Head coach Steve Alford and the Wolf Pack finished 10-3 in the non-conference portion of their schedule.
Grading the Nevada Wolf Pack’s 78-66 men’s basketball victory over the Norfolk State Spartans on Wednesday at Lawlor Events Center:
STARTERS
JAROD LUCAS: B
Jarod Lucas apparently thought he was in some sort of holiday 3-point shooting contest Wednesday night. The 6-3 Pack shooting guard (emphasis, of course, on shooting) tossed up a season-high 13 3-point attempts, made four and finished with 17 points. He put up five 3-point attempts in the first seven minutes of the game, making two. He fired up three 3-point attempts in the final seven minutes of the first half and two more in the first three minutes of the second half and, well, missed all five. If it wasn’t for the 3-point shot Lucas (no rebounds, one assist, one steal, no blocks) would have contributed about as much to this victory as the guy who checked your ticket at the door. But that is his job on this Pack team (shooting threes, that is, not taking tickets). Lucas took just one shot inside the 3-point arc all night, converting a layup with two minutes to play at a time when he probably should have already been sitting on the bench celebrating with his teammates. We assume this 3-point festival was Lucas’ way of responding to his 1-for-7 performance beyond the arc in his last game against UC San Diego. So that is understandable. But he did miss eight of his last 10 threes against Norfolk State in a game that was a glorified scrimmage, so all is still not well in that category.
KENAN BLACKSHEAR: B
Blackshear, as he has done all year for the most part, played efficiently, intelligently and aggressively when needed. He finished with a dozen points on 5-of-9 shooting, handed out four assists and pulled down three rebounds and turned the ball over just once in 32 minutes. His layup and jumper in the paint and assist on a Will Baker dunk set the tone early as the Pack jumped out to a 19-9 lead eight minutes into the game. He then connected on a jumper and threw down a dunk off a Tre Coleman steal and pass in the first four minutes of the second half as the Pack led 50-31. Blackshear is the Pack’s Swiss Army knife and he used all his tools just enough on Wednesday.
WILL BAKER: A +
Nobody plays the role of Gulliver on the island of Lilliput better than Will Baker. The 7-foot Baker, the tallest player on the floor at all times by at least three inches, turned in a near flawless performance on the offensive end. Baker was 9-of-9 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the line and also grabbed eight rebounds to finish with 23 points in 28 minutes. The 23 points and nine field goals are Wolf Pack season highs. Baker has done this before in a Wolf Pack uniform. Last season he had 24 points against San Francisco on 10-of-12 shooting and 23 points against San Jose State on 11-of-13 shooting. But he’s never done it so perfectly before. This is the first time in his 66-game career at Texas and Nevada that he’s been perfect from the floor in a game (he never even went 1-for-1 before). Just three of Baker’s 19 points from the floor came outside the paint (he drained a 3-pointer seven minutes into the game). The rest of his evening was spent brushing Lilliputians out of the way for dunks or layups or a trip to the line (4-of-4). It got a bit silly midway through the second half when Baker had three dunks in a span of just two minutes.
TRE COLEMAN: A
Coleman might have turned in one of the most impressive performances in history by a Wolf Pack player who scored just two points in a game and didn’t make a single shot. This, Pack fans, is why Coleman plays meaningful minutes (30 a game) despite the fact that he scores (or even shoots) about as often as a soccer goalie in a World Cup game. Coleman had a career-high (over 70 games) eight assists and equaled his career best with three steals. He also pulled down four rebounds and blocked two shots. When coaches tell you there are many ways to help your team win other than scoring, this is what they mean. The 6-7 Coleman was brilliant over a four-minute span early in the second half, dishing out four assists on a Kenan Blackshear jumper and dunk, a Darrion Williams 3-pointer and a Will Baker layup. In another 18-second stretch, he blocked a layup by Norfolk State’s George Beale and grabbed the rebound off a 3-point miss by Joe Bryant. When a coach tells you to keep working and playing to the final buzzer no matter the score, well, this is what he means.
DARRION WILLIAMS: B
Williams, too, makes up for his current offensive struggles by continuing to work hard without the ball. The 6-6 freshman led the Pack with 11 rebounds, his second consecutive game and fourth in the last seven with 10 or more boards. Williams contributed seven points, showing some signs of life on the offensive end. But he’s still scored just 22 points and missed 16 of his last 18 3-point shots (1-of-5 on Wednesday) over his last five games. His lone 3-pointer gave the Pack a 46-29 lead early in the second half and his layup put the Pack up 38-21 with two minutes left in the opening half. Williams also had a pair of assists on two Blackshear layups, one in each half.
BENCH
NICK DAVIDSON: C
Davidson played just 12 minutes, scoring nine points (five on free throws). His one offensive flurry came on a 3-point play (dunk, free throw) with 13:44 left in the second half, followed by a layup three minutes later for a 62-38 lead. During Davidson’s 12 minutes on the floor, the Pack and Spartans fought to a 23-23 draw.
TREY PETTIGREW: C
Pettigrew played the final 11:24 of the first half and deserved to be on the court for all of it. The 6-3 freshman had a pair of threes less than two minutes apart, giving the Pack leads of 27-17 and 32-17 (5:01 left in the half). He also assisted on a Will Baker layup for a 29-17 lead and a Darrion Williams jumper for a 34-21 lead. All of that took place in Pettigrew’s first nine minutes on the floor. Over his last 10 minutes on the floor (eight in the second half) Pettigrew missed a 3-pointer, committed a foul and a turnover and, well, that was it. Pettigrew finished with six points, two assists and a rebound in his 20 minutes.
TYLER POWELL: D +
Powell played a dozen minutes, missed both his shots (both threes) and didn’t score. He did flip the ball inside twice in a span of 46 seconds midway through the second half for a pair of assists on Will Baker dunks. But other than that, well, the performance of the Pack bench on Wednesday warranted coach Steve Alford playing all five of his overworked starters between 28-32 minutes in a game that was basically over after the opening tip. The Pack was outscored 27-18 during Powell‘s 12 minutes.
JOHN FLANNIGAN, SNOOKEY WIGINGTON: Incomplete
Flannigan, making his third appearance of the year, played 87 seconds at the end of the game while Wigington, making his season debut, played the final 96 seconds and made two free throws and committed a foul.
COACHING: A
Why were all five starters on the floor with under two minutes to play in a blowout? The Pack, after all, led by double digits for the final 26-plus minutes. But that is all you need to know about the current state of this team, despite its shiny 10-3 record. Steve Alford, for good reason, doesn’t really seem to trust anybody on his bench right now and, well, the starters could use the work. The Pack, after all, will enter its first Mountain West game next Wednesday at home against Boise State having played just two games over the previous 17 days. Wednesday night was only about getting an easy win and finding a 10-3 record under the Christmas tree on Sunday morning. And that was never in doubt. Alford has somehow guided this team to 10 wins in 13 non-league games, winning all six home games and barely breaking a sweat along the way. Make no mistake, we aren’t witnessing one of the greatest coaching jobs in history. When you schedule the likes of Norfolk State, UC San Diego, Sam Houston State, William Jessup, Grand Canyon and Utah Tech at home, well, you better go 6-0 on your own floor. But Alford has somehow masked a lot of Wolf Pack sins (no depth, inconsistent shooting, little size in the paint) over the past 13 games and has wrapped it all up in a neat and tidy package heading into the Mountain West schedule.
OVERALL: A
This is exactly the type of game the Wolf Pack wanted just days before Christmas and a week away from the Mountain West opener. Norfolk State never put up a fight and didn’t seem to care all that much. And the Pack was happy to take the easy victory because, well, it might be the last one they get this season. The Wolf Pack never trailed and led for all but the first 16 seconds. There were no pressure moments or difficult decisions to be made. Norfolk State could not make a 3-pointer (the Spartans missed 14-of-18) or get to the line (just 8-of-10). It’s hard to win on the road that way. This is why you schedule a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference team from the other end of the country at home just days before Christmas.