Nevada Wolf Pack hoops hand out team awards

RENO — The Nevada Wolf Pack men’s basketball team announced its team awards Wednesday at the annual postseason dinner.

Senior D.J. Fenner took home The HUNT award, his second year in a row earning the honor.

The award goes to the player who worked hardest on and off the court, including getting in extra hours in the gym and working hard in the classroom.

Fenner averaged 13.7 points per game overall while scoring 16.7 in Mountain West games.

The senior also shot 46.3 percent from three, fourth in Nevada history, and 87 percent from the line, fifth in Nevada history, over the course of the season.

The Rock award, presented to the player who shows strength, consistency, sacrifice and toughness throughout the season, went to sophomore Jordan Caroline. Caroline’s intensity often spread throughout the team on the court as he crashed the boards and slammed down some memorable dunks.

Caroline nearly averaged a double-double this season with 15 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. Caroline also averaged 35.1 minutes per game, proving to be a workhorse for the Pack.

Freshman Josh Hall earned the Most Improved award. Prior to his injury, Hall averaged 2.6 points, 1.2 rebounds and 9.4 minutes per game.

After returning, Hall’s averages increased to 4.5 points and 3.8 rebounds per game while seeing a much higher 19.6 minutes on the court.

Freshman Charlie Tooley earned the Most Inspirational award. Assistant coach Ronald Dupree, who was handing out the awards, remarked on Tooley’s three point shot at New Mexico, saying he has never seen a player step back for a three in a two-on-one situation.

Not in attendance was senior Marcus Marshall, who was awarded the Closer award. Marshall was playing in a postseason basketball tournament.

Pack finalizes grid schedules

RENO – The Nevada football team has completed its non-conference football schedules for the 2018 and 2019 seasons, athletics director Doug Knuth announced.

The Wolf Pack will play a pair of teams from power five conferences, one from the group of five conferences and one FCS opponent each season.

Nevada will open the 2018 slate at home against Portland State of the Big Sky Conference. It will be the ninth time the teams have met – Nevada leads the series 6-2 – but it will be the first meeting since 1976. The Wolf Pack will then travel to Nashville, Tenn., to take on Vanderbilt on Sept. 8 in the first meeting between the schools, and just the Wolf Pack’s second game against an SEC school.

The Pack will return home to play host to Pac-12 foe Oregon State on Sept. 15 as the Beavers visit Mackay Stadium for the first time in the 21st century. The two teams have played three times before, with Oregon State winning a home-and-home series in 1998 and 1999, as well as a 1903 matchup in Corvallis. Nevada will close the 2018 non-conference with a visit to Toledo in the second game of a home-and-home series with the Rockets that starts this fall at Mackay.

In 2018, Nevada will have home Mountain West games against Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State, and will go on the road to face Air Force, Hawaii, San Jose State and UNLV.

In 2019, Nevada will open with the first visit by a Big Ten team to Mackay Stadium since the Wolf Pack beat Northwestern in 2007 as Purdue comes to Reno on Aug. 31.

The Wolf Pack will then travel to Eugene, Ore., to take on the Oregon Ducks on Sept. 7.