Utah State at Nevada
February 28, 2009
Game Notes:
- With the 84-71 win over first-place Utah State on Saturday night, Nevada improved to 17-11 overall and 9-5 in WAC play.
- Nevada also won for the 47th time in its last 57 contests at home and is now 83-15 at Lawlor Events Center since the start of the 2003-04 season. The team has also won 24 of its last 28 WAC home games.
- Sophomore Armon Johnson led the Wolf Pack with 28 points on 11-of-18 shooting. It marked the 10th time this year that he has led the team in scoring and his eighth 20-point game this season.
- Freshman Luke Babbitt added 21 points, including 10-of-11 free throw attempts. It was his eight 20-point game of the year and with 459 points this season, he has set the Nevada freshman single-season scoring record. He passed Edgar Jones who had 457 points as a freshman in 1975-76.
- Babbitt also led the team with nine rebounds, the 16th time this year that he has paced the Wolf Pack in that category.
- Freshman Ahyaro Phillips got the first start of his Nevada career as the Wolf Pack changed its starting lineup for the first time in 23 games. Phillips was joined by Johnson, Babbitt, sophomore Malik Cooke and senior Lyndale Burleson in the starting lineup.
- Nevada outrebounded Utah State 31-30, the 16th time in its last 17 games that Nevada has outrebounded its opponents. The Wolf Pack is 13-7 on the year when outrebounding its opponent.
- The Wolf Pack turned the ball over a season-low four times and forced nine turnovers, scoring 19 points off those nine Aggie turnovers.
- Nevada shot 51.0 percent in the game, the fourth time this year that the team has shot at least 50 percent. The Wolf Pack also made 40 percent of its three-point attempts (6-15).
- Nevada returns to action on Thursday, March 5, playing host to the San Jose State Spartans at Lawlor Events Center. The Wolf Pack will honor its lone senior, Lyndale Burleson, prior to Thursday’s game. That game will tip off at 7:05 p.m. Pacific Time and can be heard on Nevada’s radio flagship, ESPN 630 AM, and its radio affiliates throughout the state with Ryan Radtke calling the action.
Nevada Quotes
Junior Brandon Fields
On the game:
“It was a good win. Utah State is a good team. They are well coached.”
Freshman Luke Babbitt
On the game:
“Any time we can beat a team like that is a good win. Hopefully we can build on it.”
On shooting the ball well:
“It helps when you can shoot that well as a team. We had some guys hit big shots. Any time you can do that is good.”
On Nevada’s low-post defense:
“It was a total team effort. We had great help from the guards and the big guys. We’ll see if we can improve.”
On setting Nevada’s freshman scoring record:
“It’s cool, but I’m more excited about the win. Edgar Jones was a great player, but it’s a great win.”
Sophomore Armon Johnson
On Utah State’s cutting the lead in the second half:
“We knew they are a good team and had a run in them. We were confident.”
On his game:
“I felt like last game I had trouble shooting. That really bothered me especially since we lost. I tried to get some extra shots up.”
Head Coach Mark Fox
On the game:
“We beat a very good basketball team. That is a terrific team and we had to play well to do it.”
“We’ve never lost confidence. We played very good basketball against a very good team. Hopefully we made progress.”
On withstanding Utah State’s second-half run:
“It was a sign of maturity that we were able to play well with the lead. We were able to take a 10-point lead and make it bigger. I call that progress. We played well. We had to play well against one of the best teams on the West Coast.”
On what he said to his team at halftime:
“(I told them) that Utah State is going to come back. They’re so complete and shoot the ball well. I also said that we need to play a complete game.”
On changing his starting lineup:
“I thought Ahyaro played well. I also thought Dario played well. I’m trying to make us as good as we can be.”
On losing to the last-place team in the WAC on Thursday and beating the first-place team on Saturday:
“It’s a sign of the balance of the league. There’s no doubt that Fresno State is a good basketball team. There are a lot of good teams in the WAC.”
Utah State Quotes
Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill
On the game:
“We came out a little bit flat. I don’t have a reason for that, but mostly it was their level of play.”
On Nevada:
“There’s a reason why they were picked to win this league. They are a good team at a great environment. Their two premier players played extremely well. I’ve been here enough times to know what we were in for. I tried to tell our guys what we were in for, but we didn’t quite get it.”
“We weren’t as ready to go as we needed to be, but boy did they make shots and make plays. They deserve all the credit. They played really well.”
On the first half:
“It’s been a while since they made every shot. There was not a whole lot we can do about it. We really had trouble guarding off the dribble. They’re athletic, young and very talented.”
On the second half
“We competed in the second half. We just missed some open shots that would’ve made it really interesting. But we competed, played hard and if we would have done, that we would have had a better chance.”
