BYU COUGARS (10-1) vs. NEVADA WOLF PACK (6-4)
GAME #11
Tues., Dec. 22, 2009 - 12 p.m. PT - The Orleans Arena - Las Vegas, Nev.
TELEVISION: KAME-TV 21 (live) & Comcast Sports Net California (tape delay at 7:30 p.m. PT)
Bob Akamian (play-by-play) & Dave Bollwinkel (color)
Live internet streaming at www.hooptv.net (subscription 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 11:30 a.m. PT
SERIES HISTORY: BYU leads the all-time series with Nevada 11-6.
LAST MEETING: Nevada won the last meeting between the two teams, turning in a 79-77 victory on Nov. 28, 1995 in Reno.
Coming off a 74-61 victory over Wagner on Saturday night, the Nevada Wolf Pack (6-4) heads to the Orleans Arena to wrap up play in the HOOPTV Las Vegas Classic. Nevada will take on the BYU Cougars (10-1) at 12 p.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday with the game being televised locally in Reno by KAME-TV 21 and streamed online at www.hooptv.net. Tuesday's contest can also be heard on Nevada's flagship radio station, ESPN 630 AM, with Ryan Radtke calling the action. Nevada brings a season-long four-game winning streak into Tuesday's game and and heads to Las Vegas looking for its first win away from home. Following Tuesday's matchup with the Cougars, the Wolf Pack will take on either Nebraska (8-2) or Tulsa (9-1) on Wednesday night in the final round of the tournament.
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.
ROAD WARRIORS
Nevada heads back on the road looking for its first victory away from home (0-4 road mark this year), while the Wolf Pack leaves Lawlor Events Center following a season-long four-game homestand. Tuesday's contest with BYU will mark the Wolf Pack's first neutral-site contest of the year and its first road trip since the team's Dec. 5 loss at Pacific ended a stretch of three consecutive road games and four of five away from the friendly confines of Lawlor Events Center. The stretch also included tough losses at UNLV on Nov. 18, VCU on Nov. 27 and No. 11/12 North Carolina on Nov. 29. During that three-game road stretch, Nevada racked up 5,731 travel miles. The Wolf Pack traveled 2,661 miles from Reno to Richmond, Va., to take on VCU on Friday, Nov. 27 and then bused 165 miles to Chapel Hill, N.C., to take on North Carolina on Sunday, Nov. 29. Then Nevada flew the 2,639 miles from North Carolina back to Reno and ended the trip with a 266-mile round trip bus ride to Pacific on Saturday, Dec. 5.
ON THE ROAD
Nevada has won 35 of its last 59 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 36 regular-season road contests and 29 of its last 47. Nevada turned in an 8-5 road mark last season (6-2 in WAC play) and is 0-4 so far this 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 six seasons since the start of the 2004-05 campaign, the Wolf Pack has tallied a 46-25 record in road contests (.648 winning percentage). That includes a 32-10 record in WAC road games (.762).
ABOUT THE BYU COUGARS
Under the direction of fifth-year head coach Dave Rose (107-35 record in four-plus years at BYU), the BYU Cougars returned four starters and a total of nine letterwinners from last year's 25-8 NCAA Tournament team. The Cougars finished in a tie for first in the Mountain West Conference last season with a 12-4 conference mark. BYU, which is receiving votes in both of the national polls, has turned in a 10-1 record so far this year. The Cougars bring a five-game winning streak into Tuesday's game with the Wolf Pack, most recently opening play in the HOOPTV Las Vegas Classic with a 77-61 victory over Wagner on Dec. 17 and a 91-34 thrashing of Eastern Washington on Dec. 19.
Junior guard Jimmer Fredette (6-2, 195) is leading four BYU players in double figures for scoring at 17.9 points per game. He has also dished out a team-high 60 assists (5.5 per game). Junior guard Jackson Emery (6-3, 185) is adding 11.5 points per game and has made a team-best 27 three-pointers (46.6 percent, 27-58). Sophomore forward Noah Hartsock (6-8, 215) is BYU's top rebounder, pulling down 5.1 boards per contest. As a team, BYU is averaging 80.5 points per game and holding its opponents to just 58.5.
IN THE SERIES
BYU holds an 11-6 advantage in the all-time series with Nevada, while Tuesday's game marks the first meeting between the two teams since the 1995-96 season. The Wolf Pack has won two of the last three games with BYU, including a 79-77 victory on Nov. 28, 1995 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 ranks third in the WAC with 19.1 points per game and third in the conference at 10.0 boards per contest (20th in the nation in rebounding). The Nevada southpaw turned in a season-high 29 points in a Dec. 17 victory over Eastern Washington, just one point shy of his career best, including 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting in the first half. He pulled down nine rebounds in the game to lead the Pack but saw his stretch of seven consecutive double-doubles snapped. Babbitt is tied for third in the nation with seven double-doubles and has had nine or more rebounds in all but two games this year.
Babbitt turned in 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 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 14 career games with at least 20 points (including three this year) and has led the team in scoring 19 times in his young career (15 times last year and four this season). He has scored in double figures in 41 of 44 career games at Nevada, including all 10 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 NAMED A CANDIDATE FOR THE BOB COUSY AWARD
Junior guard Armon Johnson is among the candidates for the 2010 Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford Financial Services, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts announced Dec. 17.
The annual award, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes college basketball's top point guard. 73 candidates have been nominated for the 2010 award. Nominations were solicited from all Division I, II and III schools across the country.
With a jumper with 12:30 to go in the second half Dec. 5 at Pacific, Johnson scored his 1,000th career point to become the 19th player in school history to reach that milestone. In his two-plus years and 77 games in the Silver and Blue, Johnson has scored 1,064 points (15th all time at Nevada). 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 309 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.
A 2009 first-team All-WAC selection, Johnson has led the Pack in scoring in three of the last six games and checks in at ninth in the WAC in scoring with 15.8 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.
In the last six games, starting with 20 points Nov. 29 at North Carolina, Johnson has averaged 16.3 points per game (98) and shot 57.1 percent from the field (44-77). That included a 9-of-12 effort for 19 points Dec. 8 vs. Fresno Pacific and 7-of-11 for 17 points Dec. 12 vs. South Dakota State.
The list of candidates for the Bob Cousy Award will be narrowed down to a final 20 by Jan. 1, final 10 by Feb. 1, and final five by March 1. A Hall of Fame appointed screening committee will be narrowing down the candidates from 20 to 10 to 5 prior to the Blue Ribbon Selection Committee evaluating the final five candidates and ultimately choosing the winner. These Hall of Fame committees are made up of top college basketball personnel including media members, head coaches, Sports Information Directors and Hall of Famers. The winner of the 2010 Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford will be presented at the Hall of Fame's Class Announcement on Monday April 5 in Indianapolis as part of NCAA Final Four weekend.
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 Armon Johnson, 2007-pres. 77 1,064
16 Matt Williams, 1987-91 113 1,062
17 Dwayne Randall, 1984-86 58 1,060
18 Marvin Buckley, 1972-74 N/A 1,039
19 Faron Hand, 1994-97 64 1,034
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 44th in the nation this year with 5.30 assists per game this year. The leftie dished out a career-best 12 assists Nov. 21 vs. Houston for his second career double-double and had eight assists in a Dec. 17 victory over Eastern Washington. 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's 12 assists win over Houston are the most by a WAC player so far this season, while Johnson also checks in at eighth in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.39).
With his seven assists in the Dec. 8 win over Fresno Pacific, Johnson entered the Nevada career chart for assists. He currently ranks 10th with 309 career assists, moving past Kyle Shiloh who dished out 293 assists in his career from 2004-07.
SHAW BRINGS CONSISTENCY
Senior Joey Shaw is turning in one of the most consistent seasons of any member of the Wolf Pack so far this year. He ranks fourth on the team in scoring at 11.9 points per game and is third on the squad with 5.7 boards per contests. Both marks put him just out of the WAC leaders. Shaw has scored in double figures in seven of 10 games this season and led the team with a career-high 26 points Nov. 21 vs. Houston. His 10 steals (including a career-best three Dec. 17 vs. Eastern Washington) are tied for first on the team, while his 21 assists and seven blocked shots are third and second on the team, respectively.
Shaw is also shooting the ball well and ranks among the WAC leaders in field goal percentage (14th at 51.2 percent) and is just out of the WAC rankings in free throw percentage (78.6 percent) and three-point percentage (33.3, 13-39).
LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD
Nevada leads the WAC in scoring offense and ranks 27th in the NCAA this season at 79.7 points per game, up from its average of 70.6 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 third in the WAC at 19.1 points per game, while junior Armon Johnson is ninth at 15.8 points per game and senior Brandon Fields ranks 10th at 14.4 points per contest. Senior Joey Shaw is just out of the WAC's top 15 at 11.9 points per game.
The Wolf Pack has had four different players lead the team in scoring this year. Sophomore Luke Babbitt paced the team with 26 points in the season-opening win over Montana State, had 27 Nov. 27 at VCU, turned in a season-high 29 Dec. 17 vs. Eastern Washington and added 17 on Saturday vs. Wagner. Fields had 22 in a Nov. 18 loss at UNLV and 20 Saturday vs. South Dakota State, Shaw turned in his career-best 26 in the Nov. 14 win over Houston and Johnson paced the Pack in three straight games with 20 points Nov. 29 at then No. 11/12 North Carolina, 18 Dec. 5 at Pacific and 19 Dec. 8 vs. Fresno Pacific.
The Wolf Pack has had at least four players in double figures for scoring in eight of its 10 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.
Nevada has averaged 82.0 points per game in its last four contests (328 points), including its second-highest point total of the year in its Dec. 12 92-72 victory over South Dakota State. The Wolf Pack has also turned in its top two margins of victory recently, downing Fresno Pacific by a season-high 22, 89-67, on Dec. 8 and notching another 20-point victory in the Dec. 12 contest vs. SDSU.
SHOOTING TOUCH
Nevada continues to rank among the WAC leaders in field goal percentage, knocking down 48.2 percent of its field goal attempts (second in the WAC). The team shot 42.7 percent from the field last season.
The Wolf Pack has shot over 50 percent in five of its 10 games this season and is a perfect 5-0 in those games. Nevada shot a sizzling season-high 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 Joey Shaw is ranked 14th in the WAC in field goal percentage at 51.4 percent. Senior Ray Kraemer checks in at fifth in the WAC in three-point percentage at 45.5 percent, knocking down 15-of-33 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 Dec. 8 vs. Fresno Pacific. Senior Brandon Fields also tied his career high with four three-pointers made Nov. 21 vs. the Cougars. Kraemer is also ranked among the conference leaders in three-pointers made per game (T12th, 1.50). Shaw made 3-of-4 three-point attempts Dec. 8 vs. Fresno Pacific.
LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore Luke Babbitt scored 17 points to lead Nevada past Wagner 74-61 on Saturday.
Junior Armon Johnson added 12 points and seniors Brandon Fields and Joey Shaw added 11 each for the Wolf Pack. Chris Martin had 21 points and Michael Orock 15 for the Seahawks.
Nevada led 34-32 with 19 minutes to play before Babbitt sparked a 20-8 run over the next eight minutes. His 3-pointer gave the Wolf Pack a 54-40 lead with 10:43 left.
The Wolf Pack's largest lead was 18 points, 63-45, with 6:56 left.
Wagner rallied against Nevada's reserves in the final three minutes, but could get no closer than eight points at 69-61 on a steal and layup by Martin with 1:52 left.
WOLF PACK NOTES
- Sophomore Keith Olson saw the first action of his Wolf Pack career Saturday vs. Wagner, turning in five points on 2-of-4 shooting and pulling down four rebounds in 11 minutes. The Gardnerville, Nev., native and Douglas High School graduate transferred to Nevada from Northern Arizona and sat out the first semester due to NCAA rules.
- Sophomore London Giles turned in a career-high six assists in 10 minutes of action in the Wagner game, while senior Brandon Fields matched his career high with five. The pair accounted for 11 of Nevada's 19 assists in the contest.
- Nevada shot a season-low 59.1 percent from the free throw line against Wagner (13-22).
- The Wolf Pack has made just 20.5 percent of its three-point attempts in the last three games (9-44). That comes after the team opened the year shooting 34.4 percent in its first seven games (43-125).
- The contest-cinching three-pointer that senior Brandon Fields hit to with 4.3 seconds left in its Dec. 17 victory over Eastern Washington marked the first game-winning field goal for Fields in his Nevada career. He had been 0-of-5 from three-point land in the game before nailing the shot.
- All 11 of the Wolf Pack players who saw action in the Dec. 12 win over South Dakota State scored at least two points, including freshman Keith Fuetsch who scored the first four points of his career. Ten of 11 players scored in the Dec. 8 win over Fresno Pacific. The Wolf Pack got two of its three highest bench scoring outputs recently, including a season-high 26 bench points in the Dec. 8 win over Fresno Pacific and 22 in the Dec. 12 victory over South Dakota State. Nevada also got 23 bench points in its Nov. 21 victory over Houston. Senior Ray Kraemer is Nevada's leading scorer off the bench, turning in 5.9 points per game.
- Freshman Marko Cukic has continued to improve this season, averaging 4.8 points (24) and 3.0 rebounds (15) and making 8-of-12 field goal attempts in the last five games. He turned in season highs with six points on 3-of-3 shooting and five rebounds Dec. 5 at Pacific and bested those marks in the Dec. 8 win over Fresno Pacific with seven points and six boards.
- Nevada continues to lead the WAC in rebounding with 41.4 boards per contest and features five players averaging 3.6 rebounds or better this season, including two ranked in the WAC's top 10. Sophomore Luke Babbitt is third in the WAC with 10.0 rebounds per game, while sophomore Dario Hunt checks in at ninth in the WAC at 7.6 boards per contest. Senior Joey Shaw is just out of the WAC rankings at 5.7 boards per contest, followed by senior Brandon Fields and junior Armon Johnson are also pulling down 5.0 and 3.6 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 its last five opponents and seven of its last eight 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 Wagner 42-29 on Saturday, improving to 5-2 this year when outrebounding its opponents.
- The Wolf Pack is pacing the WAC and ranked 34th in the nation with 5.00 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 second in the league in blocked shots this year with 2.40 per game (32nd in the NCAA), including five in the season opener vs. Montana State and three in four of the last six games. He has blocked at least one shot in 38 of 44 career games (all 10 this season) and has turned in 28 career games with more than one block, including four with five or more. Hunt has 91 blocks in his career (in 44 games, 2.09 per game), which already ranks seventh 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 ranks fourth in the WAC and ranks 31st in the nation at 89.1 percent from the line this year (41-46), including a 10-of-10 effort Nov. 18 at UNLV. Babbitt led the WAC in free throw percentage and ranked 24th in the country last year as a freshman at 86.4 percent.
UP NEXT
Following Tuesday's game with BYU, the Wolf Pack will finish the HOOPTV Las Vegas Classic against either Nebraska or Tulsa on Wednesday. The loser of the BYU-Nevada game will play at 5:30 p.m., while the winner will play at 7:30 p.m. Nevada returns to Lawlor Events Center on Monday, Dec. 28, playing host to the Portland Pilots.
