NEVADA WOLF PACK (8-5, 0-0 WAC) vs. LA TECH BULLDOGS (12-2, 00 WAC)
GAME #14
Sat., Jan. 2, 2010 - 7:07 p.m. CT (5:07 p.m. PT) - Thomas Assembly Center (8,000) - Ruston, La.
TELEVISION: KAME-TV 21 & ESPN360.com (live) & Comcast Sports Net California (TD on 1/3 at 2 p.m.)
Rich Cellini (play-by-play) & Dave Bollwinkel (color)
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 6:30 p.m. CT (4:30 p.m. PT)
SERIES HISTORY: Nevada leads the all-time series with Louisiana Tech 14-4.
LAST MEETING: Nevada won the last meeting between the two teams, turning in a 77-68 victory on March 13, 2009 in the WAC Tournament semifinals in Reno.
Following a 78-69 victory over Portland on Tuesday to wrap up the non-conference slate, the Nevada Wolf Pack (8-5, 0-0 WAC) opens Western Athletic Conference play on Saturday night, traveling to Louisiana Tech (12-2, 0-0) in the league opener for both teams. Saturday's game will tip off at 7:07 p.m. Central Time (5:07 p.m. Pacific Time) and will be televised locally by KAME-TV 21. It can also be heard on Nevada's flagship radio station, ESPN 630 AM, with Ryan Radtke calling the action. Nevada has won its last two games and six of its last seven. The team heads to Ruston, La., looking to capture its first true road victory of season and will take on the WAC's hottest team in La Tech. The Bulldogs lead the league with a 12-2 record and have won their last five contests. Following Saturday's game, the Wolf Pack will continue WAC play on the road, traveling to New Mexico State in a nationally televised game on ESPNU on Monday, Jan. 4.
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.
WOLF PACK IN WAC OPENERS
Nevada holds a 4-5 record in Western Athletic Conference openers and has won four of its last seven. This season marks seventh time in its 10 years as a member of the WAC that the Wolf Pack will open conference play on the road. Last season, Nevada dropped its season opener to Idaho 78-73 on Jan 3, 2009 in Reno.
In 2007-08, Nevada was originally set to open WAC play at home on Jan. 5, 2008 vs. Utah State but saw that game postponed due to inclement weather in Reno. Instead, the Wolf Pack dropped a 62-60 decision at San Jose State on Jan. 10 after a nine-day stretch without a game. After that loss, the Wolf Pack won its next two WAC games and five of its first seven en route to a 12-4 league mark and a share of its fifth consecutive WAC regular-season championship. In 2006-07, Nevada won its first five WAC homes and 14 of its first 15 en route to a 14-2 mark and its fourth consecutive WAC regular-season title. In 2005-06, the team opened league play with a 3-3 mark but won its final 10 WAC games to finish with a 13-3 conference mark and its third consecutive WAC championship. In 2004-05, Nevada opened WAC play with four straight victories and won seven of its first eight league games en route to a WAC-record 16-2 overall mark and sole possession of the WAC championship. The team also won a share of the league title in 2003-04, tying for first with UTEP with a 13-5 mark.
ON THE ROAD
Nevada has won 36 of its last 61 games away from the friendly confines of Lawlor Events Center, including 30 road wins and six 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 on the road and 1-1 in neutral-site games 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).
ROAD WARRIORS
Nevada heads back on the road to Lousiana Tech and New Mexico State looking for its first true road victory of the season (0-4 in road games). The Wolf Pack picked up its first win away from home with a 99-68 rout of Tulsa on Dec. 23 on a neutral court at the Las Vegas Classic. Earlier this season, the team played 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.
ABOUT THE LOUISIANA TECH BULLDOGS
Under the direction of third-year head coach Kerry Rupp (33-44 record in two-plus years at LTU), the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs returned three starters and a total of eight letterwinners from last year's 15-18 team. The Bulldogs finished tied for sixth in the WAC last season with a 6-10 conference mark. La Tech leads the WAC with a 12-2 record so far this season and has won its last five games and 10 of its last 11, including a 99-94 victory at Houston on Tuesday night.
Senior guard Kyle Gibson (6-5, 205) is leading the WAC and paces five Bulldogs in double figures in scoring with 21.6 points per game, including 28 in Tuesday's win over Houston. Senior forward/center Magnum Rolle (6-11, 225) is second on the squad and 15th in the WAC with 12.9 ppg and scored a game-high 29 on 13-of-15 shooting in Tuesday's victory. Sophomore Olu Ashaolu (6-7, 230) paces the Bulldogs and ranks fourth in the WAC with 9.4 rebounds per game. As a team, La Tech ranks second in the WAC in scoring (80.4 ppg) and rebounding (38.9 rpg).
IN THE SERIES
Nevada leads the series with Louisiana Tech 14-4 and has won 13 of the last 14 meetings. Last year, the Wolf Pack and the Bulldogs split the regular-season meetings with each team winning on the other's home floor. Freshman Luke Babbitt hit a game-winning three-pointer as time expired to give Nevada a 67-64 victory on Jan. 10, 2009 in Ruston, La., while Louisiana Tech turned in a 78-75 victory on Feb. 5, 2009 in Reno. In the third meeting between the two teams last season, Nevada got the best of La Tech 77-68 in the WAC Tournament semifinals on March 14 in Reno. The Wolf Pack has also won the last seven eight road games in the series with Louisiana Tech and holds an 8-1 all-time advantage in games played in Ruston.
LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore Luke Babbitt scored 22 points as Nevada held off Portland 78-69 Monday night.
Senior Brandon Fields added 17 points and junior Armon Johnson scored 16 as the Wolf Pack improved to 7-0 at home this season. Robin Smeulders scored 22 points to lead the Pilots.
Senior Joey Shaw, who scored 14 points, and Babbitt hit back-to-back 3-pointers as Nevada built a 52-41 lead with 14 minutes to play. Johnson's three-point play made it a 71-60 game with 1:56 to play.
Nevada scored the last 11 points of the first half to take a 36-31 lead at the intermission and completed a 17-0 run in the first two minutes of the second half. Babbitt and Fields each hit 3-pointers to key the 11-0 run and sophomore Dario Hunt scored on a tip-in just before the buzzer.
Portland went on runs of 10-0 and 8-0 to take a 31-25 lead with five minutes to go in the first half.
LIGHTING UP THE SCOREBOARD
Nevada leads the WAC in scoring offense and ranks 37th in the NCAA this season at 82.9 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 fourth in the WAC at 19.8 points per game (40th in the NCAA), while junior Armon Johnson is sixth at 17.0 points per game and senior Brandon Fields ranks 11th at 14.8 points per contest. Senior Joey Shaw is just out of the WAC's top 15 at 11.2 points per game.
Nevada has turned in two of its top three scoring efforts of the season recently, including 104 in its Dec. 22 loss to BYU and 99 points in the following day's victory over Tulsa. The team has averaged 93.7 points per game in its last three games (281) and 87.0 ppg in its last seven contests (609). This season marks the first time since 1997-98 that the team has topped the century mark twice in the same year. Nevada's season-high 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 has had four different players lead the team in scoring this year. Sophomore Luke Babbitt has paced the Wolf Pack in scoring a team-best six times this year, including the last two games and four of the last five. Most recently, he has turned in 24 points in the Dec. 23 win over Tulsa and 22 Monday vs. Portland. Babbitt also scored a season-best 29 points to pace the team Dec. 17 vs. Eastern Washington. Junior Armon Johnson has led the team in scoring four times, including a season-high 30 points Dec. 22 vs. BYU (also a team season high). Johnson also 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. Senior Brandon Fields had 22 in a Nov. 18 loss at UNLV and 20 Dec. 12 vs. South Dakota State, while senior Joey Shaw turned in his career-best 26 in the Nov. 14 win over Houston.
Nevada has had at least four players in double figures for scoring in 11 of its 13 games this year, including two with five (Houston and BYU). The Wolf Pack had three players reach the 20-point plateau in each of those contests.
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 fourth in the WAC with 19.8 points per game (40th in the NCAA) and third in the conference at 9.5 boards per contest (28th 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 turned in his eighth double-double of the season with 24 points and 11 rebounds Dec. 22 vs. BYU. He is tied for fifth in the nation with eight double-doubles and has had nine or more rebounds in all but four games this season.
Babbitt has had 17 career games with at least 20 points (including six this year and the last three games) and has led the team in scoring 21 times in his young career (15 times last year and six this season). He has scored in double figures in 44 of 47 career games at Nevada, including all 13 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 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, 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.
SHOOTING TOUCH
Nevada leads the WAC and ranks 37th in the nation in field goal percentage, knocking down 49.7 percent of its field goal attempts, compared to just 42.7 percent from the field last season. The Wolf Pack has shot 54.8 percent from the field in its last three games (102-186), including a 58.8-percent effort Dec. 22 vs. BYU and a 56.3-percent showing Dec. 23 vs. Tulsa.
The Wolf Pack has shot over 50 percent in seven of its 13 games this season and holds a 6-1 record 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.
Nevada has also checked in at 42.3 percent from three-point land in the last three games (22-52). The team had shot just 20.5 percent from three-point land in its three previous games (9-44) before the recent effort. Nevada has made a season-high 50 percent of its three-point attempts three times this year (6-of-12 at UNLV, 11-of-22 vs. Houston, 9-of-18 vs. Tulsa). 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.
Nevada's roster features three players ranked in the WAC's top 15 for field goal percentage, including junior Armon Johnson who is ranked 10th at 52.0 percent. Sophomore Luke Babbitt checks in at 13th at 51.6 percent, while senior Joey Shaw is tied for 15th at 50.0 percent.
Senior Ray Kraemer leads the WAC in three-point percentage, knocking down 51.2 percent of his long-range attempts (22-43). He has shot 70.0 percent in the last three games (7-10), matching his career bests for treys made and attempted with a 4-of-6 effort Dec. 22 vs. BYU and making all three attempts Dec. 23 vs. Tulsa. Kraemer also 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 has had two other games with three treys (3-of-5 Nov. 14 vs. Montana State and Dec. 8 vs. Fresno Pacific).
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 80 games in the Silver and Blue, Johnson has scored 1,127 points (14th 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 319 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 four times this year and checks in at sixth in the WAC in scoring with 17.0 points per game this season. He scored a season-high 30 points in the Dec. 22 game with BYU, his second career 30-point game and just three points shy of his career best of 33 last year vs. California. He has also turned two other 20-point games this year, including 22 points in the Nov. 21 win over Houston. In the last nine games, starting with 20 points Nov. 29 at North Carolina, Johnson has averaged 17.9 points per game (161) and shot 58.2 percent from the field (71-122).
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.
ASSISTS MACHINE
Junior guard Armon Johnson is leading the Wolf Pack in assists for the third consecutive season and ranks second in the WAC and 48th in the nation this year with 4.85 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 10th in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.34).
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 319 career assists, moving past Kyle Shiloh who dished out 293 assists in his career from 2004-07.
HUNT COMING INTO HIS OWN
Sophomore forward Dario Hunt has continued to improve and is averaging 6.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game (ninth in the WAC) this season, up from 3.6 points and 4.4 boards per game last season. He had the best weekend of his young Wolf Pack career, averaging 11.0 points and 11.0 rebounds in Nevada's East Coast swing to VCU and North Carolina. He turned in his first career double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds Nov. 27 at VCU (both career highs). Two nights later, he set another career high for scoring with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting and nearly missed his second career double-double with nine rebounds Nov. 29 at No. 11/12 North Carolina. Hunt has since broken his career scoring high, turning in 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 7-of-8 free throw shooting Dec. 22 vs. BYU. He also pulled down nine boards in the game against the Cougars.
CARTER WINS HIS HEAD COACHING DEBUT
Nevada's Nov. 14 win over Montana State gave Nevada head coach David Carter his first career victory, and he is now 8-5 in his first year as the Wolf Pack's mentor. He became 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.
WOLF PACK NOTES
- Saturday's game pits the top two scoring and rebounding teams in the WAC. Nevada leads the conference in both categories with 82.9 points and 39.9 rebounds per game, while La Tech is second with 80.4 points and 38.9 boards per contest.
- The Wolf Pack has averaged just 7.5 turnovers per game in its last two contests, down from its season average of 12.5 per game. That included a season-low five turnovers Dec. 23 vs. Tulsa. The team had 10 turnovers in Monday's win over Portland and turned the ball over just three times in the second half.
- Nevada outrebounded Portland 36-31, marking the eighth consecutive game that the Wolf Pack has outrebounded its opponent and the 10th time in 11 contests. The team is now 7-3 when outrebounding its opponent this season.
- Nevada continues to lead the WAC in rebounding with 39.9 boards per contest and has two players ranked in the WAC's top 10. Sophomore Luke Babbitt is third in the WAC and 28th in the nation with 9.5 rebounds per game, while sophomore Dario Hunt checks in at ninth in the WAC at 7.2 boards per contest. 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 senior Joey Shaw and Hunt (since broken) and a career high-matching seven by junior Armon Johnson. Senior Brandon Fields also matched his career best with nine rebounds Nov. 27 at VCU.
- The Wolf Pack ranks third in the WAC and ranked 46th in the nation with 4.38 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 2.15 per game (37th in the NCAA), including five in the season opener vs. Montana State and three in four other games. He has blocked at least one shot in 41 of 47 career games (all 13 this season) and has turned in 29 career games with more than one block, including four with five or more. Hunt has 95 blocks in his career (in 47 games, 2.02 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 35th in the nation at 90.5 percent from the line this year (57-63), 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.
- Sophomore Keith Olson saw the first action of his Wolf Pack career Dec. 19 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 Dec. 17 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.
- 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 6.6 points per game.
- Freshman Marko Cukic 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.
UP NEXT
Following Saturday's game at Louisiana Tech, Nevada continues Western Athletic Conference play, traveling to New Mexico State on Monday, Jan. 4. ESPNU will televise that game to a national audience. The Wolf Pack returns home on Saturday, Jan. 9, playing host to San Jose State at 7:05 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the Nevada women's basketball team
