University of Nevada Athletics

ABOUT THE BOISE STATE BRONCOS —  Boise State (11-6, 4-1 WAC) is 11-6 and 4-1 in WAC play after dropping its first conference game of the season to Utah State 68-59 on Thursday night.  The Broncos are under the direction of first-year head coach Leon Rice who has the squad tied for second in the WAC standings.
    Senior forward Robert Arnold (6-6) leads the team in scoring averaging 15.4 points per game and is second in rebounding grabbing 5.1 per contest.  La’Shard Anderson, a 6-1 senior guard is scoring 14.6 points per game and is dishing out a WAC high 5.1 assists per game.  The third play averaging double figures is senior forward Paul Noonan (6-7) who contributes 10.2 points per game.  Senior forward Daequon Montreal (6-8) tops the team in rebounding at 6.1 per game and chips in 9.6 points per contest.
    Offensively BSU averages 75.9 points per game and allows 77.6, plus 9.5 per game.  On the backboards the Broncos are plus 4.2, 35.5-31.3.  From the field they shoot 42.2 percent while opponents shoot 44.7.  From behind the arc BSU had made 35.3 percent of its attempts and opponents 39.4 percent.

CZYZ ON A ROLL — Junior forward Olek Czyz has been on a roll since WAC play began.  Czyz put together three consecutive 20 point games to start the conference season then finished with 14 at Idaho. 
    He stated WAC play scoring 23 versus Hawai`i, totaled 26 at Fresno State and 25 against Utah State.  All three point totals were game highs with the 23 against UH tying teammate Dario Hunt for the honor.  The last two games he has set career highs with nine rebounds versus Utah State and 10 at Idaho which were also game highs.
    At Idaho his 14 point, 10 rebound performance marked his first double-double at Nevada.
    His 22 points per game in WAC play leads the conference and he is second shooting 66 percent from the field.  He ranks in nine categories in WAC only play.
    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 15.0 points per game and shooting 56 percent from the field including 41 percent from behind the arc.
    In the four WAC games he is averaging 22 points, 6.8 rebounds and shooting 66 percent.  From the 3-point line he is shooting 50 percent making 9-of-18 attempts and at the free throw line is connecting on 77 percent of his attempts.
    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 seven games he is averaging 15.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and is shooting 55 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, 25 against Utah State and 14 at Idaho.

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 12.6 points and hauling down 9.5 rebounds per game. 
    The last two games he scored four points versus Utah State and five at Idaho which is the first time this season he failed to score double figures in back-to-back games.  Against USU he did not grab a rebound for the first time in his career.
    His 9.5 rebounds, 4.0 offensive rebounds and 1.53 blocks per game lead the WAC and he ranks in three additional categories in the conference.  In conference only play his name appears in five categories.  In the latest NCAA statistics the then 9.6 rebounds per game ranks 34th.
    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 six 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.  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 a 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 11 games and three missed reaching double figures during that stretch finishing with nine.  All seven of his double figure rebounding efforts have been in the last 13 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 17 games.  Story is second on the team averaging 13.6 points per game and is grabbing 3.5 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), third in 3-point percentage (44.4%) and second in 3-point shots made (2.59 mpg) in the WAC.  In the latest NCAA rankings he is 19th in 3-point field goal percentage.  On the year he has made 44-of-99 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 four conference games he is averaging 14.8 points per game which is tied for 10th in WAC play with teammate Deonte Burton 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 12 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 10 of the last 13 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 scored a career-high 23 points at Idaho on Wednesday making 8-of-12 field goals including 3-of-4 from behind the arc and 4-of-5 free throws.  Burton has started all 17 games at point guard in his first season at Nevada and is fourth on the squad and 12th in the WAC averaging 12.2 points per game. 
    He leads the team averaging 3.47 assists per game which is fourth in the WAC and his 1.64 assist to turnover ratio is also fourth in the conference.  The Pack’s top free throw shooter at 77.9 percent he ranks ninth in the league.  He ranks in five categories in the WAC and in conference only action ranks in seven.
    In the last 11 games he has averaged just under five free throws made per game and is shooting 79 percent making 54-of-68 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 10 of the last 11 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.
    His 15 points versus UNLV tied Malik Story for team-high honors and marked the first time he has led the team in scoring.  On the year he has produced a team-high 13 double figure scoring performances. 

YOUNG GUNS EQUAL 80% — Nevada has used five different lineups through 17 games but all have been dominated by young first-year players.  Freshman point guard Deonte Burton has started all 17 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 two.  Junior transfer Olek Czyz has started the last seven games after sitting out a year under NCAA transfer rules after leaving Duke.
    Newcomers have scored 928-of-1166 points on the season which equates to 80 percent of the offense.  Other junior Dario Hunt’s 12.6 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 21 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 15 more blocks giving him 159 in 85 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 85 games while Jones’ 142 were in 101 games and Fazekas’ 192 were accomplished in 131 contests.  Based on average Hunt’s 1.87 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 4-13 through 17 games this season.  The last Wolf Pack squad to start the season 4-13 was the 1998-99 team coached by Pat Foster.  The last Nevada team to go 4-14 was the 1969-70 squad that began the year 4-15 on the way to a 5-17 year.
    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.
    Junior forward Olek Czyz posted his first double-double at Nevada scoring 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds at Idaho.
    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.