RENO - Nevada's bench players put forth one of their best efforts of the season in Nevada's 84-67 win over Louisiana Tech Thursday night.
The group contributed 23 points and nine rebounds compared to 10 points and six rebounds for their Tech counterparts, and five different Nevada players scored at least a basket.
Brandon Fields scored seven points and Tyrone Hanson added six. Lyndale Burleson, who missed the New Mexico State game with the flu, tallied five points. David Ellis and Matt LaGrone scored a bucket each, and Richie Phillips went 1-for-2 from the foul line.
"Richie gave us a lift," Nevada coach Mark Fox said. "He's finally close to being healthy. Brandon and Tyrone are getting better."
Their contributions came at significant times.
Phillips' free throw started a 9-2 surge in the first half, Hanson had a 3-pointer to give Nevada a 14-point lead, and Fields had a key lay-up in the first half to cut Tech's lead to 37-35.
FAZEKAS CONTAINED
Tech did a nice job defensively on All-American Nick Fazekas, holding him to 13 points (6-for-9 shooting) and seven rebounds.
Each time Fazekas got the ball down low, he was surrounded by two and sometimes three Tech players. Fortunately, the other players were able to pick up the slack.
Fazekas was a no-show at the post-game news conference. Apparently he got a late start out of the locker room, and by the time he got there, the room was empty, acccording to Rhonda Lundin, the team's spokesperson.
Fazekas trails Air Force's Raymond Dudley, who is sixth on the WAC's all-time scoring list, by just seven points. Dudley is at 2,178 and Fazekas is now at 2,171.
Fazekas now has 1,105 rebounds, six shy of ex-Rice star Michael Harris, who is at 1,111 and in fifth place. Fazekas should move up in both categories on Saturday night against Utah State.
RESTING STARTERS
Fox did a creditable job resting his regulars. Only Sessions played 30 minutes. Marcelus Kemp and Shiloh logged 27 minutes apiece, Fazekas played 28 and Ikovlev played 21.
With Utah State coming in with a small, quick lineup and the multitude of screens the Aggies use, the Pack players are probably thankful for the extra rest.
BRACKETBUSTER
ANNOUNCEMENT
The teams for the televised games in the 5th annual ESPN BracketBuster on Feb. 16-17 will be announced Monday afternoon on ESPNU from 3 to 4 p.m.
With its 18-2 record, the 15th-ranked Wolf Pack figures to be one of the 13 televised games. Six will be seen on ESPN2, five on ESPNU and two on ESPN 360.
In last year's BracketBuster-branded games, the WAC went 3-1 with Nevada, Louisiana Tech and Utah State posting wins. Fresno State dropped a close decision to Creighton.
There are some interesting match-ups out there for Nevada - Winthrop, Bradley, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois and UW-Green Bay. Winthrop has made the NCAA Tournament the last two years.
MCGEE OUT
Freshman JaVale McGee has what the team termed a "viral illness" and missed his first contest of the season.
"He's been sick for some time," Fox said after the game. "It could be a week or it could be two days. It depends on how he responds to medication."
When asked if he knew exactly what McGee was suffering from, Fox said that he wasn't allowed to comment, and just put in that he was "sick."
McGee is averaging 2.8 points and 1.8 rebounds a contest.
NOTABLES
Sessions has five 20-point games this year, and he only had one in his career before the season started. He has scored in double figures in 15 of Nevada's 20 games this year ... Nevada lead the series against Tech 9-3 ... Nevada showed good ball movement, collecting 21 assists on its 31 baskets. Sessions had a team-high six assists and Shiloh added five along with a steal and only one turnover in 27 minutes.