Yardbarker: Nevada Wolfpack

Sporting News' College Basketball Awards: WAC

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:00:52 -0500

Sporting News First team G Adrian Oliver, junior, San Jose State G Jahmar Young, junior, New Mexico State G Jared Quayle, senior, Utah State F Luke Babbitt, sophomore, Nevada F Tai Wesley, junior, Utah State Second team G Jonathan Gibson, senior, New Mexico State G Kyle Gibson, senior, Louisiana Tech G Armon Johnson, junior, Nevada F Paul George, sophomore, Fresno State C Magnum Rolle, senior, Louisiana Tech Player of the year: Luke Babbitt, Nevada Coach of the year: Stew Morrill, Utah State Freshman of the year: Greg Smith, Fresno State Defensive player of the year: Pooh Williams, Utah State

Nevada rolls past Idaho 87-71 in WAC quarterfinal

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:15:20 -0500

Luke Babbitt scored 21 points to lead five Nevada players in double figures and the Wolf Pack poured in seven 3-pointers in the first half en route to an 87-71 win over Idaho Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament.

Nevada beats La. Tech 79-68 for WAC No. 2 seed

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:18:34 -0500

RENO, Nev.(AP) — Luke Babbitt scored 29 points to lead Nevada to a 79-68 victory over Louisiana Tech on Saturday. Nevada (19-11, 11-5 Western Athletic Conference), which got 13 points each from Brandon Fields and Armon Johnson, earned the No...Read the full article on Bleacher Report...

Fields' 32 key Nevada over New Mexico State 100-92

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:33:49 -0500

RENO, Nev.(AP) — Brandon Fields scored a career-best 32 points to lead Nevada over New Mexico State 100-92 on Thursday night. Luke Babbitt added 23 points for the Wolf Pack (18-11, 11-5 Western Athletic), including nine free throws down the stretch...Read the full article on Bleacher Report...

Nevada defeats San Jose State 83-79

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:46:48 -0500

Brandon Fields scored 23 points and Luke Babbitt added 21 as Nevada defeated San Jose State 83-79 Thursday night.

Babbitt's 27 lead Nevada past Fresno State 74-70

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:35:02 -0500

RENO, Nev. -- Luke Babbitt scored 27 points and Armon Johnson had 19 to lead Nevada past Fresno State 74-70 on Wednesday night.

Fresno State Falls to Nevada, 74-70

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:40:16 -0500

Luke Babbitt scored 27 points and Armon Johnson had 19 to lead Nevada past Fresno State 74-70 on Wednesday night.

UNC 80 Nevada 73

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:07:19 -0500

Very tough game, much more than I thought. I agree with Roy Williams assessment . The Heels were hit the mouth, got into a dogfight midway through the second half and raised the level of their play. Down the stretch UNC’s depth became a factor and the Heels made plays late to ensure the win which was Roy’s 600th of his career.

Despite the score and the idea that UNC struggled to beat a mid-major there were a lot of positives, especially only eight turnovers for the game. However Nevada is not going to wow people with their defense which may have had something to do with UNC being able to take care of the ball. The biggest positive in terms of player performance was Larry Drew who easily posted the best stat line of his UNC career. Drew had 12 points, 10 assists and only one turnover. Drew also hit two huge threes late in the 2nd half when the Heels were in a back and forth battle. Drew did everything you could possibly ask of him and if that is the Drew that shows up throughout the season UNC will be in great shape. No he is not going double-double every game but something in the 6-7 assists versus 1-2 turnovers with some individual offense sprinkled in will do nicely. Deon Thompson also had a huge game and also stepped up when the Heels needed him. Thompson went for 23 points and eight boards. That and Ed Davis’ 16 points, 15 boards and three block gave UNC a huge night on the interior. In addition Nevada Luke Babbitt scored 15 points but did so on 5-17 shooting.

Marcus Ginyard continues to have those little bit of everything games: 10 points, four assists, six rebounds and four steals. And John Henson had some nice moments, so much so, you have to wonder at what point he will start getting more than the nine minutes he got tonight. Henson ended up with seven points, hit a three and swatted a Nevada shot and coming from Carrboro to do it. At this point you have to wonder if he is simply having issues getting into a rhythm.

As for the rotation. We did see signs of Roy Williams paring it down. Leslie McDonald did not play. Travis Wear was limited to two minutes. In fact only six players saw more than ten minutes which strikes me as being a little thinner than Roy likes to run it. Roy indicated he would be looking for production which appears to be basically six guys in earnest. Different matchups are going to affect this. For some reason Tyler Zeller only got 15 minutes but there could be games where he gets more. In this one Thompson and Davis were just so good, he opted to stick with them, especially down the stretch.

Overall, there were some things UNC could do better. The rebounding was not great. Heels ended up with a 45-43 advantage but also gave up 16 offensive boards. Nevada went zone and it obviously bother the Heels. Fortunately Nevada was not as good as Syracuse with their zone so the Heels could find gaps to enter the basketball. Unfortunately when that happened there was a stretch where the Heels missed tons of shots at point blank range. So UNC did struggle with the zone to a point but managed to get by. Again Nevada is not a great defensive team so take it for what it’s worth.

Heels get Michigan State on Tuesday. I am betting MSU plays some zone.

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Game Notes: Nevada @ UNC

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:50:59 -0500

Nevada at UNC Date 11/29/2009 6:45:00 PMLive StatsLinkTV FSN Team Stats

Where: Dean Smith Center, Chapel Hill, NC
When: Sunday, November 29th, 6:45 PM
TV: Fox Sports
Live Stats: SCACC Hoops
Records: UNC 5-1; Nevada 2-2

UNC has had four days of practice since the win over Gardner-Webb which Roy Williams was hoping would be extremely productive in terms of team development. Obviously this game is important for testing that development out and getting the Heels confidence before heading through the gauntlet of Michigan St. and Kentucky during the coming week. At the same time Nevada should not be taken lightly despite their 2-2 mark. The Wolf Pack are probably better than Gardner-Webb or even Valpo with a fairly efficient offense averaging 84.5 ppg. Nevada’s weak spot. Their defense which gives up 83.3 ppg.

Nevada is led by center Luke Babbitt who scored 22 points against UNC last season on 8-14 shooting. This season Babbit is averaging 20.3 ppg and 10.8 rpg. Needless to say Babbitt will be a legitimate test for UNC’s frontline defense. If memory serves Babbitt is a versatile big man who can operate anywhere on the court which puts pressure on whoever draws him to play him straight up in the post or be able to slide their feet if he decides to put the ball on the floor. Point guard Armon Johnson also played in the game against UNC last season and scored 15. This season Johnson is averaging 15.5 ppg and dishing out 5.8 apg. That would make Johnson the lynch pin of the Wolf Pack offense especially since his A/TO ratio is only 1.44. Johnson has had games with six and five turnovers. If the Heels can “Evan Turner” him so much the better. Nevada does not appear to be dependent much on the three averaging 17 attempts per game from beyond the arc. Still the shots they do take, they make at a 38% clip.

For the Heels there are two things to watch: The first is the rotation. Roy indicated after the win over Gardner-Webb that he would begin paring down the rotation to 8-9 players. I imagine we will begin to see that in earnest, especially with the games UNC has coming up. It would be best to have the rotation somewhat shored up before facing potential Final Four teams. The question is who starts seeing a drop in their playing time. Will Graves? One of the Wear Twins? That aspect will be something to keep an eye on. The second item to watch would be personnel combinations on the floor. Roy experimented with Dexter Strickland at the two alongside Larry Drew last Monday. That struck me as effective. Talentwise, Strickland is the best guard UNC has right now. He is quick and can create his own shot not to mention Strickland is very athletic. While he still needs to get acclimated running the point guard, his play at the two could be a benefit. It will be interesting to see how often we see Drew and Strickland in the backcourt with Marcus Ginyard sliding over to the three.

UNC 95 Nevada 70

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UNCNameGPMinsPtsAstsRbdsStlsBlksTOsFG%3P%FT%Off Eff Deon Thompson 6 25.8 16.8 1.2 9.0 1.0 0.7 2.8 55.4 0.0 82.9 94.5 Ed Davis 6 24.0 12.2 1.3 9.0 0.3 2.5 2.2 68.3 0.0 65.4 106.8 Tyler Zeller 6 16.3 11.2 0.5 3.8 0.5 1.2 0.7 64.1 0.0 77.3 125.1 Marcus Ginyard 6 29.2 11.7 4.2 3.3 2.0 0.0 3.0 60.0 47.1 88.9 123.8 Larry Drew II 6 24.2 7.0 6.2 2.2 1.0 0.0 3.3 48.3 42.9 61.5 130.1 Will Graves 6 18.3 7.5 0.8 3.5 1.2 0.0 0.7 37.2 29.2 85.7 103.4 Travis Wear 6 10.7 4.5 0.2 2.3 0.3 0.0 0.8 52.6 0.0 87.5 100.7 Justin Watts 6 7.8 3.5 1.7 0.8 0.2 0.2 0.7 57.1 75.0 50.0 146.2 John Henson 6 10.3 3.0 1.5 2.8 0.7 0.8 0.2 38.9 0.0 40.0 127.9 Dexter Strickland 6 14.2 2.8 1.8 0.3 0.3 0.0 2.0 36.8 0.0 60.0 86.4 David Wear 6 9.8 2.0 1.0 1.2 0.3 0.2 0.8 41.7 50.0 25.0 95.0 Leslie McDonald 5 7.0 2.0 0.8 1.6 0.4 0.2 0.6 33.3 16.7 16.7 83.0 Marc Campbell 3 1.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Terrence Petree 3 1.7 0.0 0.3 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Thomas Thornton 3 1.7 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.7 50.0 50.0 0.0 47.8 James Gallagher 3 1.7 0.0 0.3 0.7 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 136.8

The Hunt: No. 57, Nevada

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:28:13 -0500

The Hunt for the Most Interesting Team in the World is the Dagger's 2009-10 countdown preview series. Check out the overriding principles here.Last year's record: 21-13 (11-5 WAC)2009-2010's toughest games: at North Carolina, at VCU, at UNLV, Utah State, BYUPrimary attraction: Two of the WAC's best return with bigger things in mind and a new coach to lead the way. (Was that most cliche sentence I've ever written? I hope so, but I doubt it.) But seriously: The Wolf Pack were the only team with two All-WAC team members in the squad last year, and both of them are back in 2009-10. Forward Luke Babbitt and guard Armon Johnson are two of the conference's best players and two of Nevada's most reliable -- the duo tied for the team lead in minutes last season, with just over 32 per game. Backed up by a host of talented players, the onus will be on new coach David Carter to see that Nevada doesn't miss the NCAA tourney again. Three items of undeniable interest:1. David Carter will play the role of Dwight Schrute no longer. Carter, Nevada's recently christened head coach, is not a new face in Reno. He's been a Nevada assistant for 10 years. What's more, he spent the last four under the title of "associate head coach," which is slightly different from an assistant coach in that ... well, actually, I have no idea how that's different, except Carter probably get a little bit more money and was the undisputed king of the assistant coaches. But now that title doesn't matter. Carter has thrown off his Dwight Schrute-esque title for something more Michael Scott-y. (Although now that Jim's become co-manager on the show, this metaphor doesn't really work. Ah, screw it. Also, spoiler alert. Whoops!) Carter has the power now. Can he make the most of Nevada's talent? The Wolf Pack had few glaring holes last year -- they merely need to shoot more threes and shoot them better, and maybe some of that can fall to Carter's offensive strategy. How will he get Babbitt and Johnson good looks? The answer could mean the difference in whether Nevada's campaign is an improvement over last year's disappointment or not. 2. Nevada vs. North Carolina. WAC fans will get their moment in the sun on Sunday, Nov. 29. That's when Nevada travels to Chapel Hill for a preseason date with North Carolina. This game sounds eminently interesting to me -- a young UNC team in the early portion of the season matched up with what should be a focused batch of Nevada veterans. Flame, meet lighter fluid. As you were.3. Indiana University Southwest. Here's something I just learned: Nevada has not one but two Indiana transfers on the team. They're former Mike Davis recruit Joey Shaw, who contributed minor minutes last season and should see a bigger scoring role in 2009-10, and one-year Tom Crean recruit Malik Story, who played for the Hoosiers in their legendarily bad 2008-09 campaign before shipping off for various reasons (lack of impending playing time perhaps being the primary one). Extra: Revel in the inane glory of Nick Fazekas: Before he hung himself in 2008, David Foster Wallace was working on a book about boredom. He wanted to prove the theory that Americans are so overstimulated with entertainment that the only way to truly refine one's knowledge and find some sort of existential clarity was to plunge oneself in boredom. For some reason, that's the first thing I thought of when I watch Nick Fazekas play basketball: Fazekas' game is boring, sure, but it's sort of a beautiful boredom. It has all the frills of style stripped away. That, it turns out, becomes a style all its own. Of course, it helps that Fazekas was ruthlessly effective and that his teams were always in the NCAA tournament. Those are pluses, too.

65 Teams in 65 Days: #34 Nevada

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:34:14 -0500

Location: Reno, NV Nickname: Wolfpack Conference: Western Athletic Last Year’s Record: 21-13 Nevada Forward Luke Babbitt Why they’ll make it: The outstanding duo of Luke Babbitt and Armon Johnson return to lead the Wolfpack this season. Babbitt is a uniquely skilled player who can not only score and rebound in the post, but he can also step out behind the arc and shoot the three-pointer at a high percentage. Johnson is the floor general and really makes the Wolfpack move. Those two, along with key contributors, Brandon Fields, Joey Shaw, and Dario Hunt, should be provide enough production to help Nevada return to the Big Dance. If incoming freshman Devonte Elliot and Jerry Evans are cleared to play for the second semester, that’ll just be icing on the cake. Why they won’t make it: This Nevada team will have an extremely short bench. With only eight returning letterwinners, the Wolfpack will not have much depth. The fact that Elliot and Evans were declared ineligible for the fall semester only makes the problem worst. The Wolfpack will have a very solid starting five, but that’s about all they know they can count on right now. If Elliot and Evans aren’t cleared and no one else steps up off the bench, this could be a worn down team in March. Unfortunately for the Wolfpack, that’ll probably mean it won’t be a NCAA tournament team.

Nevada F Cooke will be South Carolina walk-on

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:09:45 -0500

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Former Nevada starter Malik Cooke has joined the South Carolina men's basketball team as a walk-on transfer.

Luke Babbitt Named One of 50 Preseason Candidates for the Wooden Award

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:36:18 -0500

Nevada sophomore Luke Babbitt has been named one of the preseason top 50 candidates for the 2009-10 John R. Wooden Award All-American Team and Player of the Year trophy, it was announced today by Richard "Duke" Llewellyn, Wooden Award Chairman and founder. The list is comprised of 50 student athletes who, based on last year's individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for college basketball's most prestigious honor.

Tyrone Hanson Beaten Unconscious & Kicked Off The Team

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:36:09 -0500

You remember parties in college, a few drinks, a few laughs, someone gets beaten within an inch of their life and three other people are murdered. Luckily for Tyrone, he was the one beaten unconscious and not one of the three that was killed. Shortly after he woke up however, he was kicked off the team by Fox.

NCAA Basketball Preview: Day One

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 19:05:35 -0500

Sportable begins its five day preview of College Basketball, covering five teams a day from the early AP Polls. Who do you think was snubbed from the preseason poll or ranked too high?