MORAGA, Calif. -- St. Mary's junior Jock Landale did a lot of damage Friday. Not only did he create a problem for Gaels coach Randy Bennett, but he led Nevada coach Eric Musselman to declare that he never should have scheduled the game.

Landale made his first career start in large part because returning starter Dane Pineau has missed a lot of preseason practice because of a back injury. Landale responded by scoring a career-high 33 points to lead 17th-ranked St. Mary's to an 81-63 victory over Nevada in both teams' season opener.

Pineau, a preseason all-conference selection, is one of five returning starters from last season's 29-6 St. Mary's team. So who will be the starters when Pineau is back to 100 percent?

"I don't know," Bennett said.

It's a problem Bennett welcomes. The 6-foot-11 Landale, one of seven Australians on the St. Mary's roster, averaged just 7.9 points and 14.5 minutes last season and had never scored more than 24 points.

"He has really improved," Bennett said. "He's our best scorer in the block. He was our leading scorer per minute last year."

Landale credits a lot of his improvement to a change in diet, which helped him lose 20 pounds from last season.

"I knew I had to lose a bunch of baby fat," he said. "No pasta. I cut out a lot of carbs."

With the Wolf Pack unable to double-team Landale because of the Gaels' excellent three-point shooters, Landale made 15 of 20 shots from the field and added a career-high nine rebounds for the host Gaels, who were ranked in the Associated Press preseason poll for the first time in school history.

"We just got annihilated inside," Musselman said. "I don't know that I have ever seen a guy go 15 for 20. He's really good."

Musselman could be heard yelling at his players through the walls of the postgame locker room and clearly was not pleased with his team's performance.

"We were not ready for that caliber of competition," he said. "They never lose at home. I shouldn't have scheduled the game."

The Gaels were 20-1 at home last year, and 3,500-seat McKeon Pavilion was packed for the opener.

Nevada, which was picked to finish second in the Mountain West Conference, was led by Marcus Marshall, a transfer from Missouri State who collected 25 points, including 21 in the second half.

But the Wolf Pack could not handle St. Mary's precision offense. The Gaels shot 60.0 percent from the field compared with Nevada's 47.8 percent shooting.

Landale was the chief offensive force in the first half when he scored 16 points to help the Gaels to a 42-29 lead at intermission.

St. Mary's broke away from a 22-22 tie with a 14-0 run that ended with an inside bucket by Landale with 2:28 left before halftime.

The Gaels committed just one turnover in the first half.

"We did play well, and we needed to win," Bennett said, "but I think this team has a lot of room to improve. Hopefully in two weeks we'll be better than we are now."

NOTES: St. Mary's F Dane Pineau started all 35 games last season, was not in the starting lineup. He entered the game with 13:04 left in the first half. ... Nevada coach Eric Musselman played for the University of San Diego in the mid-1980s when St. Mary's coach Randy Bennett was a graduate assistant for the Toreros. ... Nevada has three transfers who sat out last season and are eligible to play this season: G Marcus Marshall, F Leland King II and G Jordan Caroline. Marshall was a starter in Friday's game. Sophomore F John Carlson will be eligible to play in the second semester.