RENO - Ramon Sessions was conspicuous by his absence late in the game Saturday night in Nevada's 82-74 season-opening win over Sacramento State.
Sessions played only eight minutes in the first half and six in the second half. He finished with four points, a steal, an assist and two turnovers.
"Ramon was fine," Nevada coach Mark Fox said after the game. "I felt the game was in hand and the people we had would be able to finish. We didn't want to risk him."
Sessions had a hip flexor, which kept him out of the Humboldt State game last weekend. He re-aggravated it during the shootaround prior to the game.
Lyndale Burleson picked up the slack, playing 25 minutes and scoring three points. He added three assists, two blocks and a steal plus two turnovers.
STRANGE LINE
Mo Charlo finished with a strange line for the night.
Besides his 11 points, the senior forward contributed four assists, three steals and a blocked shot. He also had six turnovers. That latter stat obviously will get some attention from Fox.
EDUCATING THE STUDENTS
Somebody better educate the student section at Lawlor that you don't get the crowd to do the wave when one of your own players is at the foul line.
It happened late in the game with Kyle Shiloh at the line, and he missed both shots. Even Fox cast a shocked glance at the fans.
ON THE ROAD
Nevada hits the road for four straight games - Nov. 23 at Vermont, Nov. 26 at UNLV, Dec. 1 at Kansas and Dec. 3 at UOP.
"Road trips are fun," Nevada forward Nick Fazekas said. "A lot of us like it. It's the 12 of us (and the coaches) against everybody in Vermont and Las Vegas. It's kind of fun for us."
And, the fact that Nevada will miss some class time is something not lost on Fazekas.
Fox, whose team swept through its WAC road schedule without a loss last year, is anxious to take his team on the road. No doubt it will be a measuring stick.
"Vermont is a long trip," Fox said. "We leave here at 7 a.m. Monday and don't get there until 9:30 p.m. We're excited about going on the road; to get a test away from home. We have a lot of new pieces (players) this year we're trying to fit in."
FACTS & FIGURES
The victory was the third straight in season-opening games for the Pack. Nevada has won 11 of its last 12 openers ... Nevada has a 39-20 series edge over the Hornets ... As expected, Fazekas led Nevada in scoring. He led the team in scoring 13 of the final 15 games last year. The only two times he didn't was the win over Texas and the loss to Illinois at the NCAA Tournament. Kevinn Pinkney was the scoring leader both of those games ... Chad Bell had a solid game, scoring 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds in 19 minutes as Fox played all three of his centers. David Ellis didn't score in 12 minutes and Demarshay Johnson scored four points in 11 minutes ... Nevada did a solid defensive job on Jason Harris, arguably the Hornets' top player. He finished with seven points on 3 for 11 shooting in his 29-minute stint ... Nevada shot a respectable 76 percent from the line, hitting 29 of 38 attempts. Fazekas was 8 for 8 and Marcelus Kemp, who scored nine of his 15 points in the final three-plus minutes, was 6 for 6 ... Nevada had 19 turnovers and 15 assists, a ratio which needs to be improved ... Nevada's next home game is Dec. 7 against UC Davis ... Kemp was tagged with a technical foul for hanging on the rim after an impressive slam dunk.