Chris Murray with two contributions

Here's Chris Murray with a pair of pieces in today's Gazette-Journal:

Fox says defensive consistency is missing
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
January 6, 2009

As Nevada basketball coach Mark Fox made his way down an elevator Monday at the Silver Legacy for his monthly Time-Out Luncheon, a man riding with him delivered a short message.

"I doubt you're looking forward to this," he said.

No, facing the Wolf Pack boosters two days after a conference-opening loss at home to Idaho probably wasn't the dream scenario for Fox's Monday afternoon, but he took it all in stride anyway.

"I'm still a tad bit angry over how we played the other night, so forgive me if I'm not my jolly self," Fox told the roughly 175 boosters in attendance. "I expect more than what we got on Saturday night."

Although the fifth-year coach reiterated his displeasure with his team's 78-73 home loss to the Vandals on Saturday, he reminded boosters the conference schedule was still young...

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and

The following is something we should never take for granted -- it's a word-for-word replication of what Coach Mark Fox had to say at a Monday luncheon. Providing this to readers is a gargantuan task and Murray deserves a tip o' the hat for doing so.

Fox on Fields' starting prospects, the team's poor shooting and more
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
1/5/2009

A few quotes from Nevada cbasketball oach Mark Fox's Time Out Luncheon on Monday afternoon. He touched on a few of the team's recent games before answering questions from the boosters.

On the game against Southern Illinois: “It was a game in which we played as complete as we have to date. Against Southern, we defended well, we executed offensively. We had a great atmosphere. It was the first time this year that I felt this team is starting to look like our previous teams. I was really encouraged by our game against Southern because they are a program that has been as successful as we have been and they’re a team like ours that has some new faces, some guys in new roles. But they are a program that plays very hard and defends. So, I was very pleased with our team that day.”

On the game against Cal: “We went to Cal for another test after the Southern game. Another good road test to see what kind of progress we’ve made as a group. I think at Cal we played about 37 good minutes. Maybe more than that. I think we had a 30-second burp in the first half, which cost us five points, and therefore we went in at the half behind instead of in front. Then we had a 90-second burp in the second half, which cost us another eight points. There’s the margin of victory right there, just in the mistakes we made in that short amount of time. I think it was important for our players to understand to beat a good team on the road you need to play 40 minutes of good basketball, not 37 or 38. I think that was a good lesson for us...”

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