More on last night's games

Here's Shawn Harrison with a report on the Utah State - Nevada game and a bigtime hat tip to the Herald-Journal management for sending Harrison to Reno to cover the game:

Wolf Pack thump Aggies
Shawn Harrison
Herald Journal
March 1, 2009

RENO, Nev. — Two nights after celebrating a league championship, the Aggies ran into a hungry Wolf Pack.

Having won or tied for the Western Athletic Conference regular season title the past five years, Nevada proved it is still a team to be reckoned with, especially on its home court. The Wolf Pack jumped on Utah State early and withstood a second-half rally by the visitors to notch a 84-71 win in front of 8,515 fans Saturday night at the Lawlor Events Center.

“We didn’t listen to coach, he warned us,” said Aggie forward Tai Wesley, who had 10 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. “They came out ready, jumped on us and got us deep. We couldn’t recover.”

USU (26-4, 13-2 WAC) fell behind by 23 in the first half. The Aggies got within seven twice in the final seven minutes of the game and could have cut into the Wolf Pack lead some more, but a turnover and a missed 3-pointer prevented that...

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Chris Murray supplies a horde of after-game quotes:

Post-game quotes and notes from Nevada's drubbing of Utah State
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
3/1/2009

One day before Nevada played Utah State, I asked Wolf Pack coach Mark Fox whether a win over the Aggies would give his team the confidence to be able to beat them again in a potential WAC Tournament final. Fox said, "No. The game will have no bearing on the WAC Tournament." While I don't necessarily disagree with that, Nevada's 84-61 win over Utah State on Saturday night in the same building the tournament will be held had to be a confidence booster. It's one thing to believe you can do something. It's another to actually know you have done it -- in this case beat Utah State.

The win also means Nevada has beaten each of the teams in the WAC at least once this season. Interestingly enough, the Wolf Pack has only one sweep this season (over Hawaii), but could pick up a couple more next week with games against San Jose State and Boise State. So, there's no doubt Nevada can beat every team in the WAC. There's also no doubt Nevada could lose to every team in the WAC. That's what makes the upcoming WAC Tournament so interesting.

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's take a look back at the Wolf Pack's win Saturday with some post-game quotes...

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Here TMB at Vandal Nation with a report on Idaho's win over Fresno State on the road:

Vandal Nation
Sharp-shooting Vandals take down Fresno State, 71-68
Travis Mason-Bushman

On the strength of a balanced offensive attack that struck all over the court, the Idaho Vandals defeated the Fresno State Bulldogs tonight in Fresno, 71-68. The victory moves the Vandals to 14-14 overall, 7-7 in the Western Athletic Conference, solidifying Idaho’s bid for a top-half seed in the WAC Tournament. The Vandals have now recorded as many conference victories this season as they had in the team’s three previous years in the WAC.

Senior guard Trevor Morris shot the lights out from outside, going 5-6 from the floor and 4-5 from downtown to lead the Vandals with 14 points. Junior point guard Mac Hopson and junior center Marvin Jefferson both recorded double-doubles, and Luciano de Souza added another 11 points on 4-10 shooting, 3-9 from beyond the arc. Hopson scored 13 points, dished out 10 assists and pulled in 4 rebounds, while Jefferson racked up 13 points, 11 rebounds and made 3 huge blocks. Overall, the Vandals shot 52.9 percent from the floor, 42.1 percent from 3-point land...

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Here's Darrell Moodu of the Nevada Appeal who was in San Jose to provide coverage of the game for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:

Darrell Moody
Special to the Star-Bulletin
Mar 1, 2009

SAN JOSE, Calif. » Hawaii's road to avoid the play-in game at the Western Athletic Conference tournament just got a little bit tougher.

Adrian Oliver made two free throws with 3.8 seconds left to snap a 59-all tie and give San Jose State a 61-59 win over Hawaii last night at the Event Center.

It's this simple for the Rainbow Warriors: They need to knock off New Mexico State at home and then hope that Idaho can beat Louisiana Tech on Thursday. If both things happen, Hawaii would be the No. 7 seed and Tech would face Fresno State in the play-in game on March 10.

Hawaii coach Bob Nash knows the importance of avoiding that extra game come tournament time. Four games in five days is a nightmare for anybody, especially a team as thin as the Rainbow Warriors.

"It's a tough road to go," Nash said. "To win four games in Reno would be very difficult. We have New Mexico State coming to our place and we have to be ready...

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