University of Nevada Athletics

ABOUT THE HAWAI`I RAINBOW WARRIORS — The University of Hawai`i is off to a 9-4 start under first-year head coach Gib Arnold.  The Rainbow Warriors lost their Western Athletic Conference opener at Utah State, 74-66 on Wednesday night.  UH is 9-1 at home and 0-3 away from Honolulu. 
    UH has five players scoring in double figures but their leading scorer Bill Amis has missed the last nine games with a foot injury.  The 6-9, senior forward is averaging 15.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.  Zane Johnson, a 6-5 junior guard averages 14.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.  Johnson is shooting 42.4 (36-of-85) percent from behind the arc.  Hiram Thompson, a 6-2, senior guard is contributing 12.3 points per game and three assists per outing.
    Forward Joston Thomas (6-7), averages 12.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.  Freshman guard, Bo Barnes (6-4) has started five games and is averaging 10.1 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.  At 6-10, sophomore center Vander Joaquim leads the team in rebounding at 7.1 per game and chips in 5.6 points.  Freshman guard Bobby Miles (6-1) has started five games on the year and is leading the team in assists at 3.3 per game and is scoring 3.8 points per game.
    Offensively the Rainbow Warriors average 70.4 points per game and allow 62 per contest.  UH is shooting 45 percent and holding opponents to 37 percent shooting.  From the 3-point line they shoot 39 (90-of-229) percent while opponents shoot just 28 (79-of-275).  At the free throw line UH has made 70 (207-of-294) percent of its attempts and opponents 68 (141-of-207).  On the backboards Hawai`i holds a plus 6.2 margin over its opponents, 38.2-32.
    Note: UH stats are prior to the Utah State game.

HUNT DOUBLING UP — After his 21 point, 14 rebound performance in Nevada’s last game at Portland junior forward Dario Hunt is averaging a double-double on the season scoring 13.1 points and grabbing 10.2 rebounds per game.   The 10.2 rebounds per game leads the team and WAC while his 13.1 points per game is second on the team and 10th in the conference.
    Hunt’s 4.31 offensive rebounds per game is first in the league and his 5.85 defensive rebounds is third.  He is shooting 47.4 percent from the field to rank 10th in the conference and his 1.31 blocks per game is third.
    In the Pack’s game versus San Francisco State he scored a career-high 25 points and pulled down 12 rebounds which were both game highs as he recorded his third double-double of the season.   He finished with five blocks, one off his career best against the Gators.
    On the year he has a team-high five double-doubles which is the second most in the WAC this season.  Two of his three 20 plus point games of his career has come this season with the 25 versus SF State and 21 at Portland.
    Hunt led the Pack in scoring the first four games of the season and 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 13 games he has topped Nevada in scoring seven times with two being game highs and reached double figures 10 times on the year.
    He grabbed 12 of more rebounds in three consecutive games until finishing with seven vs. ASU.  Hunt has led the team in rebounding the last seven games and 11 times on the year with two of those rebounding efforts tying for the honor.  Nine of his rebounding totals were game highs.  Six times he has grabbed 10 or more rebounds, five coming in the last seven games and once just missed reaching double figures finishing with nine.
YOUNG GUNS EQUAL 78% — Nevada has used four different lineups the first 13 games of the season but all have been dominated by young first-year players.  Freshman point guard Deonte Burton has started all 13 games as has sophomore transfer Malik Story and returner Dario Hunt.  Freshman Kevin Panzer has made 10 starts, Jordan Burris six, Jerry Evans, Jr. three, Devonte Elliot three and Jordan Finn one.  Junior transfer Olek Czyz has started the last three games after sitting out the past year under NCAA transfer rules after leaving Duke.
    Newcomers have scored 683-of-872 points on the season which equates to 78 percent of the offense.  In the top 11 scorers on the team 10 are first-year players other than Dario Hunt’s 13.1 per game which ranks second on the team

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 13 games.  Story leads the team in scoring at 13.3 points per game and is averaging 3.7 rebounds per game.
    He ranks ninth in scoring (13.3 ppg), third in 3-point percentage (45.7%) and fourth in 3-point shots made (2.46 mpg) in the WAC.  On the year he has made 29-of-62 attempts from behind the 3-point arc.  He has made a 3-point shot in every game but versus San Francisco State when he was 0-for-1 from behind the arc. 
    Story has produced two of Nevada’s four, 20 point games this season with 21 at Houston (12/4) and 20 versus Portland State (12/20).  His lowest output of the season was three versus Pacific, the second game of the season on Nov. 15.
    Nine times this season he has scored in double figures including a career and game-high 21 at Houston.  In the last five games, six of the last seven and in seven-of-nine games he has scored in double figures.   He scored nine points in the two games in the last nine in which he did not reach double digits and eight in the game prior.
    He has led the team in scoring in four games; versus Boston University (14 pts), at Houston (21 pts), tied Deonte Burton for the honor in the UNLV game as both totaled 15 points, versus Arizona State (19 pts) and Portland State (20 pts) outing.
   
BURTON ON POINT— Freshman Deonte Burton has started all 13 games at point guard in his first season at Nevada and is third on the squad and 14th in the WAC averaging 11.4 points per game.  Burton leads the team averaging 3.62 assists per game which is fourth in the WAC and his 1.57 assist to turnover ratio is fifth in the conference.  The Pack’s top free throw shooter at 79.2 percent he ranks ninth in the WAC.  He is tied for 13th in the conference averaging one steal per game.
    In the last eight games he has averaged five free throws made per game and is shooting 81.6 percent making 40-of-49 from the line. 
    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, 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 reach double digits the next three contests averaging 5.7 per outing.  He has since reached double figures in the last seven games, the longest stretch by a Nevada player this season which includes a career-high 18 points versus Arizona State.  His 15 points versus UNLV tied Malik Story for team-high honors and marked the first time he has led the team in scoring.  He totaled 11 points at Houston, 12 versus San Francisco State, 13 in the Portland State, 14 at Washington and 11 at Portland.  On the year he has produced 10 double figure scoring performances.

WOLF PACK IN WAC OPENERS  — Nevada holds a 4-6 record in Western Athletic Conference openers and has lost it last three.  Last season the Wolf Pack fell 77-71 at Louisiana Tech on Jan. 2.
    This season will mark just the fourth time in 11 WAC openers the Pack has played at home.  In the previous three home WAC openers the Pack are 2-1 with the lone loss being a 78-73 setback to Idaho on Jan. 3, 2009.  Friday’s game will mark the second time Nevada has played Hawai`i in its WAC opener with the Rainbow Warriors winning the first meeting in overtime 73-69 on Jan. 5, 2006 in Honolulu.
    Last season the Pack went 11-5 in WAC play to finish in a tie for second place with New Mexico State.  Utah State claimed the league title with a 14-2 mark.

CZYZ STARTING — Duke transfer Olek Czyz has started the last three games and played in four since becoming eligible after sitting out the past year under NCAA transfer rules.  Czyz is averaging 8 points and 5.3 rebounds in his four games.
    Twice he has scored in double figures with 10 in his first game in the Silver & Blue versus Arizona State and 11 at Portland in the Pack’s last contest. 
    In his first start versus Portland State he scored five points and grabbed five rebounds.  His second start was at Washington when he totaled six points and had four rebounds. 
   
HUNT BLOCKS JONES LOOKING FOR FAZEKAS  — Junior forward Dario Hunt ‘s five blocks in the San Francisco State game gave 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.  He had one at Portland giving him 150 in 81 career games played.
    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 150 blocks has come in 81 games while Jones’ 142 were in 101 games and Fazekas’ 192 were accomplished in 131 contests.  Based on average Hunt’s 1.85 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.

EVANS AND PANZER REACH DOUBLE FIGURES  — Freshmen Jerry Evans, Jr. and Kevin Panzer both produced career-highs in the Pack’s game versus Portland State.  The duo reached double figures for the first time in a Nevada uniform.
    Evans scored 12 points off the bench, making 4-of-8 field goals that included a 3-pointer and connected on all three free throw attempts.  It was the third consecutive game in which he set a new career high after scoring seven in the San Francisco State game and eight against Arizona State.
    Starting his then eighth game in a row, Panzer tallied 11 points making 5-of-8 fields with one being a 3-pointer.  In the previous two games he scored just two combined points.

SLOW START  — Nevada is off to a slow start at 3-10 through 13 games this season.  The last Pack squad to start the year 3-10 was the 1969-70 team that ended the year 5-17.  The 1966-67 team began the year 3-11 and were 5-20 at the end of the season. 
    Nevada snapped its seven-game losing skid defeating San Francisco State, 78-64 on Dec. 11.  The Wolf Pack opened the season with an 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. 

12,884 AND COUNTING — Nevada has flown 12,884 miles to play eight 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. 
    Nevada made two trips to the Pacific Northwest to play at Washington, 1,144 miles round trip and 878 miles to play at Portland.
    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 — Junior forward, Dario Hunt posted his fifth double-double of the season and second in a row in the Pack’s last game at Portland finishing with 21 points and 14 rebounds.  This after scoring 16 points and hauling down 14 rebounds at Washington in the previous game.  His five double-doubles is second most in the WAC this season.  In his career he has six double-doubles to his credit.
    Hunt’ third double-double of the season came against 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.
    Freshman point guard, 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.
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.

BREAKING DOWN THE PACK  — The Nevada bench has scored 282 points, an average of 21.7 ppg this season compared to 258 for its opponents, 19.8 ppg.  The Pack bench has outscored opponents in eight-of-13 games.
    Unfortunately the Pack has turned the ball over 198 times which has led to 223 (17.2 ppg) opponent points while 155 turnovers for the opponents have resulted in 157 (12.1 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 172-75 record, the second-most wins of any WAC team during that time (.696 winning percentage). In conference games, Nevada has won 90 games, the most in that same time period.

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.

WINNING AT LAWLOR
The Wolf Pack has won 73 of its last 88 contests at Lawlor Events Center, dating back to the start of the 2005-06 season. Including a 15-2 record in 2009-10 and wins in 10 of its last 13 home games, the Wolf Pack has turned in a 104-21 record at Lawlor Events Center since the start of the 2003-04 season (.832 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).

WOLF PACK LAYUPS

Second-year head coach David Carter is 24-23 at Nevada, which is his first collegiate head coaching position.

Nevada is 0-4 in games decided by four points or less.  The Pack lost by a point 76-75 to Pepperdine (11/16), suffered a two-point setback at George Washington (11/22) 58-56, lost twice by three points at Houston (12/6) 64-61 and at home to Arizona State (12/17) 78-75 and dropped a four-point game at Portland (12/27) 66-62.

Nevada has led in 10-of-13 games except for vs. UNLV, Arizona State and at Washington.

Nevada is 0-8 away from Lawlor Events Center.  The Pack are 0-5 in road games and 0-3 at neutral sites.

Nevada has outrebounded 8-of-13 opponents on the season, all coming in the last 11 games.  Washington (56-42), South Dakota State (36-35) and Arizona State (36-35) are the only teams to win the battle of the boards in the last 11 games.  The 14 rebound deficit at Washington is the largest of the season.

Three times 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 90 points in its loss at Washington, 90-60 on Dec. 22.

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 tied for the top mark in the WAC this season.

Hunt’s five double-doubles is second most in the conference.

Nevada’s 3-10 record is at the bottom of the WAC standings.

Nevada is averaging 15.2 turnovers per game having turned the ball over 10 or more times in each contest.  The season-high was 22 at South Dakota State but the Pack also had 20 at George Washington.

The 90-60, 30-point loss at Washington was the largest setback of the season and largest since a 106-70 defeat at North Carolina on Dec. 27, 2007.

Hunt had a stretch of grabbing 12 or more rebounds in three consecutive games snapped vs. ASU when he totaled seven.  The three-game stretch was 12 vs. SF State, 18 at Houston and 13 vs. UNLV.  In the last nine games he has reached double figures in rebounds six times and once had nine averaging 11.3 during the stretch.

Devonte Elliott (14 at George Washington) and Kevin Panzer (11 at Houston) has the Pack’s two other double figure rebounding games.

Nevada had five players score in double figures vs. Portland State, with Malik Story (20 pts), Deonte Burton (13 pts), Jerry Evans, Jr. (12 pts), Kevin Panzer (11 pts) and Derrell Conner (10 pts) reaching the mark.

Three times the Wolf Pack had four players reached double figures in a game vs. ASU, vs. Pepperdine and at Portland.   The Portland game marked the first time four-of-five starters scored double figures as Dario Hunt (21 pts), Malik Story (13 pts), Olek Czyz (11 pts) and Deonte Burton (11 pts) reached the mark. Story (19), Burton (18), Czyz (10) and Hunt (10) reached double digits in the ASU (12/17) game.  The first occurrence was versus Pepperdine on Nov. 16 when Jordan Burris (15) joined Hunt (16), Story (15) and Burton (10).

For the first time this season only six Nevada players scored points in a game at Portland.  Prior to the UP game at least seven players had scored in every game.  A season-high 11 scored in the 81-66 victory over Montana.  Six times nine players scored, three times 10 players scored in a game and twice seven players produced points for the Wolf Pack in a game.

Five or more newcomers has scored in every contest this season with nine new players scoring in the Pacific contest.  Seven times eight new players scored points for the Pack, once six and twice seven with a season low five new players scoring at Houston and at Portland. 

A total of 37 times eight different Nevada players have scored in double figures led by Dario Hunt and Deonte Burton’s 10 occurrences.  Malik Story scored double figures nine times.  Three times Derrell Conner reached double figures and twice Olek Czyz.  Kevin Panzer, Jerry Evans, Jr. and Jordan Burris accomplished the task once each.