Jan. 27, 2012

GameDay Central

RUSTON, La. - Coming off their second last second win of the season Thursday night, Louisiana Tech hosts Western Athletic Conference leader Nevada Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Thomas Assembly Center.

The Wolf Pack has a 16-6 series lead including wins in the last three meetings. The last victory for the Bulldogs was on Jan. 2, 2010 at home 77-71.

Tech is 11-10 on the season and 3-3 in conference play after defeating Fresno State 59-58. The victory was the eighth one-possession contest of the season for LA Tech who are 6-2 in those games.

Freshman guard Raheem Appleby paces the Bulldogs with 13.3 points per game and after leaving Thursday's game with a knee injury is a game-time decision to play Saturday night.

Also averaging double-figures in points is senior guard Trevor Gaskins and sophomore guard Cordarius Johnson at 10.5 and 10.2 per contest, respectively.

Freshman guard Kenneth Smith is dishing out 4.0 assists per games which paces the team and is fifth in the WAC.

After a 10-rebound performance against Fresno State, junior forward J.L. Lewis is leading Tech with 4.3 rebounds a contest while junior guard Brandon Gibson (4.1 rpg), Johnson (4.1 rpg) and Gaskins (4.0 rpg) are pulling down at least four boards a game.

The Bulldogs are scoring 68.8 points per contest while shooting 40.9 percent from the field. From three-point range, Tech has made 32.4 percent of their attempts and average 7.8 three-pointers a game which ranks 53rd in the nation in Division I basketball.

Defensively, LA Tech leads the WAC in steals (7.2 spg) and is third in total rebounds (37.3 rpg) and blocked shots (4.2 bpg).

Nevada comes to Ruston on a 14-game winning streak and are 17-3 on the season. They are the only remaining undefeated team left in the WAC at 6-0.

On the road, the Wolf Pack are 5-1 and 3-0 in the WAC. Their two wins in non-conference play have come against Arizona State and Montana with the loss occurring at UNLV.

Deonte Burton leads the team in scoring (15.7 ppg) and assists (4.8 apg). Malik Story (14.5 ppg), Olek Czyz (11.6 ppg) and Dario Hunt (10.1 ppg) are all averaging double-figures in scoring as well.

Hunt paces Nevada with 8.9 rebounds per game and 2.2 blocks per contest, which leads the WAC.

The Wolf Pack are scoring 70.8 points per game while allowing only 63.3 points per contest, which is first in the conference by a point and a half. On the glass, Nevada is grabbing 36.3 rebounds per game while their opponents have only been able to pull down 33.5 rebounds per contest.

Along with allowing the fewest points per game in the WAC, they are first in blocked shots (4.7 bpg) as well. The Wolf Pack are currently second in the conference in scoring margin (+7.5), field goal percentage defense (40.7 percent) and three-point shooting (38.8 percent).

The game can be heard on KXKZ 107.5 FM and KJVC 92.7 FM with the "Voice of the Bulldogs" Dave Nitz and Jack Thigpen calling the action with the pregame show beginning at 6:30 p.m. LA Tech All-Access subscribers can watch a live video stream of the action through LATechSports.com, the official home of Louisiana Tech Athletics.

Live stats will be available through the men's basketball GameDay Central page which can be viewed through the link at the top of the page. Twitter users can follow sports information director Phillip Pongratz for updates as well at www.twitter.com/LATechPPongratz.

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