Coming off an 89-67 victory over Fresno Pacific on Tuesday, the Nevada Wolf Pack (3-4) continues its homestand this weekend, playing host to South Dakota State (4-5) Saturday night at Lawlor Events Center. Saturday's game will tip off at 7:05 p.m. Pacific Time and can be heard on Nevada's flagship radio station, ESPN 630 AM, with Ryan Radtke calling the action. Nevada snapped a three-game losing streak with its victory over the Sunbirds and is 3-0 at Lawlor Events Center this year. Following Saturday's game, the Wolf Pack continues its season-long four-game homestand by opening play in the HOOPTV Las Vegas Classic with Eastern Washington on Thursday, Dec. 17 and Wagner College on Saturday, Dec. 19. The team will head to the Orleans in Las Vegas for the final two rounds of the event the following week.
Under the direction of first-year head coach David Carter, the Wolf Pack returned 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.
WINNING AT LAWLOR
The Wolf Pack has won 53 of its last 65 contests at Lawlor Events Center, including 28 of its last 38 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 3-0 record this year, the Wolf Pack has turned in an 89-17 record at Lawlor Events Center since the start of the 2003-04 season (.840 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.
ABOUT THE SOUTH DAKOTA STATE JACKRABBITS
Under the direction of 15th-year head coach Scott Nagy (260-167 record in 14-plus years at SDSU), the South Dakota State Jackrabbits returned all five starters and a total of 10 letterwinners from last year's 13-20 team. The Jackrabbits finished seventh in the Summit League last season with a 7-11 conference mark. South Dakota State holds a 4-5 record this season, snapping a five-game losing streak with an 80-74 win at Western Illinois on Dec. 5 and turning in a 95-70 victory over Southwest Minnesota State on Tuesday, Dec. 8.
Senior guard Garrett Callahan (6-1, 189) and junior guard Clint Sargent (6-4, 209) are leading South Dakota State in scoring with 12.9 and 10.6 points per game, respectively. Callahan turned in a season-high 27 points in Tuesday's victory over Southwest Minnesota State. Junior forward Anthony Cordova (6-7, 249) is the Jacks' top rebounder at 5.0 boards per contest and is chipping in with 10.1 points per game. Sargent is shooting 52.4 percent from three-point land (22-42).
IN THE SERIES
Nevada holds a 1-0 record in the all-time series with South Dakota State, downing the Jackrabbits 96-63 on Dec. 3, 1981 in Reno in the only previous meeting between the two teams. Nevada will travel to Brookings, S.D., to return the game with South Dakota State next year. The Wolf Pack holds a 6-0 all-time record against the 10 teams that currently make up the Summit League, most recently downing Southern Utah 74-73 on Jan. 29, 1990 in Reno.
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 again in scoring and rebounding this year. He is tied for third in the WAC with 18.4 points per game and ranks third in the conference at 10.6 boards per contest (16th in the nation in rebounding). The Nevada southpaw has notched double-doubles in each of the last six games, including 16 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's win over Fresno Pacific. Babbitt is tied for seventh in the nation with six double-doubles and is one of only four players in the country to have double-doubles in all or all but one of their games so far this season.
Babbitt turned in a season-high 27 points to go along with 13 rebounds Nov. 27 at VCU, scoring 23 of his 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting in the second half in Nevada's near comeback. He also turned in 14 points and 10 rebounds Nov. 18 at UNLV, had 14 points and a career-best 17 rebounds Nov. 21 vs. Houston and opened the year with 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting in the team's Nov. 14 win over Montana State.
Babbitt has had 13 career games with at least 20 points (including two this year) and has led the team in scoring 17 times in his young career (15 times last year and two this season). He has scored in double figures in 38 of 41 career games at Nevada, including all seven contests this year. The preseason WAC Player of the Year, Babbitt 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 behind just Liberty's Seth Curry who averaged 20.2 points per game last year. Babbitt 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.
JOHNSON JOINS NEVADA'S 1000-POINT CLUB
With a jumper with 12:30 to go in the second half Dec. 5 at Pacific, junior guard Armon scored his 1,000th career point to become the 19th player in school history to reach that milestone. In his two-plus years and 74 games in the Silver and Blue, Johnson has scored 1,023 points. He also became just the sixth player in Wolf Pack history to turn in 1,000 points and 250 assists in his career. Johnson already has 294 career assists and ranks 10th in the Nevada career record book.
Only Nevada standouts Marcelus Kemp, Pete Padgett, Darryl Owens Kevin Soares and Matt Williams have previously scored at least 1,000 points and dished out 250 or more assists as members of the Wolf Pack.
Johnson has led the Pack in scoring in each of the last three games and checks in at eighth in the WAC in scoring with 16.7 points per game this season. He has turned in a pair of 20-point games this year, including a season-high 22 points in the Nov. 21 win over Houston. Most recently, he knocked down 9-of-12 field goal attempts for a game-high 19 points in Tuesday's victory over Fresno Pacific.
NEVADA'S 1,000-POINT SCORERS
Rk. Name Games Blks
1 Nick Fazekas, 2004-07 131 2,464
2 Marcelus Kemp, 2004-08 134 1,939
3 Edgar Jones, 1975-79 101 1,877
4 Alex Boyd, 1967-70 73 1,731
5 Terrance Green, 1999-2003 119 1,646
6 Pete Padgett, 1972-76 104 1,642
7 Ric Herrin, 1989-93 109 1,512
8 Darryl Owens, 1986-89 82 1,504
9 Kirk Snyder, 2001-04 84 1,404
10 Garry Hill-Thomas, 2000-04 124 1,340
11 Kevin Soares, 1988-92 116 1,261
12 Nap Montgomery, 1964-66 N/A 1,249
13 Ken "Tree" Green, 1981-83 57 1,212
14 Mike Gray, 1977-79 55 1,125
15 Matt Williams, 1987-91 113 1,062
16 Dwayne Randall, 1984-86 58 1,060
17 Marvin Buckley, 1972-74 N/A 1,039
18 Faron Hand, 1994-97 64 1,034
19 Armon Johnson, 2007-pres. 74 1,023
LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD
Nevada leads in the WAC in scoring offense and ranked 57th in the NCAA this season at 78.2 points per game, up from its average of 70.2 ppg last year. Four Wolf Pack players are averaging in double figures for scoring this season, and three are ranked in the WAC's top 15. Sophomore Luke Babbitt is leading the team and ranked tied for third in the WAC at 18.4 points per game, while junior Armon Johnson is eighth at 16.7 points per game and senior Brandon Fields ranks 11th at 13.7 points per contest. Senior Joey Shaw is just out of the WAC's top 15 at 12.6 points per game.
The Wolf Pack has had four different players lead the team in scoring in its first seven games this year. Sophomore Luke Babbitt paced the team with 26 points in the season-opening win over Montana State and had a season-high 27 Nov. 27 at VCU, Fields had 22 in a Nov. 18 loss at UNLV, Shaw turned in his career-best 26 in the Nov. 14 win over Houston and Johnson has paced the Pack in the last three games with 20 points Nov. 29 at No. 11/12 North Carolina, 18 Dec. 5 at Pacific and 19 Tuesday vs. Fresno Pacific.
The Wolf Pack has had at least four players in double figures for scoring in six of its seven games this year, including the Nov. 21 win over Houston where five Wolf Pack players reached double figures, including Shaw who led the team with a career-best 26 points. Fields added 24, while Johnson had 22 and Kraemer scored a career-best 19 in that contest, which also marked the first time that Nevada had three players score at least 20 points in the same game since the Wolf Pack turned in an 85-72 win at Idaho on Feb. 16, 2008. Marcelus Kemp scored 32 in that game, while Fields had 21 and JaVale McGee added 20.
Nevada's 112 points in its Nov. 21 win over Houston marked the most for the Wolf Pack since the team turned in a 117-88 win over Northwestern State on Dec. 19, 1991. The team's 61 points in the first half also mark the most points in a half since Nevada scored what is believed to be a school-record 71 points in the second half of a 117-88 win over Northwestern State on Dec. 19, 1991. The Wolf Pack also scored 89 points Tuesday's 89-67 victory over Fresno Pacific, while the 22-point margin of victory was the biggest of the year for the team.
ASSISTS MACHINE
Junior guard Armon Johnson is leading the Wolf Pack in assists for the third consecutive season and ranks first in the WAC and 56th in the nation this year with 5.43 assists per game this year. The leftie dished out a career-best 12 assists Nov. 21 vs. Houston for his second career double-double. He also had 11 points and 11 assists in last year's win over Oregon State, which marked Nevada's first points-assists double-double since Ramon Sessions had his lone career double-double in 2004-05 vs. Boise State (11 points and 10 assists). Johnson also checks in at 10th in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.41).
With his seven assists in Tuesday's win over Fresno Pacific, Johnson entered the Nevada career chart for assists. He currently ranks 10th with 294 career assists, moving past Kyle Shiloh who dished out 293 assists in his career from 2004-07.
SHOOTING TOUCH
Nevada continues to rank among the WAC leaders in field goal and three-point percentage, knocking down 46.5 percent of its field goal attempts (third in the WAC) and 34.4 percent of its three-point attempts (43-125, fourth in the league). Those numbers compare to the team's 42.7 overall percentage and 30.6 three-point percentage last season. Nevada ranked seventh in the WAC and 267th out of 303 Division I teams in three-point shooting last season.
The Wolf Pack has shot over 50 percent in three of its seven games this season, including a sizzling 60.9 percent in its Nov. 21 victory over Houston. That marked the team's first 60-percent effort since a 62.3-percent shooting night at San Jose State on Feb. 12, 2009. The Wolf Pack has made a season-high 50 percent of its three-point attempts twice this year (6-of-12 at UNLV and 11-of-22 vs. Houston). The 11 three-pointers made vs. the Cougars marked the most for Nevada since it made 11 in a Feb. 9, 2008 win over Hawai'i.
Senior Ray Kraemer is leading the team in field goal percentage at 56.3 percent so far this season and would rank 10th in the WAC in field goal percentage but falls three field goals made shy of the WAC minimum to be included. He also ranks third in the WAC in three-point percentage at 52.0 percent, knocking down 13-of-25 long-range attempts. Kraemer made a career-best four three-pointers in the Nov. 21 win over Houston, going 7-of-9 overall from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point land. He also went 3-of-5 from beyond the three-point line in Nevada's season-opening win over Montana State and again Tuesday vs. Fresno Pacific. Senior Brandon Fields also tied his career high with four three-pointers made Nov. 21 vs. the Cougars.
Senior Joey Shaw is also shooting the ball well for the Wolf Pack this year. He ranks 11th in the WAC in field goal percentage (.518) and tied for 11th in three-point percentage (.414, 12-29), while Kraemer (8th, 1.86) and Shaw (10th, 1.71) are ranked among the conference leaders in three-pointers made per game. Shaw made 3-of-4 three-point attempts Tuesday vs. the Sunbirds.
LAST TIME OUT
Junior Armon Johnson scored 19 points to lead Nevada to a 89-67 win over Fresno Pacific on Tuesday night.
Sophomore Luke Babbitt added 16 points as the Wolf Pack snapped a three-game losing streak. James Lewis led the Sunbirds with 18 points in a game that counted as an exhibition for Fresno Pacific. Nevada, which is now 3-0 at home, also had 10 points each from seniors Brandon Fields and Joey Shaw.
Nevada took a 56-35 lead at halftime as Johnson scored 17 points and Babbitt added 14. Shaw opened the game with a pair of 3-pointers in the first two minutes as Nevada led the entire first half.
Lewis had 10 first-half points for the Sunbirds. Jordan Wild added seven in the opening half and finished with nine. Todd Brown scored 12 points for the Sunbirds, including nine in the second half.
WOLF PACK NOTES
- All but one of the 11 Wolf Pack players who saw action in Tuesday's win over Fresno Pacific scored at least two points, including freshman Patrick Nyeko who had six points and four rebounds in his first regular-season action of the year.
- Freshman Marko Cukic has averaged 5.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in the last two games, up from his season averages of 3.7 ppg and 1.9 rpg. He turned in career bests with six points on 3-of-3 shooting and five rebounds Dec. 5 at Pacific and had five points and three boards on Tuesday night.
- Nevada shot 54.2 percent from the field in the win over Fresno Pacific, marking the third time this year that the Wolf Pack has been over 50 percent. The team shot a sizzling 67.7 percent in the first half, making 21 of 31 attempts from the field. That 50-percent shooting effort came after the team had shot just 40.0 percent from the field and 21.6 percent from three-point land (11-51) in its three road losses.
- Nevada continues to lead the WAC in rebounding with 42.3 boards per contest and features five players averaging 4.3 rebounds or better this season, including two ranked in the WAC's top 10. Sophomore Luke Babbitt is third in the WAC with 10.6 rebounds per game, while sophomore Dario Hunt checks in at eighth in the WAC at 7.0 boards per contest. Senior Joey Shaw is just out of the WAC rankings at 6.0 boards per contest, followed by senior Brandon Fields and junior Armon Johnson are also pulling down 5.0 and 4.3 rebounds per game, respectively. Four Wolf Pack players set or tied career bests for rebounding in the season-high 57-rebound performance vs. Houston, including a career-high 17 by Babbitt, a career best-tying nine by Shaw and Hunt (since broken) and a career high-matching seven by Johnson. Fields also matched his career best with nine rebounds in Nov. 27 at VCU.
- Nevada has outrebounded four of its last five opponents after being outrebounded in its first two games. The team turned in a 50-45 advantage Nov. 27 over VCU and outrebounded Houston 57-27 on Nov. 21 in Reno. The 57 boards marked a season high for the Wolf Pack. The Wolf Pack outrebounded the Sunbirds 42-23 on Tuesday, improving to 2-2 this year when outrebounding its opponents.
- The Wolf Pack is pacing the WAC and ranked 36th in the nation with 5.29 blocked shots per game after leading the conference in the category with 4.79 per tilt last season. The WAC's leader last year, sophomore Dario Hunt is again leading the league in blocked shots this year with 2.57 per game (34th in the NCAA), including five in the season opener vs. Montana State and three in each of the last three games. He has blocked at least one shot in 35 of 41 career games (all seven this season) and has turned in 26 career games with more than one block, including four with five or more. Hunt has 86 blocks in his career (in 41 games, 2.10 per game), which already ranks eighth on the Nevada career list. Hunt's 67 blocks last season set the school freshman record and ranked third in the Nevada single-season record book.
- Sophomore Luke Babbitt and senior Joey Shaw are ranked among the WAC's top 15 in free throw shooting. Babbitt is second in the WAC and ranks 25th in the nation at 90.6 percent from the line this year (29-32), including a 10-of-10 effort Nov. 18 at UNLV. Shaw is at 78.3 percent (18-23) on the year, good for 14th in the WAC. Babbitt led the WAC in free throw percentage and ranked 24th in the country last year as a freshman at 86.4 percent.
- The 17 rebounds by sophomore Luke Babbitt and the 12 assists by junior Armon Johnson in the Nov. 21 win over Houston are the most by WAC players so far this season.
UP NEXT
Following Saturday's game with South Dakota State, the Wolf Pack will play the opening rounds of the Las Vegas Classic at home the following week when the Wolf Pack will take on Eastern Washington (Thursday, Dec. 17) and Wagner (Saturday, Dec. 19) at Lawlor Events Center. Nevada will then travel to the Orleans in Las Vegas to finish the tournament with BYU on Tuesday, Dec. 22 and either Nebraska or Tulsa on Wednesday, Dec. 23.
