| Game 10 - Fri., Dec. 17 - 6:02 p.m. PT
Arizona State University (4-4)
at
NEVADA WOLF PACK (2-7)
Lawlor Events Center (11,536)
Reno, Nevada | |
| TELEVISION: ESPNU, Dave Flemming (play by play), Sean Farnham (analyst)
Livestats: www.nevadawolfpack.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10000
RADIO: University of Nevada Sports Network (KUUB 94.5 FM Reno; 94.3 FM Carson City; KPLY 630 AM Reno; KELK 1240 AM Elko; and KSVL 92.3 FM in Yerington)
Ryan Radtke (play-by-play), Len Stevens (analyst), pregame starts at 4:30 p.m.
SERIES HISTORY: Nevada leads the series with ASU 3-1. The Sun Devils won the last meeting 76-63 on Dec. 10, 2002 in Tempe, Ariz. The Pack won all three games played during the 1951-52 season. The first meeting was a 77-63 victory in Reno. The last two games played in1951-52, were the final two games of the year for the Pack, and were played in Las Vegas where the Wolf Pack won 74-52 and 63-53.
UP NEXT: Nevada hosts Portland State on Dec. 20 at 7:35 p.m. It will be the final game of a three-game homestand. |
ABOUT THE ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS — Arizona State University is 4-4 after snapping a three-game losing streak with a 71-48 home victory over Gardner Webb on Saturday. Head coach Herb Sendek, the 2010 Pacific 10 Coach of the Year, is in his fifth season at ASU and is 80-60 leading the Sun Devils and 334-218 overall in his 18th season.
The Sun Devils return three starters in seniors; Ty Abbott, Jamelle McMillan and Rihards Kuksiks that helped the team to a third consecutive 20 win season going 22-11 a year ago. The Sun Devils finished second in the Pacific 10 with a 12-6 mark in 2010.
ASU boasts three players scoring in double figures led by the 6-4, sophomore guard Trent Lockett’s 15.6 points per game and he is second on the squad averaging 6.9 rebounds. Abbott, a 6-3 guard, averages 12.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. The third double figure scorer is the 6-6, Kuksiks who averages 10.4 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. At 6-7, freshman Kyle Cain tops the Sun Devils in rebounding at 7.0 per game and contributes 9.1 points per contest. McMillan, another of the ASU seniors, is dishing out a team-high 4.6 assists per game.
On the season the Sun Devils average 63.4 points and allow 63.1 per game. From the field ASU is shooting 43.5 percent and holding opponents to a 41.8 field goal percentage. ASU is shooting 32.6 (58-of-178) percent from behind the 3-point arc while opponents are making 33.3 (53-of-159) percent. From the free throw line ASU is shooting 58.8 percent making 77-of-131 attempts. On the boards the Sun Devils hold a slim 34.1 to 33.2 advantage over opponents.
HUNT LEADING THE WAY — Junior forward Dario Hunt is nearly averaging a double-double scoring 13.2 points per game and grabbing 9.8 rebounds per outing to lead the Wolf Pack in both categories. The WAC’s leading rebounder at 9.8 per game also ranks in scoring (13.2,9th), field goal percentage (.485,8th), blocked shots (1.22,5th), offensive rebounds (4.56,1st) and defensive rebounds (5.22,5th) in the conference.
In the Pack’s last game versus San Francisco State he scored a career-high 25 points and pulled down 12 rebounds which were game highs as he posted his third double-double of the season.  It was his fourth career double-double. The 25 points marked the second game of 20 or more points in his career with the first being 21 points against BYU last season. He finished with five blocks, one off his career best against the Gators on Saturday.
Hunt led the Pack in scoring the first four games of the season and led the team in rebounding the first three games of the year. It marked the first time in Hunt’s career that he has led the team in scoring in any contest and the first time he reached double figures in more than two consecutive games. In nine games he has topped Nevada in scoring five times with two being game highs and reached double figures seven times on the year.
He has grabbed 12 of more rebounds in the last three games and 10 or more in four of the last five games. Seven times he led the Wolf Pack in rebounding with one rebounding effort being a tie with Jerry Evans, Jr. as both had seven versus Montana. Five of his rebounding totals were game highs.
YOUNG GUNS— Nevada has used two different lineups the first nine games of the season but both have been dominated by young players. Three freshmen have started in each of the nine games along with a sophomore and a junior. Freshman point guard Deonte Burton has started all nine games as has sophomore transfer Malik Story and returner Dario Hunt. Freshmen Devonte Elliott and Jerry Evans Jr. were starters the first three games of the season but two other freshmen Kevin Panzer and Jordan Burris have started the last six games.
Newcomers have scored 460-of-596 points on the season which equates to 77 percent of the offense. Junior Dario Hunt leads the team in scoring at 13.2 points per game and the next nine players in scoring average are all first-year players.
#31 READY FOR ACTION — Duke transfer Olek Czyz is scheduled to make his first appearance in his number 31 Nevada jersey in the Arizona State game on Friday. Under NCAA transfer rules Czyz had to sit out one year after leaving Duke in Dec. of 2009. The 6-7, forward played in 19 games earning two starts during his time with the Blue Devils. The Gdynia, Poland native is a 2008 graduate of Reno High School and helped the Huskies to a pair of state titles. As a prep senior he averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds per game as RHS posted a 24-6 record. During his high school career RHS went 77-17. This past summer he earned a bronze medal while playing for Poland's Under 20 team at the 2009 European Championships. He averaged 7.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game and shot 51.4 percent while helping Poland to a 5-1 record.
BURTON ON POINT— Freshman Deonte Burton has started all nine games at point guard in his first season at Nevada and is third on the squad averaging 10.2 points per game. Burton leads the team averaging 3.67 assists per game which is tied for third in the WAC and his 1.50 assist to turnover ratio is fifth in the conference.
He produced his first double-double in a Nevada uniform and the first of the season for a Pack player with 10 points and 11 assists in Nevada’s 76-75 loss to Pepperdine. The 11 assists are the high by any player in the WAC this season. The last Pack double-double by a guard also came in a one-point loss when Armon Johnson totaled 13 points and 10 assists in an 80-79 setback at home to New Mexico State on Mar. 12, 2010 in the first game of the WAC Tournament.
Last season Luke Babbitt led the Pack with 16 double-doubles and Johnson totaled two while Dario Hunt and Joey Shaw had one each.
Burton scored in double figures in the first three games of his Pack career. Something that was not accomplished by six former Pack players that went on to NBA careers; Johnson, Babbitt, Nick Fazekas, Ramon Sessions, JaVale McGee or Kirk Snyder. Burton scored 17 in the season opening 81-66 victory over Montana then finished with 10 versus Pacific and Pepperdine.
After scoring in double figures the first three games of the season Burton struggled failing to score in double digits the next three contests averaging 5.7 per outing. He has since reached double figures in the last three games including 15 points versus UNLV that tied Malik Story for team-high honors. The 15 points in the UNLV game also marked the first time he has led the Pack in scoring. He totaled 11 at Houston and 12 versus San Francisco State. On the year he has produced six double figure scoring performances.
HUNT BLOCKS JONES LOOKING FOR FAZEKAS — Junior forward Dario Hunt ‘s five blocks in the San Francisco State game gives him 144 in his career and moved him past Edgar Jones (1975-79) into second place on the career list. The five blocks was one off his career high of six that has occurred three times with the last coming versus Hawai`i on Jan. 30, 2009.
Hunt began the year fourth on the list but has passed both Jones and Matt Williams (1987-91) this season. Next on the chart is Nick Fazekas (2004-07) who totaled 192 during his four seasons. His 144 blocks has come in 77 games while Jones’ 142 were in 101 games and Fazekas’ 192 were accomplished in 131 contests. Based on average Hunt’s 1.8 per game is best among the three at the top of the list. Fazekas averaged 1.5 blocks per game and Jones 1.4 during their careers.
Hunt has two of the top four block seasons in school history with 67 during 2008-09 season ranking third and his 66 last year is fourth. The 67 is the freshman record at Nevada.
STREAK ENDS AT SEVEN — Nevada snapped its seven-game losing skid defeating San Francisco State, 78-64 last Saturday. The Wolf Pack opened the season with a 81-66 home victory on Nov. 13 but went on to drop seven in a row, six were played away from Lawlor Events Center and the seventh was versus top 25 UNLV. The seven-game skid was the longest since the 2000-01 team dropped eight in a row.
The last Nevada team to start the year 1-7 was the 1990-91 team under the direction of head coach Len Stevens. The 1990-91 Pack squad ended the year 17-14.
TELL ME A STORY — Indiana transfer Malik Story has been one of the top offensive weapons for Nevada in his first season in the silver & blue, starting all nine games.  Story leads the team with 28.3 minutes played per game and his 12.2 points per game is second on the squad and 11th in the WAC.
Five times this season he has scored in double figures including a career and game-high 21 at Houston.  Twice he finished with nine points in a game and once totaled eight. His lowest output of the season was three versus Pacific. His only back-to-back double figure scoring games were 15 versus UNLV and the 21 at Houston.
He led the team in scoring versus Boston University (14 pts), at Houston (21 pts) and tied Deonte Burton for the honor in the UNLV game as both totaled 15 points in the game.
The Pack’s top long range shooter and one of the best in the WAC this season Story is making 51.2 (21of-41) percent of his 3-point attempts, which ranks second in the conference. His 2.33, 3-point shots made per game is tied for fifth in the WAC. He had made a 3-point shot in every game until the last contest versus San Francisco State when he was 0-for-1 from behind the arc.
ESPNU TO AIR ASU GAME — The Arizona State University game will be aired on ESPNU on Friday evening. Dave Flemming will call the action with analyst Sean Farnham.
The ASU game is the first of six Nevada men’s basketball games that will air on ESPN’s family of networks this season. The Wolf Pack will make three appearances on ESPNU, two games will air on ESPN2 and one will be a regional ESPN telecast.
In addition to the ASU game, home games versus Hawai`i on Dec. 31 and Jan. 8 with Utah State will be shown on ESPNU. Road games at Idaho on Jan. 12 and at Utah State Feb. 2 can be seen on ESPN2. The Feb. 24 Idaho at Nevada game will be a regional ESPN telecast.
10,862 AND COUNTING — Nevada has flown 10,682 miles to play six games this season away from Reno. The Wolf Pack flew 7,782 miles to play five games between its first home contest on Nov. 13 with Montana and a second home game on Dec. 4 versus UNLV.
In breaking down the trips, the Wolf Pack flew 388 miles each way to Los Angeles for a total of 776 miles to play Pacific and Pepperdine at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion in the 2010 Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off on Nov. 15-16.
Next was a road trip east of 2,275 miles to Washington, D.C. to take on George Washington and Boston University in the consolation bracket of the Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off, Nov. 22-23. Returning to Reno was another 2,275 for a total of 4,550 miles.  The fifth game was a road trip to Brookings, S.D. to play South Dakota State on Nov. 30, which is a flight of 1,228 miles, times two to account for the return home so add 2,456 miles for the entire trip. The team traveled a combined 7,782 miles before playing its second home game at Lawlor Events Center on Dec. 4 with UNLV. A trip to Houston, Texas to play the University of Houston on Dec. 6 added another 3,080 miles. This is all before Western Athletic play gets underway with trips to Hawai`i (5,130 miles round trip) and Louisiana Tech (3,180 miles round trip) in the future.
The last Nevada team to start the season with so many road games was the 1963-64 team that began the season with six road games to start the year and went 1-5 away from Reno. Three of those contests were played in Alaska and one was at Montana. The 2005-06 team played four-of-five games to start the season on the road and won all four on the way to a 25-9 record.
DOUBLE-DOUBLES — Dario Hunt has posted three double-doubles on the season while Deonte Burton produced the Pack’s first double-double of the season. Burton’s came versus Pepperdine on Nov. 16 when he totaled 10 points and 11 assists. It was the first double-double of his career.
Hunt’s third double-double of the season came in the last game versus San Francisco State when he scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. His first of the year was a 10 point, 10 rebound effort in the Boston U game. Against UNLV he totaled 14 points and grabbed 13 boards.
WAC CHAMPIONS TO BE HONORED AT ASU GAME — The 2010 Western Athletic Conference champion Nevada football team will be honored at halftime of the ASU game.  The Wolf Pack posted a 7-1 record in conference play and went 12-1 overall. The #13 Pack will play Boston College (7-5) in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl on Jan. 9 at AT&T Park San Francisco.
BREAKING DOWN THE PACK — The Nevada bench has scored 211 points, an average of 23.4 ppg this season compared to 185 for its opponents, 20.6 ppg. After outscoring the opponents bench the first six games of the year the Wolf Pack have been outscored the last three games.
The Pack holds a 72-54 advantage on fast break opportunities and has outscored opponents 260-250 in the paint through nine games. Unfortunately the Pack has turned the ball over 145 times which has led to 162 (18 ppg) opponent points while 107 turnovers for the opponents have resulted in 105 (11.7 ppg) points for Nevada.
NEVADA ONE OF TOP WAC TEAMS OVER LAST SEVEN PLUS SEASONS
Over the last seven plus seasons dating back to 2003-04, Nevada has turned in a 171-72 record, the second-most wins of any WAC team during that time (.676 winning percentage). In conference games, Nevada has won 90 games, the most in that same time period. The top three teams in wins (both overall and WAC) over the last seven plus seasons:
Overall Record (Pct.) WAC Record (Pct.)
1. Utah State 183-58 (.759) 1. Nevada 90-26 (.776)
2. Nevada 171-82 (.676) 2. Utah State 60-20 (.750)
3. Boise State 134-99 (.575) 3. Boise State 64-69 (.481)
WINNING AT LAWLOR — The Wolf Pack has won 75 of its last 91 contests at Lawlor Events Center, dating back to the start of the 2005-06 season. The Pack went 15-2 last year and has won nine of its last 11 home contests which includes two wins this season. The Wolf Pack has turned in a 103-20 record at Lawlor Events Center since the start of the 2003-04 season (.837 winning percentage).
Nevada has also captured 33 of its last 39 WAC regular-season home games (.846) and 39 of its last 47 home games against WAC opponents (.830) counting the 2006, 2009 and 2010 WAC Tournaments (dating back to the 2005-06 season).
In addition to its 15-2 home mark, Nevada put up some gaudy offensive numbers at Lawlor Events Center last season. The Wolf Pack averaged 82.9 points per game and shot 50.6 percent from the field in its 17 home games. Sophomore Luke Babbitt averaged 22.6 points per home game, while junior Armon Johnson and senior Brandon Fields added 15.5 and 14.5 ppg, respectively. Johnson shot the ball particularly well at home, making 55.7 percent of his shots at Lawlor (107-192). He also dished out 6.8 assists per home game. Senior Ray Kraemer knocked down 52.2 percent of his three-point attempts at home (35-67), including a perfect 4-of-4 outing Jan. 13 vs. Utah State.
RECORD AT LAWLOR EVENTS CENTER (since 2003-04)
Year Overall WAC Play
2003-04 15-0 9-0
2004-05 13-4 7-2 (also 0-1 in WAC Tournament)
2005-06 17-1 7-1 (also 3-0 in WAC Tournament)
2006-07 15-1 8-0
2007-08 13-3 7-1
2008-09 13-8 5-3 (also 2-1 in WAC Tournament)
2009-10 15-2 7-1 (also 1-1 in WAC Tournament)
2010-11 2-1 0-0
Totals 103-20 51-8 (54-11 with WAC Tournament)
WOLF PACK PICKED TO FINISH THIRD IN WAC — Nevada has been picked to finish third in the Western Athletic Conference by both the league’s coaches and media. The Wolf Pack received 47 points in the coaches’ polls to finish behind Utah State and New Mexico State. In the media poll the Pack totaled 190 points to again rank behind Utah State and New Mexico State.
NEVADA 0-4 IN 2010 DICK’S SPORTING GOODS NIT SEASON TIP-OFF — Nevada went 0-4 in the 2010 Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off. The Wolf Pack lost 64-53 to Pacific and 76-75 to Pepperdine in the two games played at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, Nov. 15-16. The next week the Pack lost at George Washington 58-56 and 66-57 to Boston University in the two games played at GW’s Smith Center in Washington, D.C. Overall Nevada is 1-5 in the preseason NIT going 1-1 in the 2003 event defeating Vermont 69-49 at home then falling 93-79 at #1 Connecticut.
RECORD AT LAWLOR EVENTS CENTER (since 2003-04)
Year Overall WAC Play
2003-04 15-0 9-0
2004-05 13-4 7-2 (also 0-1 in WAC Tournament)
2005-06 17-1 7-1 (also 3-0 in WAC Tournament)
2006-07 15-1 8-0
2007-08 13-3 7-1
2008-09 13-8 5-3 (also 2-1 in WAC Tournament)
2009-10 15-2 7-1 (also 1-1 in WAC Tournament)
2010-11 1-1 0-0
Totals 102-20 51-8 (54-11 with WAC Tournament)
NEVADA 0-4 IN 2010 DICK’S SPORTING GOODS NIT SEASON TIP-OFF — Nevada went 0-4 in the 2010 Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off. The Wolf Pack lost 64-53 to Pacific and 76-75 to Pepperdine in the two games played at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, Nov. 15-16. The next week the Pack lost at George Washington 58-56 and 66-57 to Boston University in the two games played at GW’s Smith Center in Washington, D.C. Overall Nevada is 1-5 in the preseason NIT going 1-1 in the 2003 event defeating Vermont 69-49 at home then falling 93-79 at #1 Connecticut.
SIX ESPN TV GAMES IN 2010-11 — University of Nevada men’s basketball games will air on ESPN’s family of networks six times this season. The Wolf Pack will make three appearances on ESPNU, two games will air on ESPN2 and one will be a regional ESPN telecast.
Home games on Dec. 17 with Arizona State, Dec. 31 versus Hawai`i and Jan. 8 with Utah State will be shown on ESPNU. Road games at Idaho on Jan. 12 and at Utah State Feb. 2 can be seen on ESPN2. The Feb. 24 Idaho at Nevada game will be a regional ESPN telecast.
Pack layups
Second-year head coach David Carter is 23-20 at Nevada, which is his first collegiate head coaching position.
Nevada had led in every game but the Dec. 4 home game with UNLV.
Nevada has outrebounded six-of-nine opponents on the season, all coming in the last seven games. The only opponent the Pack did not outrebound in the last seveWoln contests was South Dakota State, on the road, as the Jackrabbits held slim 36-35 advantage.
Three times in the last six games the Wolf Pack has outrebounded their opponent by 10 or more. Nevada outrebounded Houston by a season high 18, 53-35. The Pack outrebounded George Washington (45-35) and Boston University (47-32) by 10 or more boards.
Nevada allowed a season-high 82 points in back-to-back losses at South Dakota State (Nov. 30) and at home versus #23/24 UNLV (12/4).
Deonte Burton’s 11 assists vs. Pepperdine is the top mark in the WAC this season.
Dario Hunt’s 18 rebounds at Houston is the high in the WAC this season.
Hunt’s five blocks in the San Francisco State game is the top mark in the WAC this season.
Nevada’s 2-7 record is at the bottom of the WAC standings.
Nevada is averaging 16.1 turnovers per game having turned the ball over 10 or more times each contest. The season-high was 22 at South Dakota State but the Pack also had 20 at George Washington.
The 82-65, 17-point loss at South Dakota State was the largest setback of the season.
Derrell Conner’s 15 points at South Dakota State marked the first time this season Nevada’s leading scorer came off the bench and is his career-high.
Hunt has grabbed 12 or more rebounds in the last three games (12 vs. SF State, 18 at Houston, 13 vs. UNLV). He also reached double figures with 10 vs. Boston University giving him a stretch of four double figure rebound games in the last five.
Devonte Elliott (14 at Georg Washington) and Kevin Panzer (11 at Houston) have the Pack’s two other double figure rebounding games.
Nevada has started four newcomers in every game this season, three freshmen, a sophomore transfer along with junior returner Dario Hunt.
Nevada has had seven or more players score in every game this season. A season-high 11 scored in the 81-66 victory over Montana. Four times nine players scored and three times 10 players scored in a game. A season low seven scored in the Houston game.
Five or more newcomers have scored in every contest this season with nine new players scoring in the Pacific contest. Five times eight new players have scored points for the Pack with a season low five new players scoring at Houston.
A total of 21 times five different Nevada players have scored in double figures led by Dario Hunt’s seven occurrences. Deonte Burton has reached double figures in six games while Malik Story scored double figures five times. Twice Derrell Conner and once Jordan Burris accomplished the task off the bench.
Nevada’s 66.2 points per game ranks seventh in the WAC and its 69.1 points per game allowed are sixth.
