|
Air Force At Nevada Saturday Afternoon
Feb. 8, 2013
Air Force at Nevada: Nevada (11-11, 2-6 MW) hosts Air Force (14-7, 5-3 MW) in a Mountain West game on Saturday at 3:05 p.m. Nevada is in a three way tie for seventh at 2-6 in the MW standings. The Falcons are tied for third with San Diego State at 5-3. Since winning a season-high five in a row the Pack has gone 2-7. AF had won five in a row until falling 81-53 at #15 New Mexico in a battle for the top spot in the MW on Wednesday.
The Last Meeting
January 9, 2013
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Saturday, 3:05 p.m. PT
TELEVISION: None AIR FORCE FALCONS: Air Force is 14-7 on the season and tied for third in the MW standings with a 5-3 record. The Falcons are led by head coach Dave Pilipovich who is in his first full season leading the Falcons basketball program. Pilipovich has a career mark of 16-12. In the first ever meeting earlier this season the AFA defeated Nevada 78-65 on Jan. 9 to open MW play. Senior guard Michael Lyons (6-5) is second in the MW averaging 18 points per game and a team best 4.6 rebounds per game. In MW play he averaged 16.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per contest. In the first game with Nevada he totaled three points. Todd Fletcher, a 6-2 guard averages 9.9 points on the season and 10.4 in MW play. Fletcher scored 18 points in the first meeting. Senior forward Mike Fitzgerald (6-6) did the majority of the damage against the Wolf Pack in the first game scoring a game-high 30 points making nine-of-10 shots, four-of-five from behind the arc. Fitzgerald is averaging 9.8 points per game on the year and 13.3 in MW play. Senior center Taylor Broekhuis (6-10) averages 9.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. In the first meeting he scored 10 points.
The Falcons average 72.1 points per game and allow 66.2. They are shooting 48 percent from the field and hold opponents to 44.2. The second best three-point shooting team in the MW they are connecting on 38.9 percent of their opportunities and opponent just 31.9. They are being outrebounded by 1.9 per game, 32.2-30.4. Evans had a stretch of three double figure scoring games snapped finishing with seven at #20 New Mexico. He reached double figures with 14 vs. #25 SDSU, 12 against Boise State and 14 at UNLV. The 14 points against the Rebels tied for game high honors. In the eight conference games he has twice reached double figures in rebounds with 10 vs. #25 Wyoming and a game-high 11 at Fresno State. At Air Force his eight rebounds tied for game-high honors as did seven against #25 San Diego State and nine at UNLV. At UNM he finished with a game-high nine boards. He has led the Pack in rebounding in six of eight MW games. In five of the games he either posted or tied for game-high honors in rebounds. PACK BACKCOURT SURPASSES 1,300 POINTS IN CSU GAME: Nevada's backcourt boasts a pair of 1,300 point scorers in junior point guard Deonte Burton and senior shooting guard Malik Story. In the Colorado State game both surpassed 1,300 points. The duo both reached 1,200 points in the Wyoming game. Burton scored his 1,000th career point on Nov. 17 against Green Bay and less than 24 hours later Story joined the club, scoring his 1,000th point on Nov. 18 versus Southern Utah. The duo became the 23rd and 24th players in school history to reach the 1,000 point plateau at Nevada. Against Wyoming they both moved past 1,200 career points.
After 89 consecutive games starting in the Nevada backcourt the duo are separated by 12 points. Story's 31 against CSU moved him past Burton and Luke Babbitt (2008-10) into 12th place on Nevada's career scoring list 1,319 points. Story is 21 behind Gary Hill-Thomas' (2000-04) for 11th. Burton's 1,307 is nine back of Babbitt's 1,316 for 13th. Six times in the 15 starts he has scored in double figures marking the first time he has more than one double figure scoring game in a season. Burris made his first start this season at Pacific with his previous start coming his freshman year on Dec. 11, 2010 versus San Francisco State. At Pacific he responded with 14 points and a career-high nine rebounds. The 14 points is one off his career high of 15 set his freshman year versus Pepperdine. He scored 13 points versus Cal Poly and followed that with 11 against San Francisco marking his first back-to-back double digit scoring games. EXPLOSIVE BACKCOURT: Nevada's backcourt duo of Deonte Burton and Malik Story has started all 89 games in their Wolf Pack careers. They are responsible for 47.2 percent of the Pack's offensive production this season and in MW play 52 percent. Story averages 16.4 points per game and Burton 16. They rank fifth and sixth respectively in the MW in scoring. After eight MW games Burton is scoring at 16.6 points per game to rank fourth in conference play. He scored 21, 23, 22, 12, 17, 14 13 and 11 points in the eight MW games. In the last nine games he has reached double figures, his longest stretch of the season. In an earlier eight game stretch he averaged 21.5 points per game. In back-to-back games he scored 28 at Marshall and 26 versus UC Davis. In the last five games of the eight game streak he scored 25 or more points four times including a season-high 29 in the Pack's 76-73 victory at Washington. Seven times he has scored 20 or more points this season. Story struggled to begin MW play totaling just nine points in the first two games before scoring a game-high 24 at Fresno State, tied for game-high honors with 17 versus #25 San Diego State, totaled 16 in the win over Boise State, posted a game-high 20 at #20 UNM and followed that with a game-high 31 versus Colorado State. At UNLV he totaled nine points making two-of-seven shots. He scored a career-high 35 in the Pack's 85-75 victory over Yale and has scored 20 or more points in six other games. He had a stretch of scoring in double figures in seven consecutive games until totaling seven against San Francisco but followed that with three more double figure outings. At Air Force he totaled just three points which is his lowest point total at Nevada dating back to the second game of his sophomore season against Pacific in the Preseason NIT at UCLA. In 16-of-22 games he has scored in double figures. He had back-to-back 25 point games versus Southern Utah and at Marshall then followed that with 23 at home against UC Davis and 19 in the Drake game. On the season he is making 36.1 percent of his three-pointers to rank fifth in the MW and his 2.55 made per game is tied for second in the conference.
In 16-of-22 games this season one of the two has posted or tied for game-high honors in points. Each has eight game highs. Twice he has scored in double figures in MW play with 12 at Air Force and 11 versus Boise State. His only double figure rebound game of the season also came in conference play when he totaled 11 against #25 Wyoming. He also posted a career-best four blocks at Fresno State.
Elliott started the first eight games of the season but has come off the bench the last 14 games. In 14 games as a reserve he is averaging 6.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 46.8 percent. Four of his six double figure scoring games have come off the bench. Since coming off the bench he has been sharing the five spot with fellow junior forward Kevin Panzer. Story has made 226 in 89 games in the Silver & Blue while Kemp took 134 games to set the record at 227. Story ranks in three career categories and his name appears on two single season lists. For the first time this season and just the sixth time in his career he did not make a three-pointer in the Pack's game against Wyoming missing all five attempts. In 89 games Story has attempted 567 shots from behind the arc which is third most at Nevada. Terrance Green (1999-03) is second with 592 attempts in his four seasons and 119 games played. Story has been successful on 39.1 (226-of-578) percent of his three-point attempts which is ninth at Nevada.
Last season Story attempted a Pack single season record 226 three-pointers and made 94 for a percentage of 41.6. The 41.6 percent ranked 24th in NCAA I and his 2.69 made per game was 37th. The 94 three-pointers made a year ago are second most in Pack history behind Jimmy Carroll's (1996-97) 96. As a sophomore he made 76 three-pointers which is the fourth best season in Pack history. In the Feb. 4, AP poll, New Mexico is ranked 15th. Colorado State (49), San Diego State (17) and UNLV (13) are receiving votes.
UNM is 16th in the USA Today Coaches Poll and SDSU is tied for 25th. Colorado State (38) and UNLV (12) are receiving votes. Four of nine Mountain West teams are in the top 35 of the Feb. 4 NCAA RPI report. New Mexico leads the pack at No. 5, while Colorado State is 15th and UNLV is the third MW school in the top 20 at 19. San Diego State is 33rd.
Boise State (51), Wyoming (62), Air Force (68), Nevada (133) and Fresno State (173) round out the conference.
|
  
|
|||||||||||
