University of Nevada Athletics

ABOUT THE IDAHO VANDALS —  Idaho (9-6, 3-1 WAC) is tied for third place in the WAC standings with Fresno State at 3-1.  Third year head coach Don Verlin is 41-38 leading the Vandals and 18-18 in WAC action.
    UI has just one player averaging double figures but the next four range from 9.2 to 9.9 points per game.  Junior guard Deremy Geiger (5-11) averages 10.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.  Junior forward Luiz Toledo (6-8) averages 9.9 points and his 5.4 rebounds are tied for second on the team.  At 6-10, sophomore center Kyle Barone is the tallest member of the squad and is also averaging 5.4 rebounds per game to go along with his 9.8 points per game.  Senior guard Jeff Ledbetter (6-3) is scoring 9.5 points per game and shoots 43.9 percent from behind the 3-point arc.  Another senior guard Shawn Henderson (6-3) is chipping in 9.2 points and grabbing a team-high 5.8 rebounds.  Senior guard Brandon Wiley (6-6) has started all 15 games and tops the team in assists averaging 2.6 per game.
    On the season the Vandals average 65.9 points per game while allowing 63.9.  From the field UI is shooting 45 percent and holding opponents to 41 percent shooting.  From behind the 3-point line Idaho shoots 38 percent and opponents are making 31 percent of their opportunities.  An excellent free throw shooting team UI has made 72 percent of their charity tosses and opponents 70.  On the backboards UI holds a plus 3.8 advantage, 34.9-31.1

CZYZ ON A ROLL — Junior forward Olek Czyz has been on a roll the last three games putting up incredible offensive numbers.   Czyz scored 23 or more points in each of his last three outings starting with 23 versus Hawai`i, followed by 26 at Fresno State and 25 versus Utah State.  All three point totals were game highs with the 23 against UH tying teammate Dario Hunt for the honor.
    In seven games in the Silver & Blue since becoming eligible after sitting out one year under NCAA transfer rules, the Duke transfer is averaging a team-high 15.1 points per game and shooting 57.8 percent from the field including 39.1 percent from behind the arc.
    In the last three games, which have all been WAC games, he is averaging 24.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and shooting 72.2 percent.  From the 3-point line he is shooting 50 percent making 7-of-14 attempts and at the free throw line is connecting on 75 percent of his attempts.
    The 24.7 points per game is tops in the conference in WAC only games.  He is third in field goal percentage (72.2%) and ranks in five additional categories in WAC play.
    The 26 points at Fresno State is the high by a Pack player this season.
    At Fresno State he made his first 10 field goals before missing two, 3-pointers in the last 2:14 of the game.  He finished 10-of-12 from the field which included 2-of-4 three pointers and was good on 4-of-5 free throws.
    Since being inserted into the lineup the last six games he is averaging 16 points, 5.2 rebounds and is shooting 57 percent from the field.
    Four times he has scored in double figures with 10 versus Arizona State, 11 at Portland,  23 versus UH, 26 at Fresno State and 25 in the Utah State game.

HUNT LEADING THE WAY — Junior forward Dario Hunt continues to lead the way in his third season at Nevada.  The 6-7 forward is averaging near a double-double scoring 13.1 points and hauling down 9.6 rebounds per game.  Hunt was averaging a double-double until the last game when foul trouble limited his playing time to 10 minutes as he totaled just four points and for the first time in his career he did not have a rebound.
    His 9.6 rebounds and 1.38 blocks per game lead the WAC and he ranks in four additional categories in the conference.  In conference only play his name appears in five categories.  In the latest NCAA statistics the 9.6 rebounds per game ranks 32nd.
    For the first time in his career he had back-to-back 20 plus point games, finishing with 21 at Portland (12/27) and 23 versus Hawai`i (12/31).  He also scored a career-high 25 points versus San Francisco State this season.  Three of his four career 20 plus point games have come this season.
    In the Pack’s game at Fresno State he totaled 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds to record his sixth double-double of the season which is second most in the WAC.  Hunt has three double-doubles in the last five games and just missed a double-double in the Hawai`i game when he finished with a team-high nine rebounds to go along with his 23 points.   He has seven career double-doubles.
    In the San Francisco State game 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.
    Hunt led the Pack in scoring the first four games of the season and reached double figures in the first five.  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 16 games he has topped Nevada in scoring eight times with one being a tie with Olek Czyz, as both had 23 versus Hawai`i.  Three times he posted game highs which includes the tie with Czyz.  On the year he has scored in double figures 12 times.
    He grabbed 12 or more rebounds in three consecutive games until finishing with seven against ASU.  Hunt topped the team in rebounding the first three games of the year and had a streak of leading the team in nine consecutive games snapped in the Utah State game.  On the year he has led the team in rebounding 13 times with two of those rebounding efforts tying for the honor.  Ten of his rebounding totals were game highs.  Seven times he has grabbed 10 or more rebounds, six coming in the last 10 games and twice missed reaching double figures during that stretch finishing with nine.  All seven of his double figure rebounding efforts have been in the last 12 contests.

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 16 games.  Story is second on the team averaging 13.6 points per game and is grabbing 3.6 rebounds per game.
    The Pack’s top long range shooter had his best game from behind the 3-point arc in the WAC opener versus Hawai`i making 6-of-11 attempts to account for all 18 of his points in the game.  The six, 3-pointers is the high by a Pack player this season and equals Brandon Fields’ high from last season when he connected on 6-of-10 at San Jose State on Feb. 25, 2010.
    He ranks ninth in scoring (13.6 ppg), fourth in 3-point percentage (44.6%) and second in 3-point shots made (2.56 mpg) in the WAC.  On the year he has made 41-of-92 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. 
    He ranks in four categories in the WAC and in conference only games.  In three conference games he is averaging 15 points per game which is ninth in WAC play and is first making three, 3-pointers per game in league play.
    Story has produced two 20 point games this season with 21 at Houston (12/4) and 20 versus Portland State (12/20).  His lowest output was three versus Pacific, the second game of the season on Nov. 15.
    On the year he has scored in double figures 11 times including a career and game-high 21 at Houston.  He had a stretch of scoring in double figures in five games in a row snapped when he totaled nine at Fresno State.
    In nine of the last 12 games he has reached double figures and totaled nine in the three other games during the stretch and eight in the previous game.
    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 the Portland State (20 pts) outing.

BURTON ON POINT— Freshman Deonte Burton has started all 16 games at point guard in his first season at Nevada and is fourth on the squad and 12th in the WAC averaging 11.5 points per game.  Burton leads the team averaging 3.63 assists per game which is fourth in the WAC and his 1.71 assist to turnover ratio is fourth in the conference.  The Pack’s top free throw shooter at 77.8 percent he ranks ninth in the league. 
    In the last 10 games he has averaged just under five free throws made per game and is shooting 79 percent making 50-of-63 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. 
    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, Luke 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 nine of the last 10 games which included a stretch of nine in a row until finishing with nine in the Utah State game.   The nine game stretch of double digit scoring is the longest by a Pack player this season.  In the game prior to the last 10 he also totaled nine points.
    He scored a  career-high 18 points against Arizona State making 5-of-13 field goals and 7-of-8 free throws.  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 game, 14 at Washington, 11 at Portland, 11 versus Hawai`i and 16 at Fresno State.  On the year he has produced 12 double figure scoring performances. 

YOUNG GUNS EQUAL 79% — Nevada has used five different lineups through 16 games but all have been dominated by young first-year players.  Freshman point guard Deonte Burton has started all 16 games as has sophomore transfer Malik Story and returner Dario Hunt.  Freshman Kevin Panzer has made 10 starts, Jordan Burris six, Jerry Evans, Jr. five, Devonte Elliot three and Jordan Finn one.  Junior transfer Olek Czyz has started the last six games after sitting out a year under NCAA transfer rules after leaving Duke.
    Newcomers have scored 868-of-1099 points on the season which equates to 79 percent of the offense.  Other junior Dario Hunt’s 13.1 points per game 10 of the top 11 scorers are first year players.

HUNT LOOKING TO CRACK REBOUNDING TOP 10 — Junior forward Dario Hunt grabbed his 500th career rebound for the Wolf Pack at Washington earlier this season.  Hunt entered the game needing 11 rebounds to reach the 500 plateau but finished with 14 and added 13 points.
    He needs 30 rebounds to move into a tie with Dave Webber (1972-74) for 10th on the Pack career list.

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 has since added 11 more block giving him 155 in 84 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 155 blocks has come in 84 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.

SLOW START  — Nevada is off to a slow start at 4-12 through 16 games this season.  The last Wolf Pack squad to start the season 4-12 was the 1999-2000 team coached by Trent Johnson that ended the year 9-20.  The last Pack squad to go 4-13 was the 1998-99 team coached by Pat Foster.
    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. 

DOUBLE-DOUBLES — Junior forward, Dario Hunt posted his sixth double-double of the season at Fresno State scoring 13 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.  Hunt had back-to-back double-doubles with 21 points and 14 rebounds at Portland after scoring 16 points and grabbing 14 rebounds at Washington.  In his career he has seven 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.  The 11 assists is the high in the WAC this season.

BREAKING DOWN THE PACK  — The Nevada bench has scored 306 points, an average of 19.1 ppg this season compared to 320 for its opponents, 20 ppg.  The Pack bench has outscored opponents in eight-of-16 games.  Nevada’s bench failed to score in double figures this year in each of the last four games.
    Unfortunately the Pack has turned the ball over 237 times which has led to 271 (16.1 ppg) opponent points while 189 turnovers for the opponents have resulted in 191 (11.9 ppg) points for Nevada.

13,544 AND COUNTING — Nevada has flown 12,884 miles to play eight games this season away from Reno and drove another 660 round trip to Fresno, Calif. to play the Bulldogs.  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 flights, 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.

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.

WOLF PACK IN WAC OPENERS — Nevada improved to 5-6 in WAC openers and 14-0 at home versus Hawai`i after defeating the Rainbow Warriors 86-69.  It snapped a three-game losing skid in WAC openers for the Pack.  The 86 points is the high this season and the 25-point second half lead was the largest advantage the Pack held this season.

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 173-77 record, the second-most wins of any WAC team during that time (.692 winning percentage). In conference games, Nevada has won 91 games, the most in that same time period. The top three teams in wins (both overall and WAC) over the last seven plus seasons:

WINNING AT LAWLOR  — Nevada has won 82 percent of its games over the past seven plus seasons posting a 105-23 record at Lawlor Events Center.  The Wolf Pack has posted a 51-9 WAC mark during that same stretch, a winning percentage of 85.

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.
    WAC Sports Network To Televise Six Nevada Men’s Basketball Games —  The WAC Sports Network (WSN) announced its 12-game broadcast schedule today and six will feature the University of Nevada men’s basketball team.  Locally WSN games are televised on My 21 KAME-TV.
    The first of three Nevada WSN games during the month of January will be the contest at Fresno State on the third.  The Jan. 15 game at Boise State and Jan. 27 home game with Fresno State will also be televised in the first month of the year.
    The Pack’s game at San Jose State on Feb. 12 and the home contest with Boise State on Feb. 26 will give fans an opportunity to watch two games in February.  The Mar. 5 game at New Mexico State is the sixth game that will feature the Pack on the WSN.

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.
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.

WAC Sports Network To Televise Six Nevada Men’s Basketball Games —  The WAC Sports Network (WSN) announced its 12-game broadcast schedule today and six will feature the University of Nevada men’s basketball team.  Locally WSN games are televised on My 21 KAME-TV.
    The first of three Nevada WSN games during the month of January will be the contest at Fresno State on the third.  The Jan. 15 game at Boise State and Jan. 27 home game with Fresno State will also be televised in the first month of the year.
    The Pack’s game at San Jose State on Feb. 12 and the home contest with Boise State on Feb. 26 will give fans an opportunity to watch two games in February.  The Mar. 5 game at New Mexico State is the sixth game that will feature the Pack on the WSN.