Jan. 3, 2012
Game notes at Idaho 
NEVADA at Idaho
Winners of a season-high seven in a row, Nevada (10-3, 0-0 WAC) opens Western Athletic Conference play at Idaho (7-7, 0-0 WAC) on Thursday at 8:05 p.m. PT. After starting the season 0-2 the Wolf Pack has won 10 of its last 11 games. The Vandals have lost three in a row and are 7-7 on the season. Idaho is 3-2 at home.
Thursday, 8:05 p.m. PT
NEVADA WOLF PACK
(10-3, WAC: 0-0)
at
Idaho Vandals
(7-7, WAC: 0-0)
Cowan Spectrum (7,000)
RADIO: University of Nevada Sports Network (KUUB 94.5 FM Reno; KPLY 630 AM Reno; KELY 1230 AM Ely; KWNA 1400 AM Winnemucca; and KSVL 92.3 FM Yerington)
Ryan Radtke (play-by-play)
TELEVISION: none
Live stats: Livestats Link
WEB STREAMING: www.govandals.com
SERIES?HISTORY: Nevada leads the series with the Vandals 35-25. Idaho won both meetings last season, 72-67 at home and 67-59 in Reno. Prior to last year Nevada had won four in a row and 13-of-14.
UP?NEXT: Nevada travels to Logan, Utah to play Utah State on Jan. 7 at 6:05 p.m. PT. The game will be aired on the WAC?Sports Network, KAME-TV?in Reno.
ABOUT?THE IDAHO VANDALS - The Idaho Vandals are 7-7 heading into Western Athletic Conference play under fourth-year head coach Don Verlin. Verlin is 57-53 overall and 24-24 in WAC play. The Vandals have lost three in a row but are 3-2 at home.
Idaho has three players averaging double figures led by 5-11, senior guard Deremy Geiger who is scoring 13.1 points per game. Geiger is shooting 45.3 (39-of-86) percent from behind the three-point arc. Junior center Kyle Barone (6-10) averages 12.5 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game. Barone is shooting 56.3 percent from the field and is third in the WAC averaging 1.93 blocks per game. Sophomore guard Stephen Madison (6-5) is third in the scoring at 12.4 points per game and is second grabbing 6.1 rebounds per contest. Landom Tatum, a 5-11, senior guard tops the Vandals dishing out 4.4 assists per game.
Offensively Idaho is scoring 71.5 points per game and allows 66.2 per contest. The Vandals shoot 49.5 percent and hold opponents to 39.3 percent. From behind the arc they shoot 42 percent and opponents 33.8. At the free throw line Idaho is making 64.7 percent of its attempts. On the backboards the Vandals are plus 4.7, 36.9-32.2.
Last game: NEVADA HOLDS OFF CEDARVILLE 71-61
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Malik Story scored 19 points as Nevada held off Division II Cedarville (Ohio) for a 71-61 victory on Wednesday night.
Dario Hunt and Deonte Burton added 13 points each as the Wolf Pack (10-3) won their seventh straight game.
Daniel Hickman led the Yellow Jackets (6-5) with 15 points.
The Wolf Pack didn't pull away from the Yellow Jackets until Burton had a dunk and layup for a 65-57 lead with 2:45 remaining. Jerry Evans, who scored eight points, had a three-point play for a 68-60 lead with 1:15 to go.
Nevada scored the final 11 points of the first half to take a 38-36 halftime lead. Story had 17 points in the first half thanks to five 3-pointers.
WAC?OPENERS - Nevada opens Western Athletic Conference play for the 12th and final time before moving to the Mountain West Conference next season on Thursday at Idaho. The Wolf Pack is 5-6 in the previous 11 WAC openers and head coach David Carter is 1-1. The Pack defeated Hawai`i 86-69 last season to begin WAC?play but lost the previous three conference openers. Thursday is the third meeting with Idaho to begin WAC play with each team winning a game.
PACK WINNERS OF Seven IN A ROW AND 10-OF-11 - Nevada has won a season-high seven in a row and 10-of-11 after starting the season 0-2. The only loss in the stretch was 76-55 to BYU in Chicago.
The last time the Wolf Pack won seven in a row was the 2006-07 squad that started the season 7-0 and also had win streaks of nine and 10 games on the way to a 29-5 record.
FLIPPING THE RECORDS AROUND IN A YEAR - Nevada's current 10-3 mark is exactly flipped from the Pack's record a year ago when the team was 3-10 after 13 games. Last year the Wolf Pack's 10 victory came on Feb. 12, 2011 when they won 84-76 in overtime at San Jose State. Win number 11 was a week later at home, 74-63 over UC?Irvine in a BracketBusters game on Feb. 19.
In addition to improving the overall record the Pack has also improved the wins away from Reno. Last season Nevada was 3-10 in away games and 1-4 at neutral sites for a combined 4-14 record outside of Lawlor Events Center. Nevada was 0-10 away from Reno until a 69-67 victory at?Boise State on Jan 15, 2011.
This year Nevada is 3-2 away from Reno, 2-1 in true road contests and 1-1 in two neutral site games played in Chicago.
BALANCING ACT - Nevada has used a balanced scoring attack the last four games putting four players in double figures each contest. A total of seven times this season four Pack players have scored in double figures in the same game.
Three players average in double figures led by Malik Story and Deonte Burton at 14.2 and 14 points per game respectively. Olek Czyz is the third player averaging 10.8 points per game. Senior Dario Hunt is close to double figures with his 9.6 points per contest.
Games with four Pack players scoring in double figures:
Pacific (11/17/11): Story (18), Czyz (17), Evans, Jr. (11) and Panzer (11).
Longwood (11/20/11): Story (28), Burton (14), Hunt (13) and Evans (10).
BYU (11/25/11): Czyz (11), Evans (11), Story (11) and Hunt (10).
Montana (12/10/11): Burton?(21), Czyz (17), Story (11) and Hunt (10).
UC?Riverside (12/17/11): Czyz (15), Story (15), Hunt (12) and Burton (10).
Portland?(12/22/11): Hunt (15), Czyz (15), Evans, Jr. (11) and Story (10).
Cedarville (12/28/11): Story (19), Hunt (13), Burton (13) and Czyz (10).
PACK GETTING DEFENSIVE - Nevada is allowing a WAC low 63 points per game which ranks 92nd nationally. In the conference the Wolf Pack is fourth in field goal percentage defense allowing opponents to shoot 40.8 percent and three-point percentage defense as opponents shoot 32.7 from behind the arc.
The Pack ranks second in block shots in the conference averaging 5.08 per game and third in defensive rebounds grabbing 25.77 per game. Nevada's 6.69 steals per game is fourth in the WAC.
BYU is the only opponent to shoot over 50 percent versus the Pack as the Cougars connected on 54.4 percent of their opportunities. Nevada has held four opponents below 40 percent shooting with a season low 30 percent coming versus UC?Riverside.
HUNT RECORDS FOUR CONSECUTIVE DOUBLE-DOUBLES - Senior forward Dario Hunt recorded four consecutive double-doubles which is the first time he has more than two in a row in his career. The streak came to an end in the Pack's last game, a 71-61 victory over Cedarville when he finished the night with 13 points and eight rebounds.
The four game stretch started with 14 points and 12 rebounds in the 69-61 victory at Arizona State and he followed that with 10 points and 10 rebounds in a 70-64 victory at Montana. The third was a 12 point, 11 rebound effort in a 71-47 victory over UC?Riverside. The most recent was 15 points and 11 rebounds against Portland. Hunt has 15 career double-doubles. The 15 points versus the Pilots?is his season high.
In the last 10 games Hunt is averaging 11.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Over the same 10-game stretch he is shooting 56.3 (45-of-80) percent from the field.
On the season Hunt has six double figure rebounding games and all six are game highs and he has eight games highs this season. He has led the team in rebounding nine times this season which includes the last six games with the last five being game highs. In his career Hunt has led the Pack in rebounding 46 times.
Hunt grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds versus Pacific and he followed that with 11 in the Prairie View A&M?game. In his career he has 23 career double figure rebound games.
BURTON ON POINT(S) - Sophomore point guard Deonte Burton had an impressive three game stretch posting game-highs with 31 points versus Washington (12/2), 28 at Arizona State (12/7) and 21 at Montana (12/10) in three wins. He followed that with 10 in the UC?Riverside (12/17) game but after battling foul trouble tied his career low with two points against Portland (12/22). Burton rebounded to score 13 points in the last game with Cedarville to reach double figures for the seventh time this season and fifth time in six games.
In the four double figure game stretch, Burton averaged 22.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.3 steals with an assist to turnover ratio of 3.6. From the field he shot 50 percent, 57.9 from behind the three-point line and 80.5 percent at the free throw line. In final three games of the four game stretch he had 12 assists and just one turnover.
He had a stretch of making 15 consecutive free throws and has made 35 of his last 40 attempts, 87.5 percent.
The majority of Burton's points came after halftime in the four games when he has scored 66 of his 90 points, 73 percent. After the break he shot 67 (18-of-27) percent, 83 (10-of-12) percent from behind the three-point line and 87 (20-of-23) percent at the free throw line.
Against UC?Riverside he finished with 10 points making three-of-five field goals, one-of-two, three-pointers and all three free throw attempts. He also had four assists and one blocked shot. Eight of his points came in the second half.
At Montana, Burton made five-of-12 field goals, three-of-six three-pointers and eight-of-nine free throws. He also had five rebounds, five assists, blocked a shot and for the second game in a row did not have a turnover. He scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half.
At ASU he made six-of-11 field goals, three-of-five, three-pointers and 13-of-15 free throws. The 13 free throws made and 15 attempted are career highs. He scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half.
In the Washington game Burton scored 19-of-22 points at one stretch of the game from 5:54 to play in the second half with his final point coming at the free throw line with 1 minute to play in overtime. He scored 19 of Nevada's final 24 points in the game.
With 4.3 seconds to play he nailed a three-pointer to tie the score at 66 and send the game into overtime. ?In overtime he scored the Pack's first eight points and his assist on a Kevin Panzer basket closed out the scoring for Nevada. With 1:41 to play in overtime his fourth, three-pointer of the game put the Pack on top to stay 72-70. He made both of his free throw attempts with 1 minute to play to close out his scoring.
In addition to the 31 points being a career-high it is tied for the high in the WAC?this season. The 40 minutes played, nine field goals and 18 attempted were also career bests. The four, three-pointers tied his career high as did his six attempted. He also finished the game with six rebounds and six assists. Of his 31 points, 22 came after halftime.
Burton's first 20-point game of the season came at UNLV when he scored a then career-high 28 points versus the Rebels. He scored 20 of Nevada's 29 first half points at UNLV.
In the Western Athletic?Conference he ranks in seven categories. His 14.0 points per game is eighth, 2.36 assist to turnover ratio leads the WAC, 4.62 assists per game is third, 1.25 steals per game is ninth and 1.46 three-pointers made per game is 13th. He ranks seventh in free throw percentage making 79.3 percent of his opportunities and 38 percent from three-point range is eighth.
HUNT RECORDS 200TH CAREER BLOCK AND GRABS 800TH REBOUND - Senior forward Dario Hunt reached two milestones this season with his 200th career block and 800th career rebound. Hunt broke the Nevada career blocks record in the season-opener versus Missouri State with the 193rd block his career. In the Longwood game Hunt recorded his 200th career block and now has 219 in 113 games. He came into the season tied with Nick Fazekas (2004-07) with 192.
Hunt had six blocks in the Pack's 66-60 loss to New Mexico State in the WAC?Tournament last year to move into a tie with Fazekas. Hunt has three of the top five seasons in school history with his best year of 67 during the 2008-09 season ranking third and is the freshman record. In 2009-10 he had 66 which is fourth on the list and his 59 last year ranks fifth.
In the Portland (12/22) game he became the seventh player in school history to reach 800 career rebounds after finishing the night with 11 boards. His 809 rebounds is six back of Rich Herrin (1989-93) for sixth in school history. His nine in the MSU?game moved him over 700 for his career and the five against Bradley pushed his total to 750.
Hunt made his 100th career start versus Washington (12/2) and now has 105 in the Silver &?Blue. The 6-8 forward, has started 105-of-113 games played in his career. He has started the last 49 games and 82 of the last 83 games.
PACK GOING TO THE LINE - Nevada continues to get the free throw line with frequency, having made more free throws than opponents have attempted. The Wolf Pack has made 211 free throws and the 13 opponents have combined to attempt just 187. Nevada has attempted 331 free throws, over 120 more than opponents have attempted, 187.
The Pack has attempted more free throws than its opponents in 11-of-13 games this season. Nevada has made more free throws in each game than 10-of-13 opponents. Montana and Portland are the only two teams to attempt and make more free throws in a game than Nevada. The Wolf Pack and Washington Huskies both made 15 free throws in their contest. The Pack shot a season-high 25 more free throws than Prairie View A&M.
Despite the numerous opportunities at the charity strip, Nevada is shooting just 63.7 percent at the free throw line and opponents 66.8 percent. Nevada shot a season-high 82.4 percent from the line against Portland making 14-of-17 free throws. Point guard Deonte Burton made 13-of-15 free throws versus ASU including making his first 11 and 15 in a row going back to the end of the Washington game.
Burton and Malik Story rank seventh and eighth in free throw percentage in the WAC making 79.3 and 78.4 percent respectively.
STORY TOPS?WAC, RANKS?NATIONALLY IN THREE-POINT SHOOTING - Junior guard Malik Story leads the WAC?and ranks sixth nationally in three-point percentage making 50 percent of his opportunities. Story has made 35-of-70 attempts on the season. His 2.69 made per game is fifth in the conference and 52nd in the country.
He made a career-high seven, three-pointers in Nevada's 80-78 victory over Longwood. Story was good on 7-of-10, three-point attempts versus the Lancers and finished with 28 points on the night. The 28 points is tied with Deonte Burton for the second highest scoring game for the Pack this season. His previous high for three-pointers was six that he accomplished twice last season, with the last being against Fresno State in the WAC Tournament.
Story tops the Pack and is seventh in the WAC?in scoring at 14.2 points per game. The 6-5 guard, is shooting 78.4 percent from the free throw line to rank eighth in the conference and his 2.15 assists per game is 14th.
CARTER NOTCHES 40TH WIN - Third-year head coach David Carter notched his 40th win at Nevada when the Pack defeated Arizona State 69-61. Carter is 44-35 leading the Wolf Pack basketball program. In his first season the Pack went 21-13 and advanced the second round on the NIT. Last year the young squad posted a 13-19 record.
REMEMBERING MILTON - In remembrance of University of Nevada president Milton D. Glick who passed away of a stroke on April 16, 2011, the Wolf Pack men's basketball team will wear an MG patch on their shorts. Glick, 73, was the 15th president of the University of Nevada.
BURTON FIFTH PACK PLAYER TO EARN PRESEASON WAC POY NOD - Point guard Deonte Burton became the fifth Nevada player and sixth overall to be selected as the WAC?Coaches' Preseason Player of the Year. Kirk Snyder (2003-04), Nick Fazekas (2005-06 & 2006-07), Armon Johnson (2008-09) and Luke Babbitt (2009-10) were all preseason players of the year with Fazekas earning the honor twice. Snyder, Fazekas?(twice) and Babbitt all earned the honor at the end of the season when chosen as the preseason player of the year. Like Burton, Babbitt and Johnson were both sophomores when they earned the preseason honor.
A?Nevada player has been named the season ending WAC?Player of the Year in five of the last eight seasons with Fazekas grabbing the honor three consecutive seasons from 2003-2007.
Johnson and Babbitt are currently on the roster of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers. Snyder was first round pick of the Utah Jazz and Fazekas was chosen in the second round by the Dallas Mavericks. Both played for several teams in the NBA.
Burton was the fourth Pack player to earn WAC?Freshman of the Year honors last year when he averaged 13.7 points and 3.5 assists per game. ?Ramon Sessions (2005), Johnson (2008) and Babbitt (2009) were the previous Nevada players named WAC?Freshman of the Year. Sessions, a second round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks, is currently on the roster of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
