Nevada’s Warren Washington against Wyoming on Jan. 17, 2022 at Lawlor Events Center in Reno. (Photo: Nevada Athletics)
Nevada Wolf Pack men’s basketball coach Steve Alford is a firm believer that only the strong survive in college basketball.
“We’re not tough enough,” said Alford after a lackluster 77-67 loss to the Wyoming Cowboys on Monday at Lawlor Events Center. “We’re not handling adversity in a tough way.”
The Wolf Pack, Alford said, was bullied in an 85-70 loss to Boise State last Wednesday night at home and the same thing happened on Monday against Wyoming.
“We’ve had two games, against Boise and Wyoming, where they just kept grinding and our tendency is to just splinter,” said Alford, who played in the 1980s in college for one of the toughest coaches (Indiana’s Bobby Knight) and most disciplined programs in the country.
“Boy, when we get tired, we get tired and we have a lot of mental breakdowns and mistakes. When we get tired and have adversity, the bad shots, the lazy passes come in to us. And, again, that’s toughness.”
Alford initially brought up his team’s lack of toughness after the Boise State loss. He found out Monday that his message has yet to make an impact on his players.
“We have to step up, we have to grow, we have to mature,” Alford said a week ago. “We have to get tougher as a team. It comes down to our toughness.”
The Wolf Pack, now 8-7 overall and 2-2 in the Mountain West, will host Fresno State this Friday night (8 p.m.) at Lawlor Events Center.
ALFORD TAKES BLAME: Alford said he will change the way he coaches this Wolf Pack team.
“We’ve had spurts (of playing well) but we just can’t do it for 40 minutes and that’s on me,” Alford said. “I have to do a better job of establishing a tougher mindset. I haven’t handled the pause (the lack of games and practices because of health and safety protocols) as well as I would have liked. We’re going to have to practice harder and longer and see what comes of that.
“After Air Force (a 75-68 win on the road on Saturday) we just had a walk through (on Sunday). I thought it was better to give them a rest. But that was a mistake.”
PLAYERS AGREE WITH COACH: Point guard Grant Sherfield said after the loss to Boise State that a lack of toughness is a real issue with this Wolf Pack team.
“They (Boise state) were just tougher than us and that’s unacceptable,” Sherfield said. “We just didn’t match their energy.”
Forward Desmond Cambridge agreed.
“We just have to get tougher,” Cambridge said. “We have to take a look in the mirror and get tougher. They (Boise) got every loose ball, they out-hustled us and were more physical than us.”
Center K.J. Hymes, who has only recently returned to the court after battling back and ankle injuries, says the lack of toughness is the players’ fault.
“At the end of the day, it is on us,” Hymes said.
SHOTS NOT FALLING FOR PACK: The Wolf Pack missed 24-of-30 3-pointers against Wyoming. The Pack was a disturbing 2-of-19 on threes in the second half.
Over the last six games the Pack is shooting just 27 percent (38-of-139) from beyond the arc.
“We’re not shooting it well at all,” said Alford, one of the best shooters in college basketball history. “But, again, that’s a toughness thing.
“You know, if you are not shooting well, than it’s real simple. Stop shooting. This isn’t rocket science. We have not shot the three-ball well and we shot 30 (against Wyoming). To me that’s idiotic. Our game plan was to go inside, go inside, go inside.
“But when things get tough it’s a lot easier to throw one up from 25 (feet) than it is to get the ball to the rim, post it, get a good post feed. That’s toughness.”
Cambridge, who went 0-for-4 against Wyoming on threes, has seen his accuracy vanish. He is 11-of-47 (23 percent) beyond the arc over the last six games. Sherfield was just 2-of-7 on three against Wyoming. Will Baker, a 7-foot center, was 1-of-4 against Wyoming on threes and is now 4-of-16 (25 percent) over his last eight games.
COLEMAN ACCEPTS COACHING: Tre Coleman hasn’t shot the three well all year and was 0-for-3 against Wyoming. His season 3-ball stats have fallen to a frightening 7-of-42 (17 percent).
Alford said he told Coleman to simply stop shooting threes late in the Wyoming game.
“I challenged him in a timeout,” Alford said. “I said, ‘Look, just stop shooting the three. It’s not going in, it’s not a good feel right now. So drive it, get fouled, get to the line. Do something different than just sitting out there shooting threes that aren’t going in.’”
Coleman missed a 3-pointer with 7:06 to play and the Pack trailing 59-55. Alford called a timeout 32 seconds later and told the 6-foot-7 sophomore to stop shooting threes. Coleman responded after the timeout with a layup with 4:13 to play, a pair of free throws with 2:46 left and a missed layup with 1:13 left. He did not take a 3-pointer.
“He listened and that showed toughness,” Alford said. “In today’s game some players would take that as, ‘Oh, you don’t believe in me. You don’t think I can do this.’
“That’s a soft approach. We (the coaches) speak the truth. If the three ball is not going in, then do something different. Don’t keep doing something over and over again that’s not working. What? Are we going to take 40 (threes) and hope we make seven? It just makes no sense.”
PLAYERS OBSESSING ABOUT MISSES: Hymes, who has been with the Wolf Pack since the 2018-19 season under former coach Eric Musselman, said the players need to change their mindset.
“I don’t think we have selfish guys,” Hymes said. “But when things are not going all their way, they let it get in their heads and they take themselves out of the game. That’s a small form of selfishness.”
Alford agreed that some Pack players are letting their errant shots affect them too much.
“I thought we had a ‘woe is me’ attitude,” Alford said, “instead of getting tougher, taking a charge, blocking a shot and running the floor. We are not responding that way. Right now it’s just too much ‘me’ instead of ‘we.’”
“I don’t think it’s anything we can’t figure out,” Hymes said. “We have to just lock in, we have to be together, we have to stay together and we have to just work together.”
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