UNR fans on flight of fancy to Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS - Jim Shabi has been a Nevada basketball season-ticket holder for more than a decade.

So not even a heavy workload was going to keep the Carson City state government worker from the Wolf Pack's second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Shabi and the other 500 Northern Nevada fans who made the trek to Indy were rewarded with a 61-57 Wolf Pack victory at the RCA Dome.

Shabi took a redeye flight, making it to the arena during Kentucky's win over Eastern Kentucky.

"I had to do some scrambling, but I was able to produce a lot yesterday (Wednesday) so I could make the trip," he said at halftime. "I'm not a government worker playing hooky on the taxpayers' dollar.

"I didn't get to go to Seattle last year, but I did go to St. Louis. I was staying the weekend, regardless of what happened tonight."

Now he gets to see No. 1 Illinois play.

"It is what we need to measure ourselves by," Shabi said. "We're getting the chance to see where we are at. If we're going to lose, I'd rather lose to the No. 1 team."

The Wolf Pack Nation, at least some of them, got a little quiet when Texas went ahead 57-53 left. They were on their feet from that point, imploring the Pack to go on a run. Nevada responded with an 8-0 game-ending run, as the Longhorns missed four shots in the last 24 seconds.

"Never, not for one minute did I think they couldn't come back," said D.J. Whittemore, the new baseball coach at Western Nevada Community College in Carson City. "This is a great team. No individuals. Look at the job Kyle Shiloh did on (Daniel) Gibson was awesome."

Added Shabi, "Thankfully, we made a couple of free throws and had just enough to win."

n Darrell Moody could be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281.