Nevada fans need to make more noise

Make some damn noise.

Just once I'd like to see Lawlor Events Center rocking for an entire game, not just a few minutes here and there as is the case most of the time.

When Nevada and Hawai'i met recently in Reno, it got so loud in the final minute you couldn't hear yourself think. That my friends is the way it should be from the opening tip until the end of a game.

Lawlor should be a place teams hate to play at, and one way to make that happen is to make it unpleasant for the visitors with a lot of cheering. There's no need to be vulgar like the student section at New Mexico State. Just get into the game a little bit. Have some clean fun with the opposition.

Be creative. The student section at Utah State found old ads of New Mexico State coach Reggie Theus modeling underwear, and those were out in full force last year. Can you imagine New Mexico State players having to shoot free throws into the Utah State student section with pictures of their coach in his underwear?

This is the best team Nevada has had in 40 years, and that should mean sellouts for every game no matter who the opponent is. If Nebraska football can sell 81,000 tickets for a meaningless nonconference game against a Division II opponent, Nevada should be able to attract 11,300 fans to all their basketball games.

Nevada will sell out five games by the time the season is over, and even when all tickets have been distributed there are still a lot of no-shows.

What's up with that?

I urge fans that if you buy a ticket, go to the game. If you know you can't go, find some buddies to fill your seats. Keith Hackett, associate athletic director /facilities, said that the university is working on a system comparable to 'Stub Hub' where fans can re-sell their tickets at face value plus a small service fee to the buyer.

"It will be localized," Hackett said. "We've had three young men attend our last two home games, and they have been polling fans about processes."

As Hackett pointed out, you can't make fans use their tickets, but obviously Nevada officials hate to see empty seats anywhere.

My gripe with the Nevada athletic department has always been the amount of tickets allocated to students. It's approximately 1,000 now, and I think it should be more. Heck, I'd like to see them at center court where the 'white wine sippers' currently sit. The high rollers make little noise, and that's a shame. The fans that sit right on the court need to be loud. Maybe they don't understand how big of an influence they can have on the game, or maybe they don't care.

If it's the latter, shame on you. Quit sitting on your hands and watch one of the best stories in Northern Nevada history unfold. You could be a part of history.

• Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281