Men's Basketball 12/15/2017 9:30:00 AM

MEN'S BASKETBALL HEADS WEST FOR CONTINENTAL TIRE CLASSIC

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The Radford men's basketball has stayed close to home so far this season, but next week the team makes its way west to Reno, San Francisco and Las Vegas for the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic before coming home for the holidays.

Our preview today will take a look at the first two opponents of the trip – the Nevada Wolf Pack and the San Francisco Dons.

SETTING THE STAGE

Sunday's contest is the first of four games in a West Coast swing as part of the 2017 Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic
The Highlanders also played in this tournament during the 2013-14 season. They fell to Santa Clara and UNLV before defeating Sacred Heart and Florida Gulf Coast
Radford is looking for their first win-streak of the season after topping Division II Erskine, 76-49, this past Saturday

HIGHLANDER HIGHLIGHTS

Record: 5-4 (0-0 Big South) | RPI: 143^rd
Head Coach Mike Jones has a chance to secure his 100^th career win at Radford on this trip. He's currently got 98 wins under his belt
That 98^th win came against Erskine last week. The Highlanders held the Flying Fleet below 50 points scored, their first time doing that against any team since 2014
Radford also set season highs for points scored (76), field goals made (30), field goal percentage (47.6%), rebounds (51), assists (25) and steals (8) in that game
First half performances have been key to a Radford team that is 4-0 when leading at halftime and 1-4 when trailing at the break. Their one second-half comeback came against Georgia Southwestern in the season opener
Radford's defense has been a key to its early-season success. The team ranks third in the Big South with 69.3 points allowed per game. They also rank third with 3.8 blocks per game
Coach Jones and his staff preach crashing the boards and the Highlanders have taken it to heart. They currently rank second in the Big South with 13.4 offensive rebounds per game
Junior forward Ed Polite Jr. continues to lead Radford in the following categories: points per game (12.3), field goal percentage (48.8%), rebounds per game (7.8), steals per game (1.3) and blocks per game (1.8)

NEVADA GAME INFORMATION

Date/Time: Sunday, Dec. 17^th at 5:30 p.m. ET, 2:30 p.m. PT
Location: Lawler Events Center | Reno, Nev.
Live Stats
Live Video (AT&T SportsNet)
Listen (SuperSports 101.7 FM)

NEVADA SERIES HISTORY

The men's basketball programs of Radford and Nevada have never met

SCOUTING THE WOLF PACK

Record: 8-2 (0-0 Mountain West) | RPI: 16^th
Head Coach Eric Musselman, who has many years of experience coaching on both the professional and international level, is in his third year at the helm of Nevada's men's basketball program. He has found success relatively quickly, accumulating a record of 60-21 in that time
The Wolf Pack were picked to finish 1^st in the Mountain West Conference, garnering 19 of 24 first-place votes
Nevada ranked as high as No. 22 in the nation this season following a program-record 8-0 start to the season
Nevada will be more motivated to get a win than ever after dropping back-to-back games against Texas Tech (76-82 OT) and No. 20 TCU (80-84)
The Wolf Pack, a host site for the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic, are a perfect 4-0 in front of their hometown fans
Juniors Caleb Martin (19.7), Jordan Caroline (17.4) and Cody Martin (16.2) combine for 53.3 of Nevada's 83.6 points per game (64%)
Nevada has had at least one 20-point scorer in every game this season and two 20-point scorers in six of their 10 games. The Highlanders are still looking for their first
Caroline is also leading the Wolf Pack in rebounding with 9.5 per game

SAN FRANCISCO GAME INFORMATION

Date/Time: Tuesday, Dec. 19^th at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT
Location: War Memorial Gym | San Francisco, Calif.
Live Stats
Live Video
Listen (SuperSports 101.7 FM)

SAN FRANCISCO SERIES HISTORY

Radford and San Francisco will go head-to-head for the first time in program history on Tuesday

SCOUTING THE DONS

Record: 6-4 (0-0 WCC) | RPI: 209^th
Head Coach Kyle Smith is in his second year leading the Dons' men's basketball program after tallying a 20-13 record last season
San Francisco is currently riding a two-game win streak with victories over Central Arkansas (78-76) and Eastern Washington (81-71), but still have UC Davis and Stanford to play between now and Radford | UPDATE: The Dons defeated UC Davis, 74-61, before getting their three-game win streak snapped in a 71-59 defeat at Stanford Sunday night
Following an appearance in the College Basketball Invitational last season, the Dons have a young team in 2017-18 that features nine freshman or sophomores and only one senior
They were picked to finish fourth out of 10 teams in the West Coast Conference
Sophomore forward Charles Minlend was named to the All-ACC Preseason Team, but has yet to play in a game this season due to injury
Freshman Souley Boum leads the Dons with 15.2 points per game while only playing in six games. Sophomore Jordan Ratinho has posted 12.5 ppg while playing in all eight games
San Francisco is outscoring opponents by 53 (301-248) in the first half of games this season, but are then being outscored by 30 (310-280) in the second half
As a team, the Dons average a strong 40 rebounds per game, but no single player in pulling down more than six rebounds per game. Senior Chase Foster leads the team with 5.9 per game
Fun fact: Boston Celtics great Bill Russell is a famous alum of USF

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