University of Nevada Athletics

ABOUT THE FRESNO STATE BULLDOGS — Fresno State is 5-6 overall and 1-0 in Western Athletic Conference play under sixth year head coach Steve Cleveland.  Cleveland is 83-87 in his sixth season at FS, 44-65 in WAC play and 221-195 overall in his 14th year.
    The Bulldogs opened WAC play defeating San Jose State 75-62 at home where they have posted a 4-2 mark this season.  After dropping four in a row FS has won four of its last five games.
    FS is led by 6-10, 250-pound sophomore, center Greg Smith who averages 10.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.  Smith is shooting 57 percent from the field but just 45 from the free throw line.  Freshman guard Kevin Olekaibe (6-1) is the Bulldogs other double figure scorer averaging 10.2 points and a team-high 2.4 assists per game.  The next four FS players average between five and nine points per game.  Senior forward Nedeljko Golubovic (6-8) is the second the team in rebounding at 5.3 per game.
    On the year FS is scoring 66 points per game and allows 67.3 per game.  Offensively the Bulldogs shoot 41 percent and opponents shoot slightly better at 42 percent.  From behind the 3-point arc they shoot 28 percent and opponents shoot 32.  From the charity stripe Bulldog players are connecting on 57 percent of their opportunities and opponents shoot 66.  FS holds a slight rebounding advantage over is opponents 37.8 to 37.7

HUNT DOUBLING UP — Junior forward Dario Hunt has been putting up incredible numbers in his third season in the Silver & Blue averaging a double-double leading the team in scoring at 13.8 points per game and a WAC leading 10.1 rebounds per outing.  For the first time in his career he had back-to-back 20 plus point games in the last two outings, finishing with 21 at Portland and 23 versus Hawai`i.  He also scored a career-high 25 points versus San Francisco State this season.  Three of his four career 20 plus point games has come this season.
    On the year he has a team-high five double-doubles which is the second most in the WAC.  He just missed his sixth 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 six career double-doubles.
    Hunt’s 4.4 offensive rebounds per game is first in the league and his 5.7 defensive rebounds is third.  He is shooting 49 percent from the field to rank 10th in the conference and his 1.4 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.
    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 14 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 11 times including the last three games.
    He grabbed 12 of 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, the last eight games and 12 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 eight games and twice missed reaching double figures during that stretch finishing with nine.  All six of his double figure rebounding efforts have been in the last 10 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 14 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 the last time out 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 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 (46.9%) and fourth in 3-point shots made (2.71 mpg) in the WAC.  On the year he has made 38-of-81 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 six, 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.
    Ten times this season he has scored in double figures including a career and game-high 21 at Houston.  In the last five games, seven of the last eight and in eight-of-10 games he has scored in double figures.  He scored nine points in the two games in the last 10 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 the Portland State (20 pts) outing.
    
BURTON ON POINT— Freshman Deonte Burton has started all 14 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 3.7 assists per game which is fourth in the WAC and his 1.68 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 nine games he has averaged just under five free throws made per game and is shooting 80 percent making 44-of-55 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 eight 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, 11 at Portland and 11 veruss Hawai`i.  On the year he has produced 11 double figure scoring performances.  

YOUNG GUNS EQUAL 78% — Nevada has used five different lineups the first 14 games of the season but all have been dominated by young first-year players.  Freshman point guard Deonte Burton has started all 14 games as has sophomore transfer Malik Story and returner Dario Hunt.  Freshman Kevin Panzer has made 10 starts, Jordan Burris six, Jerry Evans, Jr. four, Devonte Elliot three and Jordan Finn one.  Junior transfer Olek Czyz has started the last four games after sitting out a year under NCAA transfer rules after leaving Duke.
    Newcomers have scored 746-of-958 points on the season which equates to 78 percent of the offense.  After junior Dario Hunt’s 13.8 points per game the next 10 in scoring average are first-year players.

EVANS RETURNS TO STARTING LINEUP — Freshman guard Jerry Evans Jr., made his first start since the third game of the season in the WAC opener versus Hawai`i and scored four points and grabbed five rebounds.  Evans started the first three games of the year but came off the bench the next.  He did start the second half of the game at Portland.
    Evans has in increased his production the last six games averaging 6.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game up slightly from his 4.9 points and 4.1 rebounds he averages on the season.
    He produced his first double figure game with 12 points versus Portland which was the third game in a row he had a career high.  At Portland he grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.

CZYZ SCORES 23 IN FIFTH GAME — In just his fifth game in the Silver & Blue since becoming eligible after sitting out a year under NCAA transfer rules, Duke transfer Olek Czyz scored 19 first half points on the way to a 23-point game in the WAC opener versus Hawai`i.  The 6-7 forward made 7-of-9 field goals including 3-of-4, 3-pointers and was good on both free throw attempts in the first half to total 19 points in the first half.  
    For the game he was 9-of-13, 3-of-5 from behind the arc and 2-of-3 at the line to account for his 23 points which tied teammate Dario Hunt for game-high honors.  He also grabbed six rebounds, dished out two assists and blocked a shot
    Since being inserted into the lineup the last four games he is averaging 11.3 points and five rebounds.  He has improved his season averages to 11 points and 5.4 rebounds to give Nevada a fourth scorer averaging double figures.  
    Three times he has scored in double figures with 10 versus Arizona State, 11 at Portland and 23 in the UH contest.
        
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 nine more block including three in the last game versus Hawai`i giving him 153 in 82 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 153 blocks has come in 82 games while Jones’ 142 were in 101 games and Fazekas’ 192 were accomplished in 131 contests.  Based on average Hunt’s 1.86 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 field goals 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 4-10 through 14 games this season.  The last Wolf Pack squad to start the season 4-10 was the 1999-2000 team coached by Trent Johnson.  That squad started the year 4-12 and ended the season 9-20.
    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 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.  The 11 assists is the high in the WAC this season.
BREAKING DOWN THE PACK  — The Nevada bench has scored 289 points, an average of 20.6 ppg this season compared to 265 for its opponents, 18.9 ppg.  The Pack bench has outscored opponents in eight-of-14 games.  Nevada’s bench failed to score in double figures for first time this year in each of the last two games.
    Unfortunately the Pack has turned the ball over 209 times which has led to 233 (16.6 ppg) opponent points while 170 turnovers for the opponents have resulted in 174 (12.4 ppg) points for Nevada.

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 173-75 record, the second-most wins of any WAC team during that time (.698 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
The Wolf Pack has won 74 of its last 89 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 11 of its last 14 home games, the Wolf Pack has turned in a 105-21 record at Lawlor Events Center since the start of the 2003-04 season (.833 winning percentage).
    Nevada has also captured 34 of its last 40 WAC regular-season home games (.850) and 40 of its last 48 home games against WAC opponents (.833) counting the 2006, 2009 and 2010 WAC Tournaments (dating back to the 2005-06 season).

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.

WOLF PACK LAYUPS

Second-year head coach David Carter is 25-23 at Nevada, which is his first collegiate head coaching position.

Nevada’s 86 points scored in the last game versus Hawai`i was a season-high.  The 25-point second half lead was largest advantage the Pack held this season.

The win versus Hawai`i snapped a three-game losing skid in WAC openers for Nevada.

Nevada will look to go 2-0 in WAC play for the first time since the 2006-07 squad began the conference 5-0.

The Hawai`i game marked the first game this season, two Nevada players scored 20 or more points as Dario Hunt and Olek Czyz tied for game-high honors with 23 points each.

The Hawai`i game was the first in which the Pack did not trail at any point.

Nevada’s 10, 3-pointers versus Hawai`i tied the season high which has occured three times this season.  Malik Story’s six, 3-pointers is the high by a player this year.

Nevada is 0-5 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 11-of-14 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.

After scoring 23 points versus Hawai`i, Olek Czyz gives the Pack a fourth player averaging double figures at 11 points per game although he has played in just five contests.  Czyz 19 points in the first half vs. UH is the high by Pack player in a half this season.

Nevada has outrebounded 9-of-14 opponents on the season, all coming in the last 12 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 12 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.

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 overall record of 4-10 is at the bottom of the WAC standings.

Nevada is averaging 14.9 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.  The 90 points allowed is the high this year.

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 10 games he has reached double figures in rebounds six times and twice had nine averaging 11.1 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.

Four times the Wolf Pack had four players reached double figures in a game vs. ASU, vs. Pepperdine, at Portland and vs. Hawai`i.   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 pts) and Hunt (10 pts) reached double digits in the ASU (12/17) game.    In the Hawai`i  (12/31) game Hunt (23 pts), Czyz (23 pts), Story (18 pts) and Burton (11 pts) had double figures.  The first occurrence was versus Pepperdine on Nov. 16 when Jordan Burris (15) joined Hunt (16), Story (15) and Burton (10).

Only six Nevada players scored points in the game at Portland which is the low this season.  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, once eight scored 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. 

A total of 41 times eight different Nevada players have scored in double figures led by Dario Hunt and Deonte Burton’s 11 occurrences.  Malik Story scored double figures 10 times.  Three times Olek Czyz and Derrell Conner reached double figures.  Kevin Panzer, Jerry Evans, Jr. and Jordan Burris accomplished the task once each.