University of Nevada Athletics

ABOUT ABOUT THE BOISE STATE BRONCOS  —  Boise State improved to 16-11 overall and 8-6 in WAC play after winning 70-56 at Fresno State on Thursday night.  The Broncos are under the direction of first-year head coach Leon Rice who has the squad tied for third in the WAC standings with Idaho, one half game in front of Nevada.
    BSU has four players averaging double figures on the season led by senior guard La'Shard Anderson (6-1) who averages 15.1 points per game and 4.85 assists which is second in the conference.  At FS he had a game-high 33 points and in the first meeting with the Pack totaled 18.
    Senior forward Robert Arnold (6-6) is second on the squad scoring 12.7 per contest and grabs 4.5 rebounds per outing.  Arnold had 18 points and four rebounds in January’s game.  Another senior forward Daequon Montreal (6-8) tops the team in rebounding at 5.3 per game and chips in 10.4 points per contest.  In game one he had 12 points and four rebounds.  The fourth player averaging double figures is senior forward Paul Noonan (6-7) who contributes 10.2 points per game and had seven points in earlier game.
    Offensively BSU averages 73.4 points per game and allows 78.1, plus 5.3 per game.  On the backboards the Broncos are plus 0.7, 33.3-32.6.  From the field BSU shoots 42.8 percent while opponents shoot 46.5.  From behind the arc BSU has made 33.1 percent of its attempts and opponents 37.6 percent.

THE FIRST MEETING - JAN 15 - WOLF PACK 69, BRONCOS 67 — BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Deonte Burton scored 20 points and Malik Story added 16 to lead Nevada to a 69-67 victory over Boise State on Saturday night.
    Dario Hunt had 12 points and eight rebounds as Nevada (5-13, 2-3 Western Athletic) snapped a three-game losing streak.
    Robert Arnold and La'Shard Anderson scored 18 points each for Boise State (11-7, 4-2).
    Nevada trailed 56-52 with less than six minutes remaining before Story staged a personal 8-0 run, scoring on a layup and two high-arching 3-pointers from the left corner. The second gave the Wolf Pack a 60-56 advantage with 3:34 left.
    Boise State trailed by 15 points in the first half before coming back. The Broncos finally caught the Wolf Pack at 43-43 on Anderson's two free throws with 11:52 remaining.

CARP TO BE HONORED ON SENIOR NIGHT SATURDAY — Nevada’s lone senior Adam Carp will be honored prior to Saturday’s tip-off with Boise State in his final home game in the Silver & Blue.  Carp is in his fifth season with the Wolf Pack after redshirting in 2006-07, his first year at Nevada.  He is slated to make his first start on Saturday.  The Clayton, Calif. native has played in 35 games during his career.  At South Dakota State earlier this season he scored a career-high six points.  He earned his bachelor’s degree in speech communication in May of 2010 and has begun work on master’s degree at Nevada.  He is the son of Norm and Lauren Carp.

EVANS ADDS SCORING PUNCH — Freshman guard Jerry Evans, Jr. has given the Pack some added offensive punch the last five games averaging 9.2 points per game while shooting 43 (15-of-35) percent from the field and 44 (4-of-10) from 3-point range.  Evans scored in double figures in three consecutive games starting with 11 at home versus San Jose State then totaled 12 at SJSU.  In the Pack’s game at Hawai`i he totaled a career-high 15 points making 5-of-6 field goals.  He followed the career-high at Hawai`i with eight against UC Irvine but went scoreless in the Idaho game.  The Idaho game was the first time he went scoreless since the Jan. 22 game with LA Tech.   In the UCI game he connected on his first two shots of the game which were a pair of 3-pointers.  It was the first time he made two, 3-pointers in a game.   During the five-game stretch he has made 12-of-14 free throws and grabbed 15 rebounds, 13 of them being offensive.

BURTON ON POINT— Freshman point guard Deonte Burton led the Pack with 19 points versus Idaho on Thursday which is his 20th double figure scoring game of the season.  The 20 double figure scoring games ranks second on the squad to Story’s 21.  Burton has now led Nevada in scoring eight times on the year.  His four 20-point games is second to Hunt’s six.
    In the last three games he has made 8-of-14, 3-pointers,twice tying his career-high with two, 3-pointers made at Hawai`i and against Idaho.
    Scored a team-high 21 points and grabbed a team and career-high eight rebounds in the Pack’s 69-67 overtime loss at Hawai`i on Feb. 14.  At Hawai`i he made 6-of-12 field goals including 3-of-5, 3-pointers.  Made two free throws with 50 seconds left in the second half to tie the score at 59 and send the game into overtime.  He just missed a 3-pointer at the end of regulation that would have won the game.
    A starter in all 27 games his 13.2 points per game is second on the team and 10th in the WAC.  Burton’s 3.74 assists per game tops the Pack and ranks fourth in the conference.  A 1.66 assist to turnover ratio is third in the WAC.  In total he ranks in four categories in the WAC.  In WAC only action he ranks sixth in scoring averaging a team-high 15.4 points per game and appears in seven additional categories.
    Named Jan. 17-23 Verizon WAC Player of the Week after averaging 20.0 points, 6.0 assists, 3.0 steals and 3.0 rebounds per game, shot 75.0 percent (15-of-20) from the field and 71.4 percent (5-of-7) from three-point range
    Burton put together a stretch of five outstanding games in a row averaging 20 points, 2.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.2 steals starting with the Jan. 12 game at Idaho through the Jan. 27 home contest with Fresno State.  Burton shot 65 percent from the field, 58 percent from the 3-point line and 71 percent from free throw line in leading the Pack to a 4-1 record.  He topped the team in scoring in the first four games and three times posted games highs.  The five-game stretch started with a career-high 23 at Idaho, followed by 20 at Boise State, 22 versus New Mexico State, 18 against LA Tech and 17 in the Fresno State game. 
    Since WAC play began he has improved his 3-point shooting making 44.9 percent of his opportunities connecting on 22-of-49 attempts to rank second in the WAC.  The team’s top free throw shooter at 76 percent he has made 109-of-144 chances this season.  On the year he is making four free throws per game.  Only twice this season has he not attempted a free throw, both coming at home versus SJSU and UC Irvine.
    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 tied for 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 17 of the last 21 games which included a stretch of nine in a row until finishing with nine in the home game with Utah State.   The nine game stretch of double digit scoring is the longest by a Pack player this season.  In the game just prior to the last 20 he also totaled nine points.


CZYZ AMONG WAC LEADERS — Junior forward Olek Czyz scored 11 points in the Idaho game on Thursday and in the previous game with UC Irvine had a career-high 11 rebounds.  
    In five of the last eight games he has not scored in double figures.  Other than the Idaho game his two double figure games in the stretch was 10 at home against SJSU and 15 a week later at SJSU.
    In the game at SJSU Czyz made two free throws with three seconds to play to tie the score at 72 to send the game into overtime where the Pack prevailed 84-76.  His  first free throw bounced high off the iron before dropping through the net and his second was dead center.
    Nine of the Pack’s 11 wins has come since he was inserted into the starting lineup against Portland State.  He became eligible to play for the Pack on Dec. 17 versus Arizona State after sitting out one year after transferring from Duke.
    Czyz ranks in four categories in WAC play; 13th in scoring at 13.5 per game, eighth in field goal percentage making 53.4 percent of his opportunities, is fourth in 3-point field goal percentage at 41.5 and is 15th in rebounding grabbing 5.4 per game.
    He had a stretch of seven consecutive double figure games snapped in the home game with LA Tech on Jan. 22.  In the very next game he just missed his second double-double of the season as he grabbed nine rebounds to go along with his nine points in the Fresno State game.
    He put together three consecutive 20 point games to start the conference season.  On the year he has scored in double figures in 11-of-18 games played.  He began 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 26 points at Fresno State is the second most 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.
    He set then career highs in back-to-back games with nine rebounds at home 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.
    He is averaging 12 points per game and is shooting 51 percent from the field including 38 percent from behind the arc.  The 12 points per game is fourth on the team and his 5.7 rebounds per contest are second.
   
TELL ME A STORY — Indiana transfer Malik Story has been one of the top offensive weapons for Nevada all season as his 13.9 points per game leads the team and ranks ninth in the WAC.  Story’s 2.0 assists per game is second on the team and he is fourth in rebounding a 3.1 per contest.
    In the Pack’s loss to Idaho on Thursday he totaled 13 points making 5-of-13 field goals including 3-of-9, 3-pointers. 
    He scored a career and team season-high 29 points at San Jose State (2/12) to help the Pack to an 84-76 overtime victory over the Spartans which earned him Feb. 7-13 WAC Player of the Week honors.  Story made 11-of-21 field goals which included three, 3-pointers and made of 4-of-5 free throws.  In addition he dished out a career-high six assists.  He scored 21 of the 29 points after halftime.  Played a career-high 43 minutes at SJSU and then totaled 41 at Hawai`i as the Pack split a pair of road overtime games.
    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 (13.9 ppg), is sixth in 3-point percentage (39.6%) and third in 3-point shots made (2.41 mpg) in the WAC.  On the year he has made 65-of-164 attempts from behind the 3-point arc.  He has made a 3-point shot in every game except versus San Francisco State when he was 0-for-1 from behind the arc.  In the last seven games he is 15-of-45 (33%) from 3-point range.
    Story has produced three 20 point games this season with 21 at Houston (12/4), 20 versus Portland State (12/20) and the 29 at SJSU (2/12).  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 a team-high 21 times.  Has scored in double figures in 19 of the last 23 games and totaled nine in three of the contests during the stretch.  He has led the team in scoring seven times.

HUNT DOUBLING UP — Junior forward Dario Hunt is averaging a double-double scoring 12.9 points and grabbing a WAC best 10.3 rebounds per game.  Hunt tied his career-high with 19 rebounds against Idaho on Thursday with the first occurrence coming just four games earlier versus San Jose State on Feb. 5. 
    The 19 rebounds is the best total at Nevada since Richard Sturgis had 19 versus UTEP on Jan. 27, 2001.  It is also the high in the WAC this season.  His previous career best was 18 at Houston back on Dec. 6.  He has six double figure rebounding games in the last seven.
    He leads the WAC in rebounding (10.3), blocked shots (1.81), offensive rebounds (3.78) and is second in defensive rebounds (6.52).  Hunt is 16th in rebounding and 67th in blocks in the latest NCAA statistics.
    In the UC Irvine game he recorded his team leading 10th double-double of the season with 20 points and 13 rebounds.  It was his team leading sixth 20-point game of the season. 
    On the season he has 14 double figure rebounding games, 21 times has led the team in rebounding with two of those efforts tying for the honor and 18 game high totals on the year. Three times he just missed double figures in rebounds finishing with nine.   
    He has also led the Pack in scoring in a team-high 11 games with two of the efforts tying for the honor.  Four times he posted game highs which includes the tie with Olek Czyz in the Hawai`i game as both scored 23 points.  On the year he has scored in double figures 18 times.
    Hunt has doubled his scoring output from last season when he averaged 6.5 points and seven rebounds per game.  In 27 games this season his 349 points, 278 rebounds and 95 free throws made are career season highs. 
    In the last 16 games he has seven double-doubles to his credit and just missed an eight when he totaled nine rebounds to go along with his 23 points versus Hawai`i.  In the 79-76 victory over Fresno State, he recorded his eighth double-double of the season and second versus the Bulldogs this season, finishing with 24 points and 11 rebounds. 
    He made 19 consecutive free throws during a three-game stretch until missing his first opportunity in the second half of the FS game.  A much improved free throw shooter he is shooting 71 percent from the charity stripe this season.  Last year he shot 47 percent from the free throw line and as a freshman 46 percent.
    Just twice this season he has not scored in double figures in back-to-back games finishing with four at home against Utah State (1/8) and five at Idaho (1/12).  The second occurrence was six at SJSU (2/12) and seven at Hawai`i (2/14).
    In the USU home game he did not grab a rebound for the first time in his career.  He fouled out of four games in a row; at FS, vs. USU, at Idaho and at BSU.
    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.  Six of his seven career 20 point games has come this season.
    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.         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 home game with Utah State.  YOUNG GUNS EQUAL 79% — Nevada has used six different lineups through 27 games but all have been dominated by young first-year players.  Freshman point guard Deonte Burton has started all 27 games as has sophomore transfer Malik Story and junior returner Dario Hunt.  Freshmen Jerry Evans, Jr. and Kevin Panzer have started 15 and 10 games respectively.  Three other freshmen Jordan Burris six, Devonte Elliot three and Jordan Finn three have made starts.  Junior transfer Olek Czyz has started the last 17 games after sitting out a year under NCAA transfer rules after leaving Duke and became eligible on Dec. 17.
    Newcomers have scored 1494-of-1888 points on the season which equates to 79 percent of the offense.  Other than Hunt’s 12.9 points per game 10 of the top 11 scorers are first year players.

PACK 2-12 AWAY FROM RENO — Nevada is 2-12 away from Reno have gone 2-9 in true road games and 0-3 at neutral sites.  The Wolf Pack’s two victories were 69-67 at Boise State on Jan. 6 and won for the second time away from Lawlor Events Center at San Jose State 84-76 in overtime on Feb. 12.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES — Three players have combined to produce Nevada’s 12 doubled-doubles on the season.  Junior forward Dario Hunt has 10 while freshman Deonte Burton and junior forward Olek Czyz have one each.
    Hunt posted his 10th double-double in the Pack’s 74-63 victory over UC Irvine finishing with 20 points and 13 rebounds.  In Nevada’s 20-point home victory over San Jose State he scored 16 points and grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds for double-double number nine.  The 10 double-doubles is second most in the WAC this season.  Hunt has seven in the last 15 contests.  He posted 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 11 double-doubles to his credit.
    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 tied for the high in the WAC this season.
BREAKING DOWN THE PACK  — The Nevada bench has scored 457 points, an average of 16.9 points per game this season compared to 474 for its opponents, 17.6 ppg.  The Pack bench has outscored opponents in 12-of-27 games.  Nevada’s bench failed to score in double figures in five consecutive games until totaling 10 at Boise State.
    Unfortunately the Pack has turned the ball over 390 times which has led to 421 (15.6 ppg) opponent points while 313 turnovers for opponents has resulted in 340 (12.6 ppg) points for Nevada.
HUNT CLOSING IN ON FAZEKAS  — Junior forward Dario Hunt ranks second in school history with 182 blocks, 10 back of Nick Fazekas’ (2004-07) total of 192.  Hunt is averaging a WAC best 1.81 blocks per game which is also 67th in NCAA I.
    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 is 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.  His 182 blocks has come in 95 games while Jones’ 142 were in 101 games and Fazekas’ 192 were accomplished in 131 contests.  Based on average Hunt’s 1.9 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.

HUNT PASSES WILLIAMS FOR SEVENTH — Junior forward Dario Hunt’s 19 rebounds against Idaho on Thursday moved him past Matt Williams (1987-91) into seventh on the Nevada career list.   Next on the list is Ric Herrin’s (1989-93) total of 815.  Hunt was not in the top 10 when the season began but has passed four former players to grab the seventh spot.

23,504 AND COUNTING — Nevada has flown 22,678 miles and drove another 826 miles for a total of 23,504 miles to play 14 games 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 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.   The Pack flew 1,423 miles to play at Idaho and Boise State.  The trip to Utah State was a combined flight of 764 miles and 166 on a bus to play the Aggies.  Road games at San Jose State and Hawai`i were a total of 6806.  Still in the future is road swing to Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State.
    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.

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 180-81 record, the second-most wins of any WAC team during that time (.690 winning percentage). In conference games, Nevada has won 97 games, the most in that same time period.

WINNING AT LAWLOR  — Nevada has won 83 percent of its games over the past seven plus seasons posting a 110-23 record at Lawlor Events Center.  The Wolf Pack has posted a 55-10 WAC mark during that same stretch, a winning percentage of 84.