BOISE STATE AT NEVADA PREVIEW

RENO, Nev. – Nevada (9-5, 2-0 MW) hosts Boise State (10-5, 2-1 MW) on Saturday at 3 p.m. to end a two-game Mountain West homestand.  The Wolf Pack has won its last 13 MW home games and is 26-2 in its last 28 home conference games.  The Broncos have won their last four games and sit at 2-1 in MW play.

BSU is led by the Derrick Alston who tops the conference scoring 20.3 points per game.  Abu Kigab (15.8 ppg), Justinian Jessup (15.5 ppg) and RJ Williams (11.9 ppg) give the Broncos four double figure scorers.  Williams tops the team averaging 8.3 rebounds per game.  

Junior Jalen Harris lead Nevada in scoring (17.4 ppg) and rebounding (6.9 rpg) while his four assists per game is second on the team. Jazz Johnson is second on the squad scoring 16.4 points per game.  Johnson tops MW in 3-point percentage (43%) and 3-pointers made per game (3.1 3pg).

Senior Lindsey Drew scored his 800th point in the Pack's win over Colorado State and averaging 12.5 points and team-high 4.1 assists per game. Senior Nisré Zouzoua is contributing 9.4 points per contest. 

THE SERIES
Nevada leads the series 47-27 and has won the last seven meetings with BSU.

ON THE AIR

The game will are on CBS Sports Network with John Sadak providing the play-by-play and Pete Gillen the color commentary.

The game can be heard on 94.5 FM in northern Nevada with John Ramey calling all the action.  Len Stevens will provide the color commentary. Online the game is available at TuneIn.com
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 four wins from 600 in his college coaching career. Alford is 596-303 in his 29th season.  
    Alford would become the 16th active 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 nine at Nevada puts him at 596
    Alford's father Sam coached 29 seasons of high school basketball posting a record of 452-288.  The two have combined for 1,048 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.

DREW MAKING MARK IN NEVADA RECORD BOOK
    Senior Lindsey Drew has played 113 games at Nevada and started 107.  The 107 starts is tied with Jerry Evans for sixth in school history.  He has played in 83 wins during his time which is tied with Dario Hunt for eighth.  His 3,410 minutes played is 10th at Nevada.
    Drew's 141 steals is seventh in Wolf Pack history and 442 assists is sixth.  In the win over Colorado State he scored his 800th point and now has 806.    

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 42.4 percent 3-point shooting is 23rd, 112 games played is 80th, and 208 made 3s is 39th.  Drew is 103rd with 531 rebounds, 23rd with 442 assists, 38th with 141 steals, ranks 11th with a 2.2 assists turnover ratio and is 66th with 113  games played.
    Harris is 28th shooting 85.6 percent at the free throw line.  Zouzoua's 175 made 3-pointes is 97th.

BOISE STATE GAME IS NEVADA'S FIGHT FOR LITERACY GAME    
    Saturday's game with Boise State is the Wolf Pack's Fight for Literacy Game.  During the #Fight4Literacy the Nevada Wolf Pack coaching staff will wear CFL's #Green4Literacy awareness kit, showcasing a green lapel pin and wrist band as well as green shoelaces. 
      For every $10 contributed by Nevada Wolf Pack fans, Coaching for Literacy (CFL) will provide 2 books to local kids. To learn more text WOLFPACK4LIT to 71-777 or visit: http://igfn.us/vf/WOLFPACK4LIT.
    Thanks to CFL's Impact Promise, 100% of funds raised by Nevada Wolf Pack fans will stay local and go straight to help young students in Nevada become better readers.
    Kids all across the state of Nevada are in the fight of their lives. A fight to read proficiently by the end of 3rd grade. In fact, 69% of 4th-grade students in Nevada are not reading at the proficient level.

NEVADA IN THE NET
    Nevada has a NET ranking of  94 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 60 and non-conference strength of schedule is 43.  The Pack's basketball power index is 81 and kenpom.com ranking is 89.

PACK ONE OF THREE UNDEFEATED TEAMS IN MW PLAY
    At 2-0 Nevada is one of three undefeated teams in Mountain West play joining San Diego State (3-0) and UNLV (2-0).  New Mexico, Utah State and Boise State are all 2-1 after three games.
    Air Force is 1-1 followed by SJSU at 1-2.  Colorado State (0-3), Wyoming (0-3) and Fresno State (0-3) are all looking for their first conference win.
    
Saturday's Mountain West games
Wyoming at Colorado State (AT&T SportsNet) 10 a.m. PT
Boise State at Nevada* (CBSSN) 3 p.m. PT
San José State at Fresno State* (MWN) 4 p.m. PT
Air Force at UNLV* (ESPNU) 7 p.m. PT
#13/12 San Diego State at Utah State* (CBSSN) 7 p.m. PT

THE LAST TIME OUT

HARRIS SCORES 20 TO LEAD NEVADA OVER COLORADO ST. 67-61

RENO, Nev. (AP) Jalen Harris scored 20 points and Nevada defeated Colorado State 67-61 on Wednesday night.

Zane Meeks hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points for Nevada (9-5, 2-0 Mountain West Conference). Nisre Zouzoua added 10 points.

David Roddy had 17 points for the Rams (9-7, 0-3), Isaiah Stevens and Nico Carvacho had 13 points apiece with Carvacho grabbing.

Nevada led 39-25 at the half, making 6 of 15 from 3-point range while the Rams were 8 of 26 overall.

The Wolf Pack led by as many as 19 points before the midway point of the second half. But after Jazz Johnson's 3-pointer made it 52-33, Nevada missed its last eight 3-pointers and had five turnovers, allowing Colorado State to make it interesting. The deficit was just five before Johnson's jumper with 1 1/2 minutes to go and Harris made a layup with 46 seconds remaining.

UP NEXT: AT SAN JOSÉ STATE • MWN WED • JAN. 8 • 7 P.M. PT  • The Event Center (5,000)

Nevada begins a two-game road trip at San Jose State (5-10, 1-2 MW) on Wedneday at 7 p.m. then continues on the play at Utah State on Saturday Jan. 11.  


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