Nevada coach David Carter gave senior guard a fresh start.
Fields played in 32 games last year after he was cleared in Oct. of 2009 of any criminal wrongdoing in an alleged shoplifting incident at a sporting goods store. But his numbers plummeted compared to his sophomore year and he never started a game as he was never fully freed from Mark Fox's doghouse.
It appears that under Carter and playing a supporting role to Luke Babbitt and Armon Johnson, Fields has returned as one of the better guards in the WAC.
Senior season — 14.4 points per game, 29-percent 3-point shooter, 43 percent from the field in 31.6 minutes
Junior season — 9.4 points per game, 22-percent 3-point shooter, 36 percent from the field in 22.6 minutes
Soph. season — 12.4 points per game, 38-percent 3-point shooter, 44 percent from the field in 29 minutes
Carter said it was a preseason trip to Europe in May that helped his team adjust to him. It also opened Fields' eyes.
"I told him that it's a fresh start but at the same time, you can't do what you did before and can't play out of character. Just be who you are.
"When something like that happens to a 19-20 year old kid, there is a lot of pressure trying to prove to people that he was back and he couldn't get out of that slump a little bit. He's more mature now. He knows that it's his senior year and he's playing on both ends of the floor and has been very disciplined. There will be nights when he will score for us and we need him to. He has accepted his role and by no means taken a back seat. People have to guard him because he can score."
It will be interesting to see who matches up with Fields. Unlike Utah State, Fields should be able to stay in front of Gibson and i would think that Shaw will guard Young. Babbitt will certainly get a lot of attention, but the Aggies can't afford to leave Fields.
5 comments:
Does he lead Nevada in steals?
It is interesting to follow the postings on this website. When the Aggies were going bad at the beginning of the season there was all sorts of negative postings. Now that the aggies have put together a pretty good string and won their first conference game against a pretty good opponent, there are almost no postings giving them any credit. They have played better and Saturday's win was caused by the defense they played and a mental toughness to hold off an opponent. They won the game with only a so-so offense but it was a win. The crowd number was alittle bit more than other games and they got into it pretty well. The Nevada game will be good and I hope the streak continues. The naysayers will be back when we lose a couple of games, and we will, but why not enjoy the run we're having right now.
Great post 8:42. I will revisit it when the naysayers come out of the woodwork.
A 9:00 p.m. game in Las Cruces on a Monday night, a televised game no less, isn't going to help in bringing out the crowds. If the Aggies were undefeated to this point, or had maybe 4 fewer losses, then possibly the fans would return.
As of right now, the fans are still disappointed in the way the Aggies started the season. If the Aggies can win another five in a row, then maybe we'll be seeing a Pan Am center with 10K+ in attendance.
By comparison, UTEP with its 9-3 record can't fill the Don Haskins center even with a location population that is 7 times that of Las Cruces. And UNM has yet to fill the Pit even though they have a top 15 squad with only one or two losses.
Anon 8:42, the win on Saturday was big but can hardly compensate for poor playing so far. Wins against non conference opponents and Division II teams are hardly that impressive. Many fans are still frustrated with the way the team is playing and the coaching decisions that Menzies is making, and it will take more than one or two wins to get the fan base to the level of enthusiasm we had at the beginning of the season. I am all about for giving credit where credit is due but I want to see a few more impressive wins before I declare Menzies a good coach and give credit to players for a great season.
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