Ballot, consisting of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. The Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced the week of the "Elite Eight" round during the NCAA Tournament. The 34th annual Wooden Award ceremony, which will include the announcement of the Wooden Award winners, and the presentation of the Wooden Award All-American Teams and the Legends of Coaching Award, will take place the weekend of April 9-11, 2010.
This year marks the fourth time in five seasons that Nevada has had a player on the preseason list for the Wooden Award with Marcelus Kemp making the list in 2007-08 and Nick Fazekas in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Fazekas was named to the final ballot for the Wooden Award in each of those years and in 2006-07, he was named one of 10 Wooden Award All-Americans and finished eighth in the final voting for the award.
NOTES FROM THE MONTANA STATE WIN
- Sophomore Luke Babbitt led four Wolf Pack players in double figures for scoring with 26. Junior Armon Johnson added 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while seniors Brandon Fields and Ray Kraemer had 14 and 10 points, respectively.
- Kraemer tied his career high with three three-pointers made and went 3-of-5 from beyond the three-point line in the game. His 10 points were just two shy of his career best of 12 which came at Montana State in last year's season opener. It marked the third time in his career that he has been in double figures for scoring.
- Nevada shot 52.8 percent in the game, including a blistering 72.0 percent in the first half.
- Sophomore Dario Hunt blocked five shots in the game, marking the 23rd time in his career that he has blocked more than one shot and his fourth career game with five or more blocks. His 67 blocks last season set the school freshman record and ranked third in the Nevada single-season record book, while with 72 career blocks in just 35 career games (2.08 per game), Hunt is already ranked 10th on Nevada's career chart.
- Hunt also paced the Wolf Pack with seven rebounds in the win over the Bobcats after leading the team in rebounding five times last year.
- Senior Joey Shaw turned in a career-best four assists to lead the Wolf Pack in the game. As a team, Nevada had 15 assists and 10 blocked shots in the game
EXHIBITION RECAP
Junior Armon Johnson scored 16 points to lead Nevada past Chico State 90-63 in its only exhibition game on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at Lawlor Events Center...Johnson led four Wolf Pack players in double figures and shot 8-of-10 from the field...sophomore Luke Babbitt added 14 points, while sophomore Dario Hunt and senior Ray Kraemer each had 11 points...Hunt pulled down 16 rebounds to lead the game and also had a contest-high four blocked shots in 26 minutes... while exhibition play does not count, Hunt's 11 points and 16 rebounds are the most he has had since coming to Nevada...the game marked the debut of first-year head coach David Carter and the Wolf Pack eighth consecutive exhibition victory...Nevada outrebounded Chico State 44-35 and shot 50.9 percent from the field in the game...Kraemer knocked down three three-pointers to lead the Wolf Pack...Nevada led 54-27 at halftime and Chico State cut the Nevada lead to 15 points six minutes into the second half, making it 59-44 with 14:59 to play, but the Wolf Pack scored the next 12 points to regain its lead, 71-44 with 10:32 to play...Chico State would not get closer than 24 points the rest of the way.
WINNING AT LAWLOR
The Wolf Pack has won 51 of its last 63 contests at Lawlor Events Center, including 26 of its last 36 home games dating back to the start of the 2007-08 season. Including a 13-3 mark in 2007-08, a 13-8 mark in 2008-09 and a 1-0 record this year, the Wolf Pack has turned in an 87-17 record at Lawlor Events Center since the start of the 2003-04 season (.837 winning percentage).
Nevada has also captured 25 of its last 29 WAC regular-season home games and 30 of its last 36 home games against WAC opponents counting the 2006 and 2009 WAC Tournaments. 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. Nevada's losses to Louisiana Tech on Feb. 5 and New Mexico State on Feb. 7, 2009 marked its first back-to-back WAC home losses since falling to Louisiana Tech and SMU in January of 2002.
WHO'S BACK
The Wolf Pack returns three starters and a total of eight letterwinners from last year's 21-13 team, including 2009 WAC Freshman of the Year Luke Babbitt and fellow first-team All-WAC and all-district selection Armon Johnson. Babbitt set nearly every Nevada freshman record and became the first rookie in school history to lead the team in both scoring and rebounding, turning in 16.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game last season. Johnson finished second on the team with 15.5 points per game and led the squad in assists for the second consecutive season with 4.3 per game (fifth in the WAC). Also returning are senior guards Brandon Fields and Ray Kraemer, senior forward Joey Shaw, junior forward Adam Carp, sophomore forward Dario Hunt and sophomore guard London Giles. Fields started 32 of 33 games in 2007-08 and was the team's leading scorer off the bench last year at 9.4 points per game. Fields and Shaw shared the team's Sixth Man Award last year with Shaw adding 7.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per contest, while Hunt led the WAC with 2.0 blocked shots per game last season.
WOLF PACK NEWCOMERS
Nevada's roster features five new faces in freshmen Marko Cukic, Keith Fuetsch and Patrick Nyeko and sophomore transfers Keith Olson and Malik Story. Originally from Belgrade, Serbia, Cukic comes to Nevada after spending last season training at the prestigious IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. Fuetsch was an all-league selection in three sports at Bishop Manogue High School in Reno, while Nyeko earned all-region honors and helped his team to a fourth-place finish in the state championships at Seattle (Wash.) Preparatory School. Olson, a Gardnerville, Nev., native, transferred to Nevada from Northern Arizona, while Story comes to Nevada after starting his collegiate career at Indiana University. Per NCAA transfer rules, Olson will sit out the first semester, while Story will redshirt the 2009-10 season.
WOLF PACK PICKED TO FINISH SECOND IN WAC
Nevada has been picked to finish second in the Western Athletic Conference by both the league's coaches and media, while sophomore forward Luke Babbitt has been named the preseason WAC Player of the Year by both groups. Babbitt and junior guard Armon Johnson were also named first-team All-WAC by both the media and the coaches in the preseason polls.
The Wolf Pack received 53 points, including one first-place vote, from the coaches and had 269 points and 12 first-place nods from the league's media.
NEVADA ONE OF TOP WAC TEAMS OVER LAST SIX YEARS
Over the last six seasons dating back to 2003-04, Nevada has turned in a 149-52 record, the second-most wins of any WAC team during that time (.742 winning percentage). In conference games, Nevada has won 79 games, the most in that same time period.
NEVADA NOTCHES SIXTH STRAIGHT 20-WIN SEASON
With its WAC Tournament quarterfinals win over San Jose State on March 12, 2009, Nevada notched its sixth consecutive season with at least 20 wins. It also marked the 11th 20-win season in school history and the fifth for Mark Fox, who is the only coach in school history to lead more than one team to at least 20 victories. Nevada won at least 25 games in four of those six 20-win seasons (25-9 in 2003-04, 25-7 in 2004-05, 27-6 in 2005-06 and a school-record 29-5 in 2006-07). Nevada has also turned in a school-record eight consecutive winning seasons dating back to the 2001-02 campaign (three under former Pack head coach Trent Johnson and five under Fox). The previous long stretch was six from 1986-87 to 1991-92.
WOLF PACK CONTINUES STRING OF POSTSEASON BIDS
The Wolf Pack earned its seventh consecutive postseason invitation in 2008-09, appearing in the College Basketball Invitational for the second straight year. The Wolf Pack's string of seven postseason appearances dates back to a 2003 National Invitation Tournament bid followed by four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 2004-07. In 2007-08, Nevada drew a tough opening-round matchup with Houston in the CBI and fell to the Cougars 80-79 at Lawlor Events Center on March 18, 2008, while last season, the team dropped another close one, falling to UTEP 79-77 on March 17 in Reno.
UP NEXT
Following Wednesday's game at UNLV, the Wolf Pack returns to Reno for one game on Saturday, Nov. 21 when the team plays host to Houston before heading to the East Coast for games at VCU (Nov. 27) and North Carolina (Nov. 29). The VCU game marks the return of last year's BracketBusters game in Reno, while the UNC contest ends a two-for-one series between the Wolf Pack and the Tar Heels. The team will end its road stretch with a Dec. 5 contest at Pacific.
