NEVADA at No.6/7 SAN DIEGO STATE PREVIEW – SATURDAY, JAN. 18 – 5 P.M. – CBS SPORTS NETWORK

RENO, Nev. – Nevada (11-7, 4-2 MW) will play its third Mountain West road game in the last four games at No. 6/7 San Diego State (18-0, 7-0 MW) on Saturday at 5 p.m. PT. The Aztecs are the only undefeated NCAA I college basketball team at 18-0 on the season and sit atop the MW standings at 7-0.

Nevada won its 15th consecutive MW home game on Tuesday defeating Wyoming 68-67 on Jalen Harris' layup with just under 9 seconds to play.  

SDSU has three players averaging Malachi Flynn (16.6 ppg), Yanni Wetzell (11.9 ppg) and Matt Mitchell (11.1 ppg).  Wetzell tops the team grabbing 5.9 rebounds per game and Mitchell is close behind at 5.1 per outing.  Flynn is second in the MW with his 4.9 assists per game.

Harris leads Nevada in scoring at 18.4 points per game and with his 6.2 rebounds per game.  Overall Harris' 18.4 points per game is second in the MW and 22.8 in conference only games is tops in the MW.  

Jazz Johnson ranks fourth in the conference scoring 17.1 points per game. Johnson leads the MW shooting 43.4 percent from behind the arc, having made 58 3s and making 3.3 per game.  Lindsey Drew is also scoring in double figures at 12.1 points per game and his 4.5 assists per game leads the team.

THE SERIES

SDSU leads the series 17-6.  The Pack is 3-12 versus the Aztecs since joining the MW, 3-9 in conference games and 0-3 at the MW Tournament.  Nevada will be seeking its first road win at SDSU since joining the MW for the 2012-13 season.


ON THE AIR

The game will be air on the CBS Sports Network.  Carter Blackburn will call the action with Pete Gillen providing the color commentary.  
The game can be heard on 94.5 FM in northern Nevada with John Ramey calling all the action. 

Important links to follow the Wolf Pack:

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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 598-305 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 11 at Nevada puts him at 598.

Alford's father Sam coached 29 seasons of high school basketball posting a record of 452-288.  The two have combined for 1,050 victories.

Steve played for his father at New Castle Chrysler 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.

DREW MAKING MARK IN NEVADA RECORD BOOK

Senior Lindsey Drew has played 117 games at Nevada and started 111.  The 111 starts is sixth in school history.  He has played in 85 wins during his time which sixth most at Nevada.  His 3,537 minutes played is eighth at Nevada.

Drew's 144 steals is seventh in Wolf Pack history and 465 assists is fifth.  In the win over Colorado State he scored his 800th point and now has 846.

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 1,410 points is 55th, 42.5 percent 3-point shooting is 18th, 116 games played is 75th, and 224 made 3s is 29th.  

Drew ranks 99th with 557 rebounds, 22nd with 465 assists, 42nd with 145 steals, ranks 10th with a 2.3 assists turnover ratio and is 66th with 117 games played.

Harris is 34th shooting 85.3 percent at the free throw line.  Zouzoua's 176 made 3-pointes is 103rd.

JOHNSON AND ZOUZOUA 1,000 POINT SCORERS

Jazz Johnson scored his 1400th point and Nisré Zouzoua his 1200th in the win over Wyoming.  Johnson has 1,410 points in 116 games for a career averaged of 12.2 points per game.  He scored 740 of the points at Portland.

Zouzua has netted 1,208 points in 101 games giving him a career average of 12 points per game. At Bryant he scored 1,025 of those points.

NEVADA IN THE NET

Nevada has a NET ranking of  102 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 107th and non-conference strength of schedule is 65th.  The Pack's basketball power index is 97 and kenpom.com ranking is 103.

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 16 double figure scoring games is tops on the team. Johnson scored his 1,400th career point in the Wyoming win with 740 coming at Portland.  Currently in 116 games he has scored 1,410 points.

He has made a 3-pointer in each game this season and three or more in 12 contests.

Johnson has been knocking down the 3-pointers at a high rate this season having made 59-of-136.  The 59 made 3s is 12th nationally, 3.3 per game is 15th, and 43.4 3-point percentage is 23rd.  He tops the MW in all three categories.

Johnson is second on the team and is fourth 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 81.8 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.

HARRIS LEADING THE PACK

Junior Jalen Harris has scored in double figures in the last 14 games which includes a pair of 31-point games on the road at Air Force and Utah State.  The 31 points is his career high.

Harris' layup with just under 9 seconds to play against Wyoming gave the Pack the 68-67 victory.

Harris tops the team in scoring (18.4 ppg), rebounds (6.2 rpg) and is second in assists (3.9 apg).  The 18.4 points is second in the Mountain West.  The assist numbers rank seventh in the MW and the rebounds eighth.

Eight times in the last 13 games he has scored 20 or more points including the two 31-point games.  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 seven 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 42.9 percent and 34.1 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 49 of his last 56 free throws.  Overall is shooting 84.4 percent at the free throw line to rank third 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 (5.9 rpg).  From the field he is shooting 50.6 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).

ZOUZOUA PROVIDING SPARK OFF THE BENCH

Senior Nisré Zouzoua has provided a spark off the bench in his second year in the program.  Zouzoua is fourth on the team averaging 8.7 points per game.

In seven of the last 14 games Zouzoua has scored in double figures and eight times on the season. He scored nine points in each of the first two games of the season which were then Nevada career highs.  Against UT Arlington he nearly doubled that netting 16 points, making 6-of-8 shots from the field of which 3-of-5 were from behind the arc.

At the Paradise Jam he averaged 11 points per game. He scored 11 points in the win over Fordham and 15 in the victory against Valparaiso.

LAST TIME OUT

HARRIS' LATE LAYUP SENDS NEVADA PAST SCRAPPY WYOMING 68-67

RENO, Nev. (AP) Jalen Harris scored 20 points and his driving layup with nine seconds left carried Nevada to a thrilling 68-67 win over Wyoming Tuesday night.

The lead changed four times in the final 51 seconds. Wyoming's Hunter Maldonado missed a floating jumper to the right of the basket with three seconds left before Kwane Marble II's lunging put back attempt fell short as time expired.

Maldonado's jump shot with 15 seconds to go gave the Cowboys a 67-66 lead before Harris' heroics. Ten seconds before that, Nisre Zouzoua threw down a dunk and Nevada (11-7, 4-2 Mountain West Conference) led 66-65. Hunter Thompson buried a 3-pointer for Wyoming (5-14, 0-7) with 51 seconds left.

Jazz Johnson scored 16 for the Wolfpack and Zouzoua 12.

Maldonado scored 17 for Wyoming, Thompson 16 and Kenny Foster and Jake Hendricks each scored 10.

UP NEXT - UNLV • CBSSN
WED. • JAN. 22 • 8 P.M. PT
LAWLOR EVENTS CENTER (11,536)

UNLV has won six of its last seven games to improve to 10-9 overall and 5-1 in MW play.  The Rebels are alone in second place in the conference standings.  The Rebels are led by first-year head coach T.J. Otzelberger.  Amauri Hardy leads UNLV scoring 14.9 points per game.  Bryce Hamilton (11.7 ppg) and Donnie Tillman (11.5 pgg) are also scoring in double figures.


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