Fields playing well for Nevada

RENO - Brandon Fields and JaVale McGee seem to be putting a little distance between themselves and the rest of their fellow freshmen.

Fields played a career-high 21 minutes in Saturday's 81-55 win over Idaho, and he responded with seven points, two assists and two rebounds.

"He's really, really progressing," Nevada coach Mark Fox said of his 6-foot-3 shooting guard from Texas. "I thought he played well for us in a lot of areas."

McGee logged 14 minutes, scoring four points, grabbing six rebounds and blocking a team-high four shots.

McGee had a couple of nice blocks, including one late in the game when he came flying out from under the basket to swat away a shot.

NATIONAL ATTENTION

Nick Fazekas will be the subject of a Sports Illustrated article by Kelli Anderson this week.

Anderson spent three days in Reno talking to Fazekas, Fox and a few of Fazekas' teammates.

The cameraman assigned to shoot Fazekas had cameras set up on each basket, and there were several other cameras around the playing floor.

It will be the second time a national magazine has done a story on Fazekas. A year ago, ESPN The Magazine did a piece on the Nevada All-American.

A LITTLE BRACKETOLOGY

ESPN's Joe Lunardi came out with his first in-season bracketology report, and he loves the Wolf Pack.

Lunardi gave the Pack a No.4 seed and a first-round game against Siena in Spokane.

Currently, Nevada is the lone WAC team that Lunardi sees going to the Big Dance, though you have to believe that New Mexico State will get to the 21 or 22-win mark this season.

AROUND THE WAC

New Mexico State extended its winning streak to 12 with a 74-68 come-from-behind win over San Jose State on Saturday.

Fresno State improved to 2-0 with a 79-70 win over Utah State, and Louisiana Tech is 2-0 after a 70-67 win over Hawai'i.

Hawai'i and Utah State are both 0-2 thus far.

ELLIS PLAYS WELL

David Ellis, the Pack's 7-foot junior center, scored a career-high seven points and grabbed three rebounds in his 14-minute stint.

Ellis should have cracked double figures, but he had a couple of tough bounces in the second half.

Ellis' continued improvement is critical for the Pack, who need to rely on him and McGee to back up Fazekas and Denis Ikovlev.

NOTABLES

Idaho failed to block a single shot in the game, a rarity in college basketball these days ... Fazekas has 11 double-doubles this year and 51 for his career. He has scored 10 or more points 14 times this year and 98 times in his career ... With four steals, Kyle Shiloh moved into ninth place all-time with 109 thefts, one ahead of Dannie Jones, who played from 1982-84 ... Nevada is 7-0 when scoring 80 or more points and 3-1 when holding opponents to under 60 points ...They are 12-1 when out-rebounding the opponent ... Eleven of Nevada's 13 players scored. Matt LaGrone and Richie Phillips failed to score a point, though both had opportunities at the free-throw line.