RENO - Ramon Sessions wasn't himself last year. A hip flexor strain early in the season took care of that.
The injury caused him to miss only two games entirely, but he played an average of five less minutes less per game because of it. It disrupted his shooting immensely, as his field goal percentage fell from 41.2 to 35.9. Simply put, he never got into a real comfortable groove shooting the ball off the dribble all season.
"I'm 110 percent," Sessiions said Monday afternoon. "The hip injury is behind me. I got a lot of rest when the season ended. I'm happy to be back out here and being able to go full speed."
And, nobody is happier than All-American forward Nick Fazekas, who rooms with Sessions. the two seem to have a sixth sense when they are together on the court.
"We work well together," Fazekas said at the recent WAC Media Day. "I make eye contact with him, and if there's any way he can get the ball to me, he'll do it. Sometimes I don't know how he gets the ball with some of the small openings he has."
Sessions is all about assists. he had 166 as a freshman, a new Nevada record, which enabled him to make the WAC All-Newcomer squad. He's already ninth all-time with 319 assists after two seasons.
"Now that I'm healthy, I'm going to play my game," Sessions said. "I've always been a pass first, shoot second type of guy. That's my role."
Sessions' game is penetrating defenses off the dribble, and then either taking the ball all the way to the rack or dishing to an open man inside or on the wing. The hip injury slowed him down in that respect much of the time.
Through 10 practices, coach Mark Fox likes what he sees in Sessions. Fox said Sessions' role will change a bit this year.
"I'm very pleased with Ramon," Fox said. "I'm really hoping he has a good season. He hasn't been perfect (in practice), but he's fighting to be that way.
"We need him to be more of a leader and we need him to be more of a scorer. We asked him to improve his basketball game, and he's done that to a certain point."
Sessions can score as evidenced by his 25.2 average in high school, which led to being named South Carolina's Player of the Year his senior season. He was all-state his last two seasons, and scored 52 points in a game his junior season and 54 against Lake City High School his senior season.
Two years ago, Sessions reached double figures in 14 of the Pack's 31 games, including a colegiate career-high of 23 in a huge win at Boise State. He also dropped in 16 in the BracketBuster win over Vermont.
"I'll do whatever the team needs me to do," Sessions said.
That's the selfless Sessions talking. He always puts the team ahead of his own goals, and that's why he's one of the leaders of this Pack.
•Contact DarrellMoody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1281