Holiday break not over for Wolf Pack

Taking 10 days off from basketball season for final exams is one thing. That break is built right into the schedule.

It’s quite another thing when the hiatus is unexpected and unwelcome.

UNR coach Mark Fox and his team are in just such a quandary because of the postponement of their home game Saturday against Utah State.

Bad weather in Reno caused the Western Athletic Conference to call off the game. Not having played since Dec. 31, the Wolf Pack will have had 10 days off when it next plays Thursday at San Jose State.

Faced with trying to keep his team fresh, Fox put the Wolf Pack through a full-blown intrasquad scrimmage Friday hours after the postponement was announced. Then he gave his players the weekend off.

“I’m more worried about how we are mentally than physically,” Fox said Monday during the WAC coaches’ weekly teleconference. “The toughest thing is trying to maintain our sharpness mentally. Physically I think we’ll be fine, especially having given them a couple of days off to rest up. We’ll be ready to compete.”

Fox shut down his team for the weekend largely because he didn’t want his players having to navigate snow- and ice-covered roads in Reno.

“Certainly there’s positives and negatives in that situation,” Fox said of the postponed game, which will be made up next month on a date to be determined. “On one hand, you get to practice and rest. On the other hand, the kids would rather play at this point.”

The Wolf Pack (8-5) is the only team in the WAC that has yet to play a conference game. UNR has won six of its last seven games, with the lone loss being a 106-70 blowout by No. 1 North Carolina on Dec. 27 at Chapel Hill. The Wolf Pack bounced back on New Year’s Eve with a 104-75 rout of Division II Cal State Stanislaus, but has been in a holding pattern ever since.

For UNR’s two-game trip this week, which includes a game Saturday at Hawaii, the team will be a little deeper than it has been. Forward Richie Phillips has completed his recovery from a stress fracture in his left leg. The 6-foot-7-inch sophomore made his season debut with a two-minute stint against Stanislaus, and Fox said he’s glad to finally have Phillips available.

“In fairness to Richie, he’s way behind,” Fox said. “He missed October, November and December, so it’s not fair to expect a lot from him.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2913.