Nevada will face New Mexico State

RENO - The venue has changed, but the teams are the same.

For the second time in five days, Nevada (17-5, 7-3) and New Mexico State (9-11, 5-4) meet in a Western Athletic Conference basketball game. Tonight's game at Lawlor Events Center begins at 7:05 p.m.

Nevada played in Las Cruces last Saturday, and thanks to 36 points by Nick Fazekas and 19 by Marcelus Kemp, grabbed a 90-81victory to move into a tie for first place with Louisiana Tech and Utah State.

Home or not, the Pack know they have their hands full.

"They are playing well," Fox said of the Aggies, who are in fifth place with a 5-4 conference mark, 9-11 overall. "With a new coaching staff everybody knows it takes time to jell.

"They're a talented basketball team. They have great team speed. They are a difficult team to play. They are hard to defend. They get a lot of easy baskets. They force you to play up tempo. It's a difficult challenge. Hopefully we'll play a little better than we did there. We have to (do that) to be able to win."

Fox was referring to NMSU point guard Elijah Ingram, who led the Aggies with 26 points, and center Tyrone Nelson, who ended with 22 points.

Ingram repeatedly drove past Nevada defenders, and when he did that, Nevada's big men were forced to come over and help out, leaving their men open. Nelson, the Aggies' 6-9 center, had three layups and two buckets in the paint in the first half, as his ball and head fakes caused problems for Fazekas, Demarshay Johnson and Chad Bell.

Fox said his team needs to be able to handle New Mexico State's pressure defense better.

"We got rattled by their pressure," Fox said. "We didn't defend to my satisfaction. I don't think we rebounded as we needed."

Nevada held a 29-28 edge on the boards thanks to a 15-11 second-half edge.

Reggie Theus, New Mexico State's first-year head coach, said that Nevada is a difficult team because of its length at both ends of the floor.

"Nevada is a team that's not going to make a lot of mistakes," Theus said. "They don't run a lot of different offenses. What they run is solid and they run it well. They know what they are trying to get. They only blocked one shot last game, but they probably changed five or six others.

"Nevada is just a big team with a great player (Fazekas). I don't think he dominated the game. He had good numbers. He had a game like a pro should have. We have to do a better job on the perimeter guys. Kemp had a solid game. Defensively we did what we wanted to do. We were in the game late, and we just didn't make enough plays down the stretch."

Theus said he needed a better game from David Fisher, who scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds. Fisher picked up his third foul right before the half and eventually fouled out after playing just 17 minutes. At 6-5, Fisher at least gives the smallish Aggies a good match-up with Kemp, who is two or three inches taller than most of NMSU's guards.

"Fisher wasn't in the game," Theus said. "Not just his performance. Mentally, he wasn't there."

Theus has other concerns. He's made no bones about the fact that he's unhappy having to play two of the best teams on back-to-back weeks.

"Once on the floor, it doesn't matter (playing back-to-back)," Theus said. "From a psychological standpoint, having to play the two best teams two weeks in a row can be devastating to your morale, and can have a psychological effect on you. If you happen to lose the majority of your games, it can have a lasting effect.

"I worry about our team. We're playing on pins and needles. We can't have a drop in confidence or a drop in the way we think. I coach that as much as I do anything."

This is just as tough of a situation for Nevada. The Pack put their four-game winning streak on the line, and after moving up 16 spots to No. 37 in the latest RPI, the Pack can ill afford a defeat tonight or next Monday against Louisiana Tech

Notes: Joe Lunardi of ESPN Bracketology has Nevada as a No. 12 seed and playing No. 5 Georgetown in San Diego. Gregg Doyel of CBSSportsLine.com has Nevada as one of his four No. 9 seeds. That's not a pretty place to be, because if you get by a first-round game you would run into a No. 1 seed like Nevada did last year against Illinois.

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