Nevada (6-5, 0-0 MW) vs. New Mexico (7-6, 0-0 MW)
Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022
Reno, Nev. - Lawlor Events Center

TV: FS1 (PxP: J.B. Long; Analyst: Casey Jacobsen)
Radio: ESPN 94.5 FM (PxP: John Ramey; Analyst: Len Steves)

RENO, Nev. - It will be a New Year and a new Mountain West campaign getting underway Saturday, as Nevada (6-5, 0-0 MW) hosts New Mexico (7-6, 0-0) in the conference opener for both teams.

Saturday's contest will tip at 6 p.m. and be broadcast on FS1, with J.B. Long and Casey Jacobsen on the call.  The game will also be carried over the airwaves in Reno on ESPN Radio 94.5 FM and online through the Varsity Network app, with John Ramey and Len Stevens calling the action.

UP NEXT
The Wolf Pack concludes this Mountain West-opening two-game home stand Tuesday at 8 p.m. against Wyoming. Nevada then heads to San Diego State for its conference road opener, Jan. 8 at 1 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
Nevada had its season-best five-game winning streak snapped Wednesday night, falling 88-61 at No. 6/6 Kansas in a replacement game for both teams.

Grant Sherfield and Desmond Cambridge Jr. combined to score Nevada's first 13 points, and were key in the Pack being within six, at 31-25, with two minutes left in the first half. But Kansas closed the half with an 8-2 burst, and the Wolf Pack could not recover.

Sherfield and Cambridge Jr. scored 16 points apiece in the contest, while Cambridge Jr. made a season-high four blocks.

SCOUTING NEW MEXICO
New Mexico (7-6, 0-0 MW), like Nevada, had its original Mountain West opener postponed (was scheduled to face Colorado State Dec. 28), and Saturday's contest will be its first action since a 68-54 win over Norfolk State Dec. 21.

The Lobos are led by the play of a pair of sons of former NBA stars in Jamal Mashburn Jr. (son of Jamal Mashburn) and Jaelen House (son of Eddie House). Mashburn Jr. paces the Lobos with 18.4 points per game while shooting 44.4 percent from the field, and House is next with 16.6 points per game and 20 3-pointers.

ALFORD'S SUCCESS AGAINST HIS FORMER TEAM
Nevada head coach Steve Alford went 155-52 over six seasons at New Mexico (2007-13), and Saturday night's contest will mark the fifth time (all as Nevada's head coach) that he has faced the Lobos since that tenure.

Alford's Wolf Pack swept the home-and-home with New Mexico in 2019-20, before taking both games in of the series in Lubbock, Texas, last season.

MOUNTAIN WEST PLAY BEGINS FOR THE WOLF PACK
Saturday's Mountain West opener provides the opportunity for the Pack to get back to its winning ways, especially considering the past few seasons in conference play for Nevada.

Nevada is 66-23 (.742) in Mountain West regular-season play over the past five seasons (since 2016-17), which is the best winning percentage in the conference over that time (San Diego State is next, at 64-27, .703).

The Wolf Pack is 7-2 all-time in Mountain West openers, entering Saturday.

SHERFIELD, CAMBRIDGE JR. READY TO RUN THE MW
Saturday's start to conference play also provides another shot for guards Grant Sherfield and Desmond Cambridge Jr. to further burnish their 2020-21 postseason and 2021-22 preseason credentials.

Sherfield, 2020-21's Mountain West Newcomer of the Year and a selection to the All-Mountain West First Team, led the conference (in MW-only play) in scoring (18.2 ppg), assists (6.65 apg), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.51), free throws made (79), and free-throw percentage (88.8), while ranking in the top 10 in steals (1.47 spg) and field-goal percentage (sixth, 42.6). That performance helped get him voted the 2021-22 Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year.

Cambridge Jr., meanwhile, was voted to the 2020-21 All-Mountain West Third Team after ranking in the MW-only play top 10 in scoring (16.4 ppg, sixth), 3-point field-goal percentage (third, 35.5), 3-pointers made (44, T-fourth), and field-goal percentage (eighth, 41.3).

UNSELFISH PLAY PROPELLING PACK
Nevada's 5-1 stretch since a 1-4 start this season has been largely due to the significant increase in unselfishness and accountability, especially on the defensive end, within the Wolf Pack.

Over the 1-4 start, the Pack gave up 84.4 points a game, and allowed opponents to shoot 49.7 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from 3-point range. Nevada also had a rebound margin of minus-2.4.

Beginning with game six, an 88-69 win over George Mason, Nevada has significantly changed those numbers for the better. The Pack is limiting opponents to 68.3 points a game (No. 6/6 Kansas' 88 points marked the only time an opponent cracked 70, over that stretch), with both opponents' field-goal and 3-point field-goal percentages down 10 percent, at 39.1 and 29.4, respectively. On the rebounding side, Nevada flipped its margin into the black, as it now stands at plus-4.5.

Prior to Dec. 29's 88-61 loss at No. 6/6 Kansas, the Pack's first action in 11 days, at that point, Nevada had held each of its previous five opponents under the 70-point mark, as well as under the 40-percent shooting mark.