After recording only two double-doubles in his first 39 games with the Wolf Pack, Olek Czyz has notched two in the past two games alone.
It's part of an elevated all-around level of play from Czyz, the senior forward who began his college career at Duke before transferring to Nevada two seasons ago.
In the past four games, Czyz is averaging 16 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting 66.7 percent from the field. The Reno High grad couldn't put a finger on why his play has improved.
"I don't know," said Czyz, who leads the Wolf Pack against Fresno State on Saturday. "I just keep playing hard, I think. I just focus on the little things and I let the game come to me. When I have opportunities to score, I take them and I try to play more physical than I did, and I think I grab more rebounds that way."
Czyz struggled on defense and the boards last season but has improved in those areas this season. He's averaging more rebounds per game this season (6.2 to 5.7) despite playing fewer minutes (26.4 to 29.4).
"That was an area I was focusing the most on in the offseason," Czyz said. "I just take more pride into it than I did before."
Wolf Pack coach David Carter said he's noticed a better all-around effort from Czyz this season. His pairing with Dario Hunt has provided Nevada with one of the WAC's best frontcourts.
"When Dario is rebounding that well, you know they're going to try and box him out with a guy-and-a-half and Olek has good athletic ability and size," Carter said. "That's been an emphasis all year, to really focus on rebounding. His scoring is going to always be there, but we need him to be on the boards and we need him to do a little more defensively, and I think he's starting to focus more in that area."
BURTON'S PRO PROSPECTS
For the first time this season, Carter addressed the pro prospects of point guard Deonte Burton. Specifically, he was asked if Burton could turn pro after his sophomore season.
"I don't worry about that," Carter said. "That's just hype throughout the fans and media. When kids play well, everybody assumes kids are going to go here or leave here and that's not always true. He likes school. He likes his teammates. He wants to be here. But that's not something we talk about. I don't pay attention to that."
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Burton is averaging 15.5 points, 4.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He's been the late-game hero in a number of Wolf Pack wins and scouts have been in attendance for a handful of Nevada games this season.
Still, Burton said he's not worried about the NBA.
"I don't think about it at all," Burton said. "I'm staying right now. I'm just looking forward to each game and each day with my teammates. I love college."
FREE-THROW WOES
During Carter's monthly booster luncheons he's always asked why his team has been so poor from the free-throw line.
So, at Wednesday's luncheon, Carter opened the session by making a comment about the charity stripe before anybody could ask him about it.
"I'm just going to let you know right now we're a bad free-throw shooting team," Carter said. "We are what we are. I cringe and grind my teeth when we're at the free-throw line just like you. We've been able to win some games despite our free-throw shooting, but it's not our strength."
The Wolf Pack is shooting 63.9 percent from the free-throw line this season, the second-worst mark in the WAC. But the team did come up big from the stripe a recent win over Hawaii. In that three-point victory, Nevada was 18-of-22 from the line (81.8), its second-best effort of the season.
HUNT ALMOST FULLY HEALTHY
After wearing a protective sleeve over his injured left shoulder for two games, forward Dario Hunt shed the sleeve in the Wolf Pack's last game and is almost fully healthy.
"I think it's close to 100 percent," Carter said. "I don't want to say he's 100 percent, but he's in all the contact drills right now. He's shooting it a lot better. His range of motion seems to be fine. I think if it's not 100 percent, it's very, very close."
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