Wednesday, November 18th, 10:30 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Thomas & Mack Center (18,500) -- Las Vegas, Nevada. Television: The Mtn. Home Record: Nevada 1-0, UNLV 1-0. Away Record: Nevada 0-0, UNLV 0-0. Neutral Record: Nevada 0-0, UNLV 0-0. Conference Record: Nevada 0-0, UNLV 0-0. Series Record: UNLV leads, 51-19

GAME NOTES: A Silver State showdown ensues at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas tonight, as the UNLV Rebels entertain the Nevada Wolf Pack.

The Pack makes the trip to Sin City after winning the season opener against Montana State on Saturday, 75-61, at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno. Following this contest, Nevada heads home for a meeting with Houston on Saturday, but after that the team travels to VCU, North Carolina and Pacific before coming home again on December 8th to take on Fresno Pacific.

As for the Rebels, who are at home for three more games against the likes of Southern Illinois, Holy Cross and Louisville before hitting the road for the first time versus Arizona the first week of December, they began their campaign with a 91-52 thrashing of Pittsburg State on Saturday.

With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Rebels are ahead by a margin of 51-19, winning the last three meetings, including a 64-57 decision in Reno last December.

Luke Babbitt, one of the more dominant players in the Western Athletic Conference, showed why he will be considered for all-conference honors again this season as he converted 11-of-17 from the floor to finish with a game-high 26 points versus Montana State in the opener. Babbitt did fall a bit short on the glass though with only five rebounds, but that might be because Dario Hunt patrolled the middle for his team-best seven boards and also tallied five blocked shots. Armon Johnson added 16 points, Brandon Fields had 14 and Ray Kraemer another 10 off the bench as he made 3-of-5 shots from behind the three-point line. A 21-13 team a season ago, the Wolf Pack was paced by Babbitt with his 16.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per outing, followed by Johnson who tallied 15.5 ppg and handed out a team-best 145 assists. One area in which the Pack needs to focus more on this season is behind the three-point line where they were just 30.6 percent accurate a year ago.

Despite shooting only 35.7 percent from the field in the first half, including 5-of-15 beyond the arc, in addition to converting a mere 18-of-29 at the free- throw line, the Rebels were well on their way to the win against Pittsburg State. Calling on the reserves, UNLV came up with an astounding 52 points off the bench, enough to have tied the visitors themselves. Tre'Von Willis stuck around to come up with a team-best 17 points, followed by backups Kendall Wallace and Justin Hawkins with 16 and 11 points, respectively. Under the direction of head coach Lon Kruger last season, this team had three players score in double figures, but with the departure of Wink Adams (14.3 ppg) and Rene Rougeau (10.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg), that leaves only Willis who was responsible for 11.4 ppg to go along with his 3.3 apg. However, not to be overlooked is Oscar Bellfield who accounted for 6.2 ppg and 3.4 apg and will be a crucial piece to the UNLV puzzle moving forward.

Even though the Rebels have had a stranglehold on this relationship since its inception, this is the perfect time for Nevada to rise up and ride Babbitt and Johnson into the win column.

Predicted Outcome

Nevada 78, UNLV 67