Nevada (18-9, 10-5 MW) at Utah State (8-18, 3-13 MW)
Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022 - 12 p.m. PT
Logan, Utah - Dee Glen Smith Spectrum

Live Stream: Mountain West Network
Radio: CBS Sports Radio 94.1 FM/1450 AM

LOGAN, UTAH - Nevada (18-9, 10-5 MW) can clinch a bye at March 6-9's Mountain West Tournament as soon as Saturday, with a win in its 12 p.m. PT contest at Utah State.

Larry Burnett will have the call of the action on CBS Sports Radio 94.1 FM and 1450 AM with a 20-minute pregame show prior to tip. Fans can also listen live online via The Varsity Network app.

UP NEXT
Nevada returns home for some quick rest before heading back out on the road to close the regular season. The Pack heads to Las Vegas to face UNLV March 2 at 6 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
Nia Alexander's pull-up jumper from the free-throw line with a half-second remaining was the difference Thursday night, lifting the Pack to a 76-75 overtime victory at Boise State.

Alexander finished the game with 20 points, while senior Da'Ja Hamilton led all players with 22. Freshman Audrey Roden scored 17 points while hitting three 3-pointers.

Hamilton scored the final six points of regulation to force overtime, and, behind the scoring of Hamilton and Alexander, overcame the Broncos in the extra session.

SCOUTING UTAH STATE
Utah State (8-18, 3-13 MW) has dropped two in a row headed into Saturday afternoon's contest. The Aggies are coming off of their second bye, having last played Feb. 19, a 67-56 loss at Air Force.

Adryana Quezada leads the Aggies with 14.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, with Kaylin Randhawa next at 12.1 points per game.

NOT YOUR TYPICAL TRAVEL DAY
As if Nevada didn't battle through enough in its 76-75 overtime win at Boise State Thursday, the Wolf Pack had to battle just to get to Boise!

Traveling Tuesday, the team's flight was canceled due to mechanical issues. After deplaning, the team scrambled to find a bus to drive to Boise for the seven-plus-hour drive. After a delay due to whiteout conditions in Winnemucca, the Pack finally resumed the drive, and arrived in Boise around 4 a.m. MT Wednesday morning.

FIRST-ROUND BYE SCENARIOS
The Pack, currently at 10-5 in the standings and in third place with two games remaining, is one game ahead, in the loss column, of two teams logjammed at fourth place with six losses apiece: Air Force (10-6) and Wyoming (9-6), and two games ahead of 9-7 Colorado State.

The Pack can clinch a first-round at March 6-9's Mountain West Tournament in one of two ways: first, by winning Saturday's game at Utah State, and second, with a Colorado State loss at home to UNLV, Saturday. It would mark the third time in program history that the Wolf Pack has received a first-round bye at the Mountain West Tournament. The Pack, currently in third place in the standings, is also chasing its highest Mountain West regular-season finish and tournament seed, the current best being a third-place finish in 2013-14.

HAMILTON JOINS NEVADA'S 1,000-POINT CLUB
Senior guard Da'Ja Hamilton became the 14th member of Nevada's 1,000-Point Club, as her 22-point performance at Boise State put her over the mark. Hamilton currently stands at 1,017 career points.

Hamilton became the first Wolf Pack player to score 1,000 points in her Nevada career since T Moe (2012-18). Teammates Nia Alexander (San Francisco) and Kylie Jimenez (Portland State), who have each scored over 1,000 points in their respective careers, share their point tallies between Nevada and their previous programs.

DA'JA PUTS THE TEAM ON HER BACK
While her joining Nevada's 1,000-Point Club took a good part of the attention from her performance Thursday in Boise, Da'Ja Hamilton deserves plenty of credit for helping fuel Nevada's late comeback to force overtime.

With the Pack trailing, 63-57, with 2:10 remaining, Hamilton took over, scoring the final six points of regulation and contributing to the Pack's defensive effort to force the extra session. She ended the game with 22 points, her fifth 20-point game in conference play this season, and 13th game in double figures.

ALEXANDER'S GAME-WINNER PART OF A BIG YEAR
Senior guard Nia Alexander's game-winner Thursday at Boise State highlighted not only a season-high 20-point performance, but also a solid season, overall.

Alexander has put herself in prime position for the Mountain West Sixth Person of the Year award, one qualification of which is that a candidate may not start more than five games in a conference season.

In Mountain West play, Alexander has made two starts over Nevada's 15 games, and averages 8.7 points and 3.6 rebounds while shooting 47.6 percent from the field and 84.6 percent from the line. She has posted eight games scoring in double figures, in Mountain West play, as well.

RODEN'S RETURN MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Another Wolf Pack player who is making a strong case for an end-of-season award is freshman Audrey Roden.

In the race for Mountain West Freshman of the Year, Roden averages 10.6 points per game (second on the team) and leads the Pack with 26 3-pointers, while hitting on 40.0 percent of her attempts. After Thursday night's 17-point performance at Boise State, Roden has scored in double figures eight times during the conference season.