NEVADA AT UTAH STATE PREVIEW

RENO, Nev. – Nevada (10-6, 3-1 MW) and Utah State (13-5, 2-3 MW) shared the 2019 Mountain West title and will square off on Saturday Night at the Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum at 5 p.m. in Logan, Utah.  Saturday's game is the only meeting between the two schools this season.  Both teams posted 15-3 conference marks last season and split the series winning at home.

The Wolf Pack has a new look with first-year head coach Steve Alford and does not return a starter from its 29-5 squad from last season.  USU returns four starters including MW Player of the Year in Sam Merrill and MW Freshman of the Year Neemias Queta.  The Pack is 5-20 all-time in Logan but is 2-2 in the last four games at the Dee Glen Smith Spectum.

The Aggies have lost three in a row but is 8-1 at home this season.  Merrill is third in the MW averaging 17.3 points per game.  Justin Bean (13.4 ppg), Alphonso Anderson (10.4 ppg) and Brock Miller (10.1 ppg) give USU four players averaging double figures.

Nevada counters with three double figures scores in Jalen Harris (17.4 ppg), Jazz Johnson (17.1 ppg) and Lindsey Drew (12.9 ppg).  Harris and Johnson rank third and sixth in the MW in scoring.  They are the top scoring duo in the conference.  Harris leads the Pack in scoring, rebounding (6.5 rpg) and is second averaging four assists per game.

Johnson's 54 made 3-pointers is ninth in NCAA I, his 3.4 made 3-pointers per game is 15th and 45 3-point percentage is 15th.  He leads the MW in all three categories.  He has made three or more 3-pointers in 11 games.  

Drew tops the team and ranks fourth in the MW dishing out 4.5 assists per game. In total he is ranked in eight categories in the MW.  
Johnson (34), Harris (31) and Drew (30) have all scored 30 or more points in game this season.


THE SERIES
USU leads the series 36-23 but Nevada has won five of the last six meetings.

ON THE AIR

The game will be available online on the CBS Sports Network.  John Sadak will provide the action with Ryan Hollins providing the color commentary.  A.J. Ross will work as the sideline reporter.

Important links to follow the Wolf Pack:
Online audio:
Live stats:
Twitter: 
@NevadaHoops

ALFORD NEARING MILESTONE 600TH WIN
    First-year Nevada head coach Steve Alford is just three wins from 600 in his college coaching career. Alford is 597-304 in his 29th season.  
    Alford would become the 16th active NCAA I head coach with 600 career wins.  He earned 78 victories at Manchester, 78 at Missouri State, 152 during his time at Iowa, 155 coaching at New Mexico and 124 at UCLA.  Adding in his 10 at Nevada puts him at 597.
    Alford's father Sam coached 29 seasons of high school basketball posting a record of 452-288.  The two have combined for 1,049 victories.  Steve played for his father at New Castle High School in Indiana.  He played for legendary coach Bob Knight at Indiana and helped the Hoosiers to the 1987 NCAA Championship.  Knight posted a record of 902-371 in 42 seasons.

NEXT HOME GAME WITH WYOMING SET FOR TUESDAY JAN. 14
    Nevada's next home will against Wyoming on Tuesday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.  The game was initially scheduled for the following day and Wolf Pack season-ticketholder's tickets have Jan. 15 printed on them as they were printed before the date change occurred.

DREW MAKING MARK IN NEVADA RECORD BOOK
    Senior Lindsey Drew has played 115 games at Nevada and started 109.  The 109 starts is sixth in school history.  He has played in 84 wins during his time which is tied with David Ellis for seventh.  His 3,472 minutes played is ninth at Nevada.
    Drew's 144 steals is seventh in Wolf Pack history and 456 assists is fifth.  In the win over Colorado State he scored his 800th point and now has 835.    

PACK PLAYERS RANKED AMONG NCAA I ACTIVE CAREER LEADERS
    Jazz Johnson, Lindsey Drew, Jalen Harris and Nisré Zouzoua are all ranked among the NCAA I career leaders.
    Johnson's 1,376 points is 55th, 42.9 percent 3-point shooting is 16th, 114 games played is 78th, and 219 made 3s is 31st.  Drew is 104th with 542 rebounds, 22nd with 456 assists, 41st with 144 steals, ranks 10th with a 2.3 assists turnover ratio and is 66th with 115  games played.
    Harris is 34th shooting 85 percent at the free throw line.  Zouzoua's 175 made 3-pointes is 100th.

NEVADA IN THE NET
    Nevada has a NET ranking of  92 which is the tool that the NCAA uses to rank teams for post season play. The NCAA Evaluation Tool, which will be known as the NET, relies on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses.
    The Wolf Pack's overall strength of schedule is 79 and non-conference strength of schedule is 66.  The Pack's basketball power index is 82 and kenpom.com ranking is 96.

JOHNSON SETS CAREER AND MW SEASON HIGH WITH 34 POINTS IN BSU WIN
    Wolf Pack senior Jazz Johnson scored a career and Mountain West season-high 34 points in the Pack's win over Boise State.  Johnson made a career-best eight 3-pointers on 12 attempts.  In addition to the 34 points being the high by a player in the MW so was his 13 made field goals.  The eight made 3s is the second most by a player in the conference this season and tied for the third most in a game at Nevada.  He also a tied for game honors with a career-high seven rebounds.
    His 14 double figure scoring games is tops on the team.
    Johnson has been knocking down the 3-pointers at a high rate this season having made 54-of-120.  The 54 made 3s is ninth nationally, 3.4 per game is 15th, and 45 3-point percentage is 15th.  He tops the MW in all three categories.
    Johnson is second on the team and is sixth in the MW averaging 17.1 points per game.  Five times he has scored 20 or more points; 20 vs. LMU, 26 vs. USC, 25 vs. BGSU, 20 vs. SCU and the 34 vs. BSU.  In the USC, BGSU, SCU and BSU games the point totals were game highs.
    He is shooting 86.4 percent at the free throw line.
    At the Paradise Jam he made 60 percent of his 3-pointers connecting on 15-of-25 in three games.  In the title game he made 7-of-10.  The seven made tied his career-high that also occurred at Air Force last season and is tied for the most made by a player in the MW this season.  He has made a 3-pointer in each game this season and three or more in nine contests.
    In the win over TSU he scored his 1,300th point and now sits at 1,375 points in 114 career games.  At Portland he scored 740 of those points.

HARRIS LEADING THE PACK
    Junior Jalen Harris has scored in double figures in the last 12 games including a career and season-high 31 points at Air Force.  He scored 22 of the 31 points in the first half.
    Harris tops the team in scoring (17.4 ppg), rebounds (6.5 rpg) and is second in assists (4.0 apg).  The 17.4 points is third in the Mountain West.  The assist numbers rank sixth in the MW and the rebounds ninth.
    Six times in the last 11 games he has scored 20 or more points including the 31 points at Air Force.  In the win over Santa Clara he posted his first career double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.  His game-high eight assists left him two shy of a triple double.
    In five games he posted game highs in points, six times he posted a game-high in assists and four times a game-high in rebounds.
    From the field he is shooting 41.5 percent and 32.5 percent from behind the arc.  At the free throw line he had a streak of 19 in a row snapped at BYU going 5-of-8.  He has made 40 of his last 47 free throws.  Overall is shooting 83.6 percent at the free throw line to rank fourth in the conference.
    Harris injured his foot in the season opener with Utah playing just 8 minutes and missed the LMU game.  He returned to the lineup against UT Arlington and scored a game-high 24 points in the victory.

DREW DOING IT ALL IN FINAL SEASON AT NEVADA
    The versatile Lindsey Drew is doing it once again in his fifth and final season at Nevada.  Drew missed all last year after rupturing his right achilles tendon at Boise State on 
Feb. 14, 2018.  
    The do everything guard returned with a flair scoring a career-high 30 points in his senior debut against Utah.  He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out eight assists.  In the next game he scored 24 points, had nine rebounds and five assists in a win over Loyola Marymount.  Both point totals were game highs.
    In 11 games he has scored in double figures which is the most double figure scoring games for him in a season passing the 10 he had his junior year before the injury.  He leads the team in assists (4.5 apg) and is second in rebounding (5.8 rpg).  From the field he is shooting a team best 54.9 percent.  In total he is ranked in nine categories in the conference.
    Twice he has posted double-doubles with 10 points and 10 rebounds in the Paradise Jam Championship game win over Bowling Green.  Against TSU he scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season and fourth of his career.
    In seven games he posted highs in assists; vs. Utah (8), LMU (7), UTA (4), at Air Force (6), vs. CSU (6), vs. BSU (9) and at SJSU (5).  The nine assists in the BSU game tied his career high and is the high for a Nevada player this season.  In another four games he posted game highs in rebounds; LMU (9), vs. Bowling Green (10), at Air Force (8) and TSU (10).

NEVADA TIED FOR SECOND IN MOUNTAIN WEST STANDINGS
    Nevada's loss at SJSU on Wednesday dropped them into a tie for second place at 3-1 with New Mexico and UNLV.  No. 7 San Diego State sits atop the standings at 5-0 and 16-0 overall.
    Boise State (3-2), Air Force (2-2), Utah State (2-3) and SJSU (2-3) are in the next four spots.  CSU (1-3) is ninth, Fresno State (1-4) sits in 10th and Wyoming (0-5) is 11th.
    
Saturday's Mountain West games
Colorado State at San José State* (MWN) 2 p.m. PT 
Air Force at New Mexico* (Stadium/Facebook) 4 p.m. MT 
UNLV at Wyoming* (AT&T SPORTSNET) 5  p.m. MT 
Nevada at Utah State* (CBSSN) 5 p.m. PT 
Boise State at #7/7 At San Diego State* (ESPN3) 7 p.m.. PT

LAST TIME OUT

NEVADA DROPS FIRST MOUNTAIN WEST GAME 70-68 AT SJSU

SAN JOSE - The University of Nevada (10-6, 3-1 MW) men's basketball teal lost its first Mountain West game of the season falling 70-68 at San José State (6-11, 2-3 MW) on Wednesday night at the Provident Credit Union Event Center before 1,459 fans.  The Wolf Pack next plays at Utah State (13-5, 2-3 MW) on Saturday at 5 p.m. PT.  The game will air on CBS Sports Network.

Nevada built an eight-point lead 29-21 with 6:30 to play in the first half but the Spartans closed with a 13-5 run to knot the score at 34.  The Pack once again held an eight-point cushion 53-45 with 11:02 to play in the game before SJSU tied the score at 55 with 7:53 remaining in the second half.  

The Spartans scored the next seven points to move in front 62-55.  Nevada battled back and with 57 seconds to
play freshman Zane Meeks tied the game at 66 with his second 3-pointer of the night.  Three consecutive SJSU free throws broke the tie as the Pack now trailed 69-66.  Nevada closed within a point 69-68 with 1.3 seconds to play but SJSU made one more free throw to make the final score 70-68.

UP NEXT: WYOMING COWBOYS • CBSSN
TUE. • JAN. 14 • 7 P.M. PT 
Lawlor Events Center (11,536)

Wyoming (5-12, 0-5 MW) has lost its last three games and is looking for its first Mountain West win on Saturday when they host UNLV.  They are 2-9 in their last 11 games.
The Cowboys are led by Hunter Maldonado whose 18.1 points per game ranks second in the MW.  Maldonado also tops the team grabbing 5.6 rebounds per game.  


To purchase tickets call 775-348-PACK or go to NevadaWolfPack.com.