The Nevada Wolf Pack men’s basketball team dug itself a first-half hole with poor shooting and uncommitted defense and never recovered, suffering a humiliating 68-57 defeat to the Washington State Cougars on Monday night at Lawlor Events Center.
The Wolf Pack entered the contest ranked third in NCAA field-goal percentage and second in 3-point shooting. They were coming off a 2-1 performance in the Charleston Classic in Charleston, South Carolina, where they lost to Vanderbilt in the opening round before defeating VCU and Oklahoma State.
On a night when Athletic Director Stephanie Rempe recognized Steve Alford’s 100th victory as head coach at Nevada in a pregame ceremony, his team performed as if all it had to do to win as 12.5-point favorites was show up after eight days off.
“It wasn’t that they were making everything and we were missing everything,” Alford said. “I thought it was way more than that. Just bad practices and then, I thought we were very, very lethargic, if that’s the word. There was no enthusiasm, no energy, and that’s the frustrating part.”
The first-half effort against the Cougars resembled nothing like the effort put forth in South Carolina, looking more like the entire roster was still loaded up on tryptophan from their Thanksgiving feasts.
The offense lacked any flow and went 9-of-35 from the field with just four assists, including a shocking 1-of-15 from beyond the arc.
Things weren’t much better on the defensive end, as the Cougars stayed patient, executing their offense and capitalizing on Wolf Pack mistakes. They generated 10 assists on 11 made baskets, including six 3-pointers.
Nevada’s Kobe Sanders led the team in the first half with six points on 2-of-3 shooting, but he picked up a pair of early fouls and played just 10 minutes. Nick Davidson finished the half with more personal fouls (three) than points (two).
The tryptophan nap lasted all the way to the buzzer, with Washington State finishing the final two minutes of the half on an 8-0 run. The spurt was capped by an uncontested layup off an inbounds play with two seconds left, giving the Cougars a 31-21 lead at halftime.
A frustrated Alford commented, “I mean, we let them get a layup with two seconds to go from out of bounds. I mean, it just wasn’t who we are, so it’s a valuable lesson for the guys to learn that. If you’re going to get out of character, then you’re going to get beat.”
The 7,748 fans in attendance hoping the Pack would wake up and regain control in the opening minutes of the second half were quickly disappointed. The defensive lapses continued, and the Cougars extended their advantage to 16 points at 45-29 by the first media timeout with 11:28 to play.
Further complicating matters, Sanders picked up his third foul by swinging a frustration elbow after a rebound, hitting WSU’s LeJuan Watts, who simply responded with a wry grin.
Alford had no choice but to leave Sanders on the floor, given that he was the only Wolf Pack player who seemed to remember how to score. Sanders finished with a team-high 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting and 5-of-7 from the free-throw line.
As the Pack’s shooting struggles continued, the defense never improved, with repeated breakdowns on backdoor cuts and wide-open looks from 3-point range.
Isaiah Watts led the Cougars with 17 points, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range. His 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 6:56 left put the Pack in serious trouble, down 54-35 at the second media timeout and searching for answers that never came.
Washington State notched its 60th point on a play that epitomized Nevada’s night. Davidson grabbed a defensive rebound, but Daniel Foster inadvertently ran into him, jarring the ball loose. LeJuan Watts snagged the ball and converted an uncontested layup.
“You can say it’s a bad shooting night, but we shot 38% and they shot 41,” Alford said. “We’ve got seven seniors, so it’s an old group. It’s shocking.”
Next up: Nevada travels to face Loyola Marymount on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. before hosting South Dakota State on Wednesday, Dec. 11.
Notes
- Washington State led the game for 32:06 out of 40:00.
- The Cougars made 12 three-pointers on 41% shooting, while Nevada converted just 4-of-20 for 20%.
- Rebounds (36) and turnovers (15) were even.
- WSU had 19 assists, while the pack generated just 11.
- The smaller Cougars won points in the paint 26-22.
- Nevada shot just 13 free throws.
- Nevada began the day at 32nd in the initial NET rankings, with the loss plummeting them to 57th.
- Before Monday, Nevada’s last non-conference loss at home was Nov. 12, 2021.
