|
Nevada Hosts Intrastate Rival UNLV Saturday Afternoon
Feb. 28, 2013 UNLV at Nevada: Nevada (12-15, 3-10 MW) hosts intrastate rival UNLV (21-7, 8-5 MW) on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. PT. The Wolf Pack is eighth in the MW standings and the Rebels are in third place at 8-5. The Pack has lost a season-high four in a row. The Rebels have won three in a row and four of its last five games. The game will air nationally on the NBC Sports Network. Saturday, 1:05 p.m. PT TELEVISION: NBC Sports Network, Steve Schlanger (play-by-play), Blaine Fowler (analyst) UNLV REBELS: Second-year head coach Dave Rice has led the Rebels to 21-7 record this season and a third place standing in the MW at 8-5. Rice is 47-17 leading the Rebels. Freshman forward Anthony Bennett (6-8) leads the Rebels in scoring and rebounding averaging 17 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Bennett ranks in the top five in the MW in both categories. In the first meeting he had 13 points and nine rebounds. The preseason MW Freshman of the Year is shooting 53.6 percent from the field. Senior guard, Anthony Marshall (6-3) is averaging double figures scoring 10.3 points per game and tops the MW dishing out 5.89 assists per game. Guard Katin Reinhardt (6-5) is scoring 10.1 points per game and had nine in the first game. Bryce Dejean-Jones (6-5) is contributing 9.5 and Khem Birch (6-9) 8.1 points per game. Jones had 11 points in game one. Birch tied for game-high honors with 14 points in the first meeting and grabbed seven boards. UNLV is third in the MW averaging 72.6 points per game and hold opponents to 63.2 points per game. The plus 9.4 points per game margin is third in the conference. From the field the Rebels shoot 44.3 percent and hold opponents to a MW low 38.5 percent. From behind the arc they shoot 33.1 percent and opponents 28.9 which tops the MW in three-point field goal percentage defense. UNLV is outrebounding opponents by 7.6 per game, 40.9-33.3. On October 8, 2012 Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval announced the launch of the Governor's Series, presented by NV Energy. This historic, new competition establishes a formal head-to-head athletic and academic challenge between longtime rivals -- the UNLV Rebels and the Nevada Wolf Pack. The all-encompassing competition will annually crown one school the winner of the Governor's Series. Nevada is currently leading 10.5-7.5. Nevada earned three points in football, cross country and indoor track & field, plus a split of the three points in soccer to total 10.5. The Rebels earned three points in volleyball and swimming and diving plus 1.5 in the soccer split. 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 Pack's game at SDSU he scored 16 points. In the 13 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 seven-of-13 MW games. In five of the games he either posted or tied for game-high honors in rebounds. After 94 games in the Nevada backcourt the duo are separated by 14 points. Story is 11th in school history with 1,393 points and Burton ranks 12th with 1,379. Kirk Snyder (2001-04) is 10th with 1,404 points. 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 score 1,000 points. BURRIS' EVER CHANGING ROLES: After coming off the bench the first seven games of the season junior guard Jordan Burris switched roles and made 15 consecutive starts until returning to the bench the last five games. On the year he averages 7.1 points and 4.3 rebounds. He is fourth in scoring and third in rebounding on the team. Six times in the 15 starts he scored in double figures marking the first time he has more than one double figure scoring game in a season. After two double figure scoring games his first two seasons, one as a freshman and one his sophomore year, he has eight this 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 94 games in their Wolf Pack careers. They are responsible for 47.3 percent of the Pack's offensive production this season and in MW play 50.2 percent. Story average 16.1 points per game to rank fifth in the MW and Burton's 15.7 is sixth. In MW play Burton is second in scoring at 15.8 per game and Story fifth with his 15.4 points per contest. Burton has reached double figures in all 13 MW games with four being 20 plus point performances. In the last 14 games he has reached double figures, the longest stretch in his career. 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. Eight times he has scored 20 or more points this season. Story has three 30 plus point games on the season and six additional 20 plus point games. He scored a career-high 35 against Yale with 24 coming in the second half. In two MW losses he scored over 30 points with 31 versus Colorado State and 33 at San Diego State. He 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, followed that with a game-high 31 versus Colorado State and had a game-high 33 at SDSU. In 19-of-27 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. On the season he is making 35.2 percent of his three-pointers to rank fifth in the MW and his 2.56 made per game is second in the conference. In 18-of-27 games this season one of the two has posted or tied for game-high honors in points. Each has posted nine game highs. Story ranks in three career categories and his name appears on two single season lists. Story has been successful on 38.6 (239-of-619) 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. 25, AP poll, New Mexico is ranked 14th. Colorado State (49) and UNLV (13) are receiving votes. UNM is 14th in the USA Today Coaches Poll. San Diego State (13), UNLV (12) and Colorado State are receiving votes. Three-of-nine Mountain West teams are in the top 15 of the Feb. 25 NCAA RPI report. New Mexico leads the pack at No. 3, UNLV is 14 and Colorado State appears at 15. SDSU is 32nd giving the conference four teams in the top 35. Boise State (47), Wyoming (68), Air Force (75), Fresno State (157) and Nevada (159) round out the conference.
|
  
|
