Basketball: Vandals ready for Pack rematch

Brandon Fields understands that the Idaho Vandals will come into Lawlor Events Center on Thursday night with a lot of confidence.

 And with a score to settle.

 "Yeah, they probably think they can beat us after that last game," the Nevada Wolf Pack senior said Tuesday. "They are going to have a lot of confidence against us. They probably think they should have beaten us last time."

 The Wolf Pack (19-11) will meet the Vandals (15-15) Thursday at 6 p.m. at Lawlor in the first round of the Western Athletic Conference tournament. The last time the two teams met (Feb. 10 in Moscow, Id.), the result was a controversial 67-66 Nevada victory and a frustrated Idaho coach Don Verlin.

 Verlin thought the officials missed a traveling call on the Pack's Luke Babbitt moments before Armon Johnson's 3-pointer tied the game at 64-64 with 22 seconds left. Verlin also thought Johnson should not have been given the basket when he was fouled away from the basket with three seconds left. Johnson, who continued after the foul to complete a layup, was awarded the basket and he made the free throw to give the Pack the one-point victory.

 A few samples of Verlin's post-game press conference (which can be viewed on http://www.youtube.com) from the evening of Feb. 10 . . .

 "It was a poorly officiated game," Verlin said. "I don't care if the WAC fines me or not. The officiating was very, very inconsistent. Idaho is no longer a doormat.

We're a contender in this league and the officials need to figure it out.

 "'They (the officials) were real inconsistent all night long. That travel call was blatant out in mid-court. It was Luke Babbitt and it was a crucial time in the game. I didn't think we got a fair shake tonight."

 WAC commissioner Karl Benson reprimanded Verlin the next day for "violating the WAC sportsmanship code."

 The Wolf Pack felt fortunate to get out of Moscow that night with a victory. They took a 54-46 lead with 10:25 to go after another Johnson 3-point play and had to rally for the victory.

 "That game was crazy," said Johnson, who combined with Babbitt that night to score all 25 of the Pack's second half points.

 "This game is a tough matchup for us," Pack coach David Carter said before a team practice at Bishop Manogue High on Tuesday (Lawlor is not available for practice by any team during tournament week).

 "Idaho always plays us tough," said Babbitt, who had  21 points against Idaho in Moscow and 19 in a 76-68 Pack victory over the Vandals on Jan. 16 at Lawlor. "They beat us last year (78-73 on Jan. 3, 2009) on our home court. So it's going to be a big challenge."

 Idaho, which lost six games in row in January and had to fight its way into the WAC tournament, comes into this week after victories over San Jose State last Thursday (86-76) and Hawaii (78-69) on Saturday. They also come into the game with a little added controversy. Senior guard Kashif Watson, a Bishop Gorman graduate, was suspended for the Hawaii game after he made critical comments about Verlin on his Twitter account (WatsonEra32).

 The playing status of Watson for this week has not been decided.

 "We'll prepare for the game the same way, whether he's there or not," Carter said.

 Carter wouldn't say that Idaho is coming into Thursday's game with revenge as a motivating factor.

 "I just think that they will be looking at this game just like we're looking at it," Carter said. "It's a new season, a chance to start over."

 Johnson also didn't think that Idaho was going to be motivated by the calls and non-calls by the officials last month.

 "I just think that they always have extra motivation against us," Johnson said. "That's just because we're Nevada and they want to beat us on our home floor."

 The Vandals are led by guard Mac Hopson (14.4 points a game), guard Steffan Johnson (10.2), forward Luiz Toledo (7.5) and center Marvin Jefferson (9.0 points). Luciano De Souza also comes off the bench to average 6.4 points a game. Johnson had eight 3-pointers in the victory over Hawaii and Hopson had 11 assists.

 "I really believe we're a team that can make a run in the tournament," Verlin said. "It's like I told our guys. It's the team that plays best for 40 minutes now, not the team that plays best for four months."