The Nevada Wolf Pack men’s basketball team opened their 2024-25 campaign Monday evening at Lawlor Events Center with a 91-75 victory over the visiting Sam Houston Bearkats.
Forward Nick Davidson and point guard Kobe Sanders combined for 53 points and 16 rebounds, while drawing 16 personal fouls.
Sam Houston (0-1, 0-0 CUSA) would score the first bucket of the season in Lawlor, but the Wolf Pack (1-0, 0-0 MW) would score the next 15 and raced out to an early 15-2 lead just 6:10 into the game.
But last year’s Conference USA champions didn’t panic, slowly chipping away while Nevada tried to rediscover their early rhythm on offense.
“Openers are always scary,” said head coach Steve Alford. “They won CUSA last year, eight seniors and very aggressive offensively so it was a great challenge for our defense.”
Sam Houston would climb all the way back, knotting things at 26-26 on a three-pointer from Sam Burns with 4:49 left in the first half.
The remainder of the half would be a back-and-forth affair with both teams focusing on defense.
Davidson paced Nevada with 12 points and nine rebounds, while Tre’ Coleman chipped in eight points as the 10.5-point favorite Wolf Pack owned a scant three-point lead 37-34 at the break.
Both teams would shoot 12-31 from the floor (39%) with the difference coming at the free throw line where Nevada converted 8-of-13 attempts to the Bearkats 5-of-6.
Nevada would come out in the second with a greater sense of urgency as well as accuracy, shooting 6-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc to push the lead to nine at 52-43 at the 15:00 mark.
The Bearkats would hang tough, pulling within a three-pointer at 63-60 with 9:29 to play, hanging around largely on their efficiency at the free throw line.
Nevada’s inability to take advantage at the line despite having a considerable attempt advantage is something to watch as the season progresses.
Down the stretch, touted Cal Poly transfer Kobe Sanders showed the opening night crowd of 8,023 at Lawlor why Alford was so excited to land the 6-foot 9-inch point guard to replace Kenan Blackshear.
“That’s just what he can do. He does a really good job of going downhill,” said Alford.
Sanders’ 24 second-half points on 9-of-10 shooting came in various fashions from slashing layups, pull-up jumpers and going 2-for-2 from deep.
“I just wanted to go out there and get a win. So excited to be in blue this year and getting wins and whatever comes up in the stats is just an added bonus,” said Sanders. “Obviously it’s a blessing to get 27 in my first game, but I’m happy about that win column.”
Next up: Nevada hosts the University of Washington on Saturday Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at Lawlor Events Center
Notes
- Nevada shot 82% from the field in the second half, including 5-of-7 from deep.
- The Wolf Pack converted 21-of-31 free throw attempts (68%), but the core of Davidson, Coleman, and Sanders were a combined 19-of-23 (83%).
- Davidson led all players in rebounds with 10 and played a game-high 33:52.
- Marcus Boykin shot 5-of-10 from the field and converted all seven of his free throws to pace the Bearkats with 17 points.
- Wolf Pack newcomer Brandon Love chipped in six points, going 3-of-4 from the field, adding five rebounds and two blocked shots while going plus-21 in 21 minutes.
- Saturday’s game vs. Washington features former Utah State head coach Danny Sprinkle, and 2023 MW POY Great Osobor, now both with the Big-10 Huskies.
