It was the best of halves. It was the worst of halves.
The Nevada men’s basketball team continued the non-conference portion of their schedule Wednesday night at Lawlor Events Center with a much-closer-than-it-should-have-been 77-66 victory over the visiting Montana Grizzlies.
“That’s a dangerous 20 minutes of basketball, just not playing very well on both sides, and we just don’t want that,” said Nevada head coach Steve Alford in the post-game presser. “We want to be as good as we can every time. Hopefully, our guys can learn that, but learning it in a win is a lot better than learning it in a loss.”
The Wolf Pack had 11 days to savor a blowout win against Portland in its last outing, in which they amassed 108 points and simply stomped an inferior opponent. Facing a 1-3 Montana Grizzly team that plays two freshman guards for major minutes, the only real question was, would there be some rust after the long break?
Nevada answered that question quickly, starting the game with a 10-0 run and building their lead to a comfy 39-18 to close the first half. The Pack looked like the team that beat Portland before Thanksgiving with smothering defense leading the way. Nevada’s defense frustrated the Grizzlies, limiting them to a paltry 25% shooting from the field in the half, including 0-for-11 from three-point land, while shooting over 50% themselves on the offensive end.
The second half would look much different.
Montana showed a lot of resolve starting the second half with a quick 12-2 run that included 3-for-3 outside the arc to draw within 11 at 41-30.
Tre’ Coleman, Daniel Foster and Kenan Blackshear would combine to awaken Nevada from their brief slumber, pushing the pace in a 12-0 run of their own and bumping the lead back to 23 points at 53-30 with 14:22 left to play.
All 6,918 looking on from their seats at Lawlor figured that must have snapped Nevada out of their snooze, but Montana refused to roll over, out-hustling and out-playing the Wolf Pack in the second half by a wide margin.
Instead of seeing extended playing time for some of their youth and role players off the bench, the Wolf Pack starters found themselves on the floor with 1:59 left and a measly eight-point lead at 68-60. Nevada won by going 9-of-10 from the line in the last two minutes, but it was hardly a feel-good victory.
“I think it was our season low in assists,” Alford said. “The ball did not move tonight, and I think that affected our offense, and then we got really sloppy defensively in the second half, and those are things you can’t do.”
Despite giving up 48 second-half points, Nevada did take advantage all night of the mismatches their size created for the smaller Montana team. The Pack attempted 38 shots from the charity stripe, converting 30 times. The trio of K.J. Hymes, Jarod Lucas and Blackshear accounted for all but five attempts. The triumvirate also scored 51 of Nevada’s 77 points in total.
The Pack (5-0, 0-0 MW) will complete their non-conference schedule in December with nine contests, and head coach Steve Alford now has the depth his Nevada club lacked last season. When asked what the next 48 hours would hold before hosting Loyola Marymount on Saturday, he replied simply, “Practice and lots of film.”
Next up: Nevada hosts Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.
Notes
- Nevada enjoyed offensive production from all 10 players, with Blackshear (22), Lucas (16) and Hymes (13) reaching double figures.
- After having an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3-1 in their last game, Nevada had 10 assists and 10 turnovers.
- The Wolf Pack recorded only three second-half assists.
- Nevada was advantageous at the free-throw line, out-chancing Montana 38-18.
- Nevada converted 12 more free throws than Montana even attempted (and won the game by 11).
- The Pack won points in the paint (28-24), points off turnovers (13-6), and fast break points (14-2), but lost rebounds (40-42) and assists (10-16).
- Nevada never trailed, leading for 39:09 after starting the first 51 seconds 0-0.
