Saturday, March 8th, 10:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Save Mart Center (15,596) -- Fresno, California. Television: Local. Home Record: Nevada 13-2, FSU 11-5. Away Record: Nevada 6-8, FSU 2-11. Neutral Record: Nevada 0-0, FSU 0-1. Conference Record: Nevada 11-4, FSU 8-7. Series Record: Nevada leads, 41-34.

GAME NOTES: One of three teams sporting a record of 11-4 in Western Athletic Conference play heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the Nevada Wolf Pack try to improve their standing for the upcoming league tournament as they face off against the Fresno State Bulldogs at the Save Mart Center. Tied with Utah State and New Mexico State near the top of the standings, the Pack have won two straight games and three of the last four. The squad completely dominated a visiting Louisiana Tech squad last Saturday in an 87-57 decision at the Lawlor Event Center. As for the Bulldogs, who enter the weekend tied with Idaho for sixth in the WAC with a record of 5-10, they have hit the skids with two straight setbacks and five in the last six conference games. On Monday night, the team was defeated by Utah State in Logan by a score of 79-66. With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Pack leads by a count of 41-34, thanks to four straight wins over Fresno State, including a 79-67 triumph earlier this season in Reno.

JaVale McGee came off the bench for a change, but his efforts against Louisiana Tech were anything but reserved as he tallied 26 points on 12-of-14 shooting from the field in the 30-point triumph. Brandon Fields added 14 points and Armon Johnson 10, while Marcelus Kemp subsidized his nine-point effort with team-highs of eight rebounds and eight assists. One of the top scorers in the conference this season, Kemp is responsible for a team-best 20.0 ppg, thanks in large part to his 131-of-152 showing at the free-throw line. Kemp also accounts for 5.2 rpg and is second in assists with 96. McGee (13.6 ppg) has worked the glass to the tune of 7.1 rpg and is first in the conference with his 81 blocked shots, nearly doubling the second-best effort.

Kevin Bell played all 40 minutes against Utah State earlier this week, converting 13-of-19 field goal attempts to come up with his 31 points, but with that being almost half of the team's total, it was clear that FSU was not going to earn the road win. Eddie Miller added 14 points as he shot 4-of-8 behind the three-point line, but no one else on the team had more than two made field goals of five points for that matter. Bell, the leading scorer in four of the last five games for the Bulldogs, enters the weekend ranked fourth in the conference in scoring with his 18.7 ppg and is second in assists with an average of just under six per outing. Miller checks in with 15.3 ppg, thanks to his 109-of-261 effort beyond the arc, but the loss of Bryan Harvey because of academic issues means FSU has just the two double-digit scorers at the moment.

Limping into the postseason, this Fresno State team has fallen off the radar, which might work in the team's favor in the upcoming WAC Tournament, but not tonight with Nevada needing to win.

Predicted Outcome

Nevada 74, Fresno State 65