Chris Murray

cmurray@rgj.com

The Wolf Pack basketball players won’t be spending spring break in Cancun, Lake Havasu, Miami Beach, Las Vegas or wherever the kids these days spend their one-week hiatus during the spring semester.

The last three years each of those locations would have been an option as the Wolf Pack’s season was over well before spring break began. As Nevada embarked on this season, one of its goals was to still be playing on spring break. Because of that, the players didn’t put in place any travel plans for this week.

“I didn’t have any spring break plans,” said junior guard D.J. Fenner, who is getting his first postseason tournament experience this year. “I wasn’t planning on having a spring break because I was so set on playing in the NCAA or NIT. The CBI is the next best opportunity and I’m not complaining at all.”

Pack notes: EWU like Boise; Coleman injury update

The Wolf Pack will host Eastern Washington in a quarterfinal game of the CBI on Monday at 7 p.m. The winner advances to the tournament’s Final Four. After dispatching Montana, from the Big Sky, in the first round, the Wolf Pack gets another Big Sky team in EWU (18-15, 10-8), which finished fifth in the conference, three spots behind Montana. But the Eagles are offensively as explosive as any team Nevada has faced.

“Eastern Washington can really, really score the ball,” coach Eric Musselman said. “They space the floor phenomenally. Great, great shooting. They have four 3-point shooters on the floor all the time and they have a big guy who is probably as good as any post player we’ve faced all season long. They have two all-conference players. Their point guard is one of the best scoring point guards in the entire country.”

That point guard is Austin McBroom, who averages 21.2 points and 3.6 assists per game. He shoots 41.2 percent from beyond the arc and his 114 3-pointers made rank fourth nationally. The post player is Venky Jois, the school’s all-time scoring leader. The 6-foot-8 Jois averages 16.4 points and 8.7 rebounds. Jois (knee) logged just 12 minutes in EWU’s first-round win over Pepperdine and sat out the entire second half but is expected to play Monday.

EWU averages 81.8 points per game, which is 16th in the NCAA and the highest total of any Nevada foe this season. The Eagles have hit 343 3-pointers, sixth in the nation. The Wolf Pack has had plenty of defensive success this season, but allowed Montana to make 12-of-22 3-pointers in their CBI opener. Nevada will have to be sharper against EWU, which picked up its first postseason win in its D-I history with the win over Pepperdine.

“We have to defend well,” Nevada forward Cameron Oliver said. “They have good shooters. I watched them a couple of times earlier in the year and they can score the ball really well.”

Of course, there are two ends of the court and defense is where EWU has struggled. The Eagles allow opponents to shoot 48.4 percent from the field, which ranks 345th out of 351 Division I teams.

The Wolf Pack is coming off what Musselman described as its best offensive half of the season when it scored 52 second-half points against Montana on Wednesday to cap a rally out of a 13-point second-half hole. Nevada has been hit or miss offensively this season, but drained seven second-half 3-pointers to beat the Grizzlies, and leading scorer Marqueze Coleman (ankle) is expected to return to action Monday.

Musselman wants Wednesday's strong second half to carry over versus a vulnerable EWU defense.

“Obviously we have to figure out a way to score the ball at a high rate, so we’re going to want to try and push the ball,” Musselman said of keeping pace with EWU's high-scoring offense. “The 52 points in the second half against Montana is the best we’ve scored the ball offensively all season. We’re going to have to piggy back off that and the way we pushed the ball against Montana, we have to do it against Eastern Washington.”

The Wolf Pack played a sluggish first half against Montana and Fenner said that was in part because of a letdown the players faced after it didn’t make the NCAA Tournament or NIT. Now that Nevada (20-13) has advanced into the quarterfinal and a CBI championship is only four wins away, Fenner said the team is more invested in the tournament.

“That first half in the last game we didn’t seem like we were too sure how hard we wanted to play," said Fenner, who tied a career high with 24 points in the win. "We figured it out in the second half. We definitely bought in and definitely want to go out there and win the whole thing.”

While the Wolf Pack is looking toward the future, Musselman will take his team to the past for brief second prior to Monday’s game. The veteran coach has given his team some kind of a motivational moment before every game this year and the speech before the EWU game will take the team back to its ranking in the Mountain West’s preseason poll: Nevada was picked to finish ninth out of 11 teams.

“Our pre-game motivation on Monday is how we were projected to finish ninth in our own conference and as of today there’s like 33 percent of college basketball teams still playing and the other group is done and on spring break,” Musselman said. “It’s a great honor to keep playing no matter what tournament. Anytime you can get into a semifinal and things start getting narrowed down there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s been a long grind for our guys. No doubt. They’ve done a great job of sticking with it.”

Notes: Members of the Wolf Pack's Pup Club get free tickets to Nevada's game against EWU. Kids who wear their Pup Club credential can pick up tickets at the Section 18 entrance near the West Stadium Parking Garage. Each Pup Club member will receive two tickets, one for themselves and one for a parent, and are asked to sit in the student section.

WOLF PACK BASKETBALL

What: College Basketball Invitational, quarterfinal

Who: Eastern Washington (18-15, 10-8 Big Sky) at Nevada (20-13, 10-8 MW)

When: Monday, 7 p.m.

Where: Lawlor Events Center (capacity 11,536)

Radio/TV: 94.5 FM/None

Betting line: Nevada favored by 5

Tickets: $41 for premier/courtside; $26 for lower concourse; $16 for upper reserve; $5 for students; and $5 for youth in the upper bowl