Tuesday, December 2nd, 9:00 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Moby Arena (8,745) -- Fort Collins, Colorado. Television: The Mtn. Home Record: Nevada 1-1, CSU 3-2. Away Record: Nevada 1-2, CSU 0-1. Neutral Record: Nevada 0-0, CSU 0-0. Conference Record: Nevada 0-0, CSU 0-0. Series Record: Nevada leads, 5-4.

GAME NOTES: Back home after their first road trip of 2008-09, the Colorado State Rams entertain the slumping Nevada Wolf Pack in non-conference action at Moby Arena tonight. On Saturday, the Rams paid a visit to the San Francisco Dons and were turned away in a 65-63 setback, marking the team's third loss in the last four games. CSU had opened the campaign with back-to-back victories over Montana and Northern Colorado before hitting the skids. As for the Wolf Pack, the five-time defending Western Athletic Conference champions, they again had trouble scoring points on Saturday as they bowed to the University of Portland on the road by a final of 63-61. Three days earlier the squad came up with just 59 points in a loss to Pacific at home. Nevada leads the all-time series with the Rams by a count of 5-4, snapping a three-game slide to CSU with a 74-66 triumph in Reno a season ago.

Nevada had the game tied with the Pilots at 46-46 in the second half, but from there the home team put together a 12-2 run and the Pack was never able to recover. Luke Babbitt posted team highs with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Malik Cooke dropped in 11 points as the only other double-digit scorer for a squad that turned the ball over 18 times and logged a mere six assists on 22 made baskets. Babbitt, the leading scorer in each of the last three games for the Pack, has been the center of attention on offense in the early going and has a team-best 15.8 ppg to show for his efforts. Babbitt is also first on the glass with 8.2 rpg, but when it comes to work on the offensive glass Cooke (11.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg) is clearing better than three per game, which is only slightly behind the pace set by Babbitt at the moment. The team has been hurting itself with poor field goal shooting thus far at a mere 39.2 percent and it has been even more bleak behind the three-point line (.261) for a team scoring just 64.4 ppg.

Marcus Walker accounted for a game-high 22 points, pulled down six rebounds and handed out five of the unit's 11 assists, but he couldn't do the job all by himself as the Rams buckled under against San Francisco over the weekend by two points. Andre McFarland and Andy Ogide both added 14 points, the latter pulling down a team-high nine rebounds, but the team's 39.3 percent accuracy from the floor was no match for the Dons. Walker, one of the best offensive stars in the Mountain West Conference these days, is putting up 19.2 ppg to lead the program, having shot 40 percent from three-point range and 80 percent at the free-throw line. Making even more waves beyond the arc in the early going is McFarland who has converted a stellar 17-of-29 (.586) already to boost his scoring average to 14.0 ppg, which is right behind Ogide (16.2 ppg) who takes care of the interior with his 10.0 rpg.

Nevada has a strong guy in the paint in Babbitt, but without much of a supporting cast it will be hard for the Pack to measure up to Walker, McFarland and Ogide tonight.

Predicted Outcome

Colorado State 68, Nevada 63