Nevada Wolf Pack Notebook: ESPN’s Bilas provides motivation

RENO – Eric Musselman certainly knows how to motivate basketball teams, and he does it in different ways.

According to Musselman, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas was pumping up Davidson and Rhode Island as being two of the best mid-majors. That may be true, but the Pack wasn’t mentioned.

“Everything was Rhode Island and Davidson,” Musselman said after Tuesday’s 81-68 win over Davidson. “The Wolf Pack should be right there in the same sentence.”

And how. You could tell the Nevada players were a little put off.

“Everybody has their opinion,” Caleb Martin said. “We focus on what we do. We know how good we are and the coaches know how good we are.”

PASSING FANCY

One thing that stands out about Nevada’s offense is its unselfishness.

The team is averaging 19-plus assists a game.

“We have never charted passes before (this year),” Musselman said Monday. “Our goal is to get to 200 passes a game. We took a step back at Pacific. It was our lowest total of the year. At Santa Clara we had 198 passes, so we’re inching closer to 200.”

Musselman gave out information charting the first four games, showing the team how it correlated with baskets.

“Reading as much as we can about the Warriors, and how passes correlate to winning,” Musselman said when he was asked where the idea originated.

Musselman said the team will still continue to run a lot of isolation plays because he said he believes in exploiting mismatches.

HALL IS HOPEFUL

Josh Hall was asked about spending Thanksgiving Day in Honolulu.

“I’m hoping we get to go to the beach,” Hall said. “I haven’t been to Hawaii. I’m excited to go. I’m excited to see some of Honolulu.”

BY THE NUMBERS

Nevada has made 41 three-pointers in the last three games, which is a school record in a three-game span. In that span, Nevada is shooting over 48 percent from beyond the arc … Caleb Martin tied his career high with 26 points in his first career start … Hall has scored in double figures in two straight games (25 vs. UOP and 17 vs. Davidson). He is 12-for-16 from beyond the arc in his last two games … Lindsey Drew tied his career best with nine assists. He was one assist and one basket shy of a double-double. He has 27 assists and just three turnovers this year. Jordan Caroline has now started 39 straight games.

UP NEXT

The Pack will leave at 8:45 a.m. today for its next road test, a Friday game at the University of Hawaii.

The Rainbow Warriors are off to a 3-0 start with home wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, North Dakota and Troy.

Hawaii beat Nevada 76-75 in 2015. It was Musselman’s first loss at Nevada.