Who: Utah Utes (0-0, 0-0 Pac-12) at Nevada Wolf Pack (0-0, 0-0 MW)
When: Wednesday, Nov. 7 - 6:30 p.m. PT
Where: Lawlor Events Center - Reno, Nev.
Live Stream:
NevadaWolfPack.tv
TV: Nevada Sports Net (Ch. 21 regionally); Stadium (Over the Air, check local listings)
TV Play-By-Play: John Ramey
TV Analyst:
Ashlee Jones
Radio: NBC Sports Radio 94.1 FM/1450 AM
Online Radio:
NevadaWolfPack.com/audio
Radio Play-by-Play: Doug Greenwald
Live Stats:
NevadaWolfPack.com/wbballls
Lawlor Events Center Gameday Guide
RENO, Nev. – Coming off of a 19-win season, second-year head coach
Amanda Levens and the rest of the Wolf Pack are looking to carry that momentum into the 2018-19 campaign.
In Levens' debut season in 2017-18, Nevada finished with 19 wins, tied for second-most in program history and making Levens the winningest first year head coach. The Pack entered the Mountain West Tournament as the No. 7 seed and earned three consecutive thrilling victories to reach its first Mountain West Championship game and just its second ever conference title game. While the Pack lost to Boise State on a last second buzzer beater in that championship game, the tone has been set for the future.
Following the conference tournament, the Wolf Pack accepted a bid to the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) to make just its fourth postseason appearance and first since 2011. Nevada won two games during its WBI run, the most wins the program has had in a postseason tournament, to reach the semifinals. In addition to the win total, the conference championship game appearance, and postseason run, the Wolf Pack set multiple team records, including points, rebounds, field goals made and assists. Nevada finished the year in the top five in the Mountain West in scoring offense, 3-point field goal percentage, rebounding margin, assists and field goal percentage.
The Wolf Pack will have a fairly young team in 2018-19, with six freshman joining the squad and the departure of four seniors from last season. Among those departing seniors was All-Mountain West performer
Teige Zeller and a career 1,000-point scorer in
T Moe, who finished last season as the team's top two scorers. Levens has a solid core of returners though, which includes
Terae Briggs and
Kristin Dearth at the forward position and
Jade Redmon and
Camariah King for the guards. Briggs led all post players averaging 8.5 points per game and collected 6.4 rebounds per game. King returns as the team's top 3-point specialist, hitting a career and team-high 62 3-pointers last year.
With just four returning letterwinners from last season, Levens will need the new crop of freshmen to play a large role this year. Levens added three guards and three forwards in the freshmen class, plus the addition of TCU transfer
Mikayla Christian, who is eligible to play this season and will provide outside shooting help with the departure of Moe and Bergman. The freshmen guards include
Da'Ja Hamilton, a 5-8 product out of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.,
Essence Booker, a Las Vegas native, and
Amaya West, who hails from Mesa, Ariz. The forwards added in the offseason include
Emma Torbert, a 6-2 three star recruit from Dana Point, Calif.,
Imani Lacy, who hails from Fresno, Calif., and
Kaelei Koenig, a local product from McQueen High School in Reno.
Nevada will face three Pac-12 opponents in its first five games, opening up the season against Utah on Nov. 7 at Lawlor Events Center. The Wolf Pack will then hit the road for two games, at Santa Clara and at Long Beach State, before returning home to host the Nugget Classic Thanksgiving weekend. Those two games will feature the other two Pac-12 matchups against Colorado and USC. Nevada will play host to another Power 5 program in Texas Tech on Dec. 15 as its nonconference season begins to wind down. The Pack will close nonconference action on Dec. 29 when it hosts Hawai'i, before opening Mountain West play at Utah State on Jan. 2.
After an 18-game conference schedule, which includes two matchups against preseason favorite Boise State and in-state rival UNLV, the Pack will head to Las Vegas for the MW Tournament March 10-13.
Season and single game tickets are on sale now by calling (775) 348-PACK, visiting NevadaWolfPack.com or stopping by the ticket office inside Lawlor Events Center.
