When the Nevada and Portland basketball teams play tonight at Lawlor Events Center, the influence of former Wolf Pack coach Trent Johnson will be felt on both sidelines.
The head coaches of both teams (David Carter with Nevada; Eric Reveno with Portland) served apprenticeships under Johnson as assistant coaches before getting their own programs.
As a result, tonight's game will feature teams that have a similar makeup: balanced, well-executing offenses, tenacious man-to-man defenses and tough-nosed players.
"They're very physical," Carter said of the Pilots.
Portland has seven players averaging at least five points per game, led by guards Nik Raivio (14.5 ppg), T.J. Campbell (13.2 ppg, 5.3 apg) and Jared Stohl (9.3 ppg).
Post players Robin Smeulders (11.1 ppg), Luke Sikma (7.2 ppg) and Kramer Knutson (5.6 ppg) give the Pilots a post presence, combining to hit more than 58 percent of their shots.
"They have really good balance," Carter said. "Raivio's a very good player, and their point guard (Campbell) is very solid. He's kind of the key to everything. Then they have a couple of big, physical players down low."
This season has already been a historic one for Portland (7-4), as well as a topsy-turvy one.
The Pilots started the season with five straight wins and busted into the national polls for the first time in 50 years. After the hot start, Portland then lost four of its next five games before rebounding with a 30-point win over Idaho last week.
Nevada will be looking for a little revenge after losing at Portland, 63-61, last season.
The road to that revenge starts on the defensive end. Nevada is 5-1 when holding opponents below the 44 percent shooting mark and a stingy defense helps spring the team's transition offense.
"One of the keys is rebounding," Carter said. "We can't allow them to get offensive rebounds and second chances. They execute so well on offense, we can't give them multiple shots per possession.
"It goes back to getting stops down the stretch in crunch time when you need them. When we've been able to do that, we've been able to get wins. We know that's where it starts."
Wolf Pack notes: One of the people in attendance at tonight's game will be Olek Czyz. The former Reno High star who played at Duke for the past season and a half flew into Reno on Sunday night and is taking an official campus visit with the Wolf Pack over the next two days.
Czyz got limited playing time at Duke during his freshman and sophomore seasons, getting into 19 games and averaging 1.2 points per contest. In order to be eligible at the end of the fall semester next season, Czyz would have to enroll in classes before the spring semester begins this year (which for UNR is Jan. 19).
The head coaches of both teams (David Carter with Nevada; Eric Reveno with Portland) served apprenticeships under Johnson as assistant coaches before getting their own programs.
As a result, tonight's game will feature teams that have a similar makeup: balanced, well-executing offenses, tenacious man-to-man defenses and tough-nosed players.
"They're very physical," Carter said of the Pilots.
Portland has seven players averaging at least five points per game, led by guards Nik Raivio (14.5 ppg), T.J. Campbell (13.2 ppg, 5.3 apg) and Jared Stohl (9.3 ppg).
Post players Robin Smeulders (11.1 ppg), Luke Sikma (7.2 ppg) and Kramer Knutson (5.6 ppg) give the Pilots a post presence, combining to hit more than 58 percent of their shots.
"They have really good balance," Carter said. "Raivio's a very good player, and their point guard (Campbell) is very solid. He's kind of the key to everything. Then they have a couple of big, physical players down low."
This season has already been a historic one for Portland (7-4), as well as a topsy-turvy one.
The Pilots started the season with five straight wins and busted into the national polls for the first time in 50 years. After the hot start, Portland then lost four of its next five games before rebounding with a 30-point win over Idaho last week.
Nevada will be looking for a little revenge after losing at Portland, 63-61, last season.
The road to that revenge starts on the defensive end. Nevada is 5-1 when holding opponents below the 44 percent shooting mark and a stingy defense helps spring the team's transition offense.
"One of the keys is rebounding," Carter said. "We can't allow them to get offensive rebounds and second chances. They execute so well on offense, we can't give them multiple shots per possession.
"It goes back to getting stops down the stretch in crunch time when you need them. When we've been able to do that, we've been able to get wins. We know that's where it starts."
Wolf Pack notes: One of the people in attendance at tonight's game will be Olek Czyz. The former Reno High star who played at Duke for the past season and a half flew into Reno on Sunday night and is taking an official campus visit with the Wolf Pack over the next two days.
Czyz got limited playing time at Duke during his freshman and sophomore seasons, getting into 19 games and averaging 1.2 points per contest. In order to be eligible at the end of the fall semester next season, Czyz would have to enroll in classes before the spring semester begins this year (which for UNR is Jan. 19).
