One team has plummeted downward since the start of the season. The other is off to its best start in more than 20 years.
That's the situation when Tulsa, 3-11 overall and 0-5 in conference, hosts Nevada (12-4, 5-1) in a Western Athletic Conference men's basketball game tonight (5:05 p.m.) at the Donald Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Golden Hurricane lost their coach, John Phillips, who resigned just six games into the season. He was replaced by Pooh Williamson, who is still looking for his first WAC win as a head coach. Despite the problems, every coach around the league, including Nevada's Mark Fox, knows that with Jarius Glenn, Anthony Price and Seneca Collins, Tulsa isn't as bad as the record shows.
"Tulsa is never easy," Fox said during Monday's teleconference. "They are a team really with nothing to lose. They are in a difficult set of circumstances. They've hired a sharp coach, who has stepped in and got them playing a lot harder.
"We're not playing particularly well right now. We have to play a lot better to beat Tulsa. Anthony Price killed us last year, and he's had some huge league games already (39 against SMU). Thirty-nine against (Patrick) Simpson and (Eric) Castro. Our guys couldn't do that."
Fox is concerned about the Wolf Pack at both ends of the floor.
"Part of it is because we're playing better teams," Fox said. "We've been terrible on defense the last two times out. I go back and watch tape, and we haven't defended the last three times out like I want us to.
"Offensively, we've been terrible since Christmas. We're just not playing as well as we can play. We have to get better if we're going to have any chance at this thing (winning conference)."
Williamson said that both Price (15.6) and Glenn (16.4) need to pick their games up.
"He (Price) has been up and down a little bit," the interim Tulsa coach said. "He hasn't been as aggressive as I'd like. He knows he's going to see double teams and expects it. The biggest thing is he has been in foul trouble. He has to be smarter and move his feet a little bit.
"Jarius has been OK offensively. He is still shooting a fairly high percentage. He's been lazy on defense. He has to take more pride in his defense."
Williamson said a huge key tonight will be containing 6-10 Kevinn Pinkney (12.9) and 6-11 Nick Fazekas (20.3).
"They are an intergal of the success that Nevada had last year," Williamson said. "Obviously they have learned how to win and know what it takes to win. They won't settle for anything less. They are athletic on the perimeter. We have to box out. Fazekas is averaging almost nine (rebounds) a game and Pinkney is around eight. We have to contain their front line."
Fazekas has struggled offensively from the perimeter recently (1 for 12 on 3-point attempts), and teams are bumping him around regularly. He's unable to get any easy looks inside like he did last year.
"We had Kirk (Snyder) and Gary Hill-Thomas last year (inside) and then Todd (Okeson)," Fox said. "Teams forgot about him. This year he's the focal point of our offense and teams are concentrating on stopping him first."
Williamson's comments aren't a slap at the Wolf Pack perimeter players. Fazekas and Pinkney average 33 points a game between them and the other three starters - Mo Charlo, Ramon Sessions and Kyle Shiloh - average a little over 23 a game between them.
"Charlo is getting more and more comfortable. Sessions has started 15 of the 16 games, and he's playing 30 minutes a game, and then there is Jermaine Washington. We respect their backcourt (players)."
Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281.