Grades: Nevada fails big test in Henderson

Grading the Nevada Wolf Pack’s 72-53 men’s basketball loss to the Drake Bulldogs at Henderson, Nev., on Saturday:

STARTERS

JAROD LUCAS: D

Well, at least Lucas remembered that he is supposed to shoot threes for this Wolf Pack basketball team. Lucas, who had taken just six 3-point attempts over his three previous games, was obsessed with the long-distance shot to start Saturday’s game.

He fired up five threes (making just one) in the first 12 minutes. But while the spirit was willing the accuracy once again was not. Lucas finished 2-of-8 on threes, 3-of-11 from the floor and scored 10 points (five in each half).

He also went to the line for just two free throws (he made them both) after going a career-best 13-of-15 just three nights earlier against UC Davis.

Lucas is still averaging a respectable 16.5 points a game this year on .351 shooting from the floor and .333 on threes, so there is no reason to panic. But those numbers have been inflated by a 30-point performance against Portland and 20 points against Loyola Marymount. In the other six games he has averaged 12 points a game on 25 percent shooting overall and 23 percent on threes.

His 10 points against Drake are his fewest since he had seven against Arizona State in the NCAA Tournament last March.

KENAN BLACKSHEAR: C - 

It was simply a battle between Bad Blackshear and Brilliant Blackshear on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Wolf Pack, Brilliant Blackshear only made a brief appearance early in the second half.

Blackshear had a disturbing first half. He basically turned himself into a rebounder (six) despite the fact the Pack couldn’t score (just 19 points in the first 20 minutes). For some reason Blackshear didn’t take a single shot in the first half and didn’t score a point (he missed two free throws).

He also turned the ball over three times with one assist as the Pack dug a 28-19 hole by halftime.

But then Brilliant Blackshear stepped on the court to start the second half to, we thought, save the day for the Pack. He took four shots in the first five minutes after halftime, scoring six points as the Pack cut the deficit to single digits.

But he then missed a jumper with 15 minutes left in the game, turned the ball over a minute later and coach Steve Alford quickly sent him to the bench. And that, unfortunately for the Pack, was the end of Brilliant Blackshear.

He played just five of the final 14 minutes of the game.

Blackshear finished with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting with seven rebounds, three assists, and five turnovers. That performance came just three days after he scored 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting against Davis.

Over his last three games, Blackshear has gone 6-of-15 from the line and has failed to reach double-digit scoring in two of them. He’s missed a team-high 19 free throws (29-of-48) this year and is shooting just 60 percent from the line.

NICK DAVIDSON: C

Davidson had an uneventful first half, scoring just one point, taking one shot and grabbing two rebounds in 13 minutes. But the 6-9 sophomore was solid in the second half, with seven points, five rebounds and a block.

Davidson, who played 29 minutes and had eight points and seven boards, hit a jumper in the paint and had a dunk 33 seconds later as the Pack cut Drake’s lead to 33-27 with 17:38 to play. His 3-pointer pulled the Pack to within 67-51 with four minutes left.

The Pack, though, was outscored 19-5 in the six-plus minutes after Davidson’s dunk in the second half. Davidson missed two 3-pointers during that game-deciding six minutes and was sent to the bench with 11 minutes to play and the Pack trailing 52-32.

TRE COLEMAN: D

Coleman gave the Wolf Pack 25 disturbing minutes in one of his most forgettable performances of his four-year, 98-game career. The 6-7 Coleman certainly tried hard on Saturday but the more he tried, it seemed, the more sideways things became for him.

He scored just two points, missing 5-of-6 shots, committed five turnovers, was called for two fouls and had just one assist and no steals. The five turnovers are his career high.

Three of Coleman’s turnovers took place in the game’s first 102 seconds. The fourth one occurred 21 seconds after returning to the floor from the bench midway through the first half and the fifth took place 45 seconds after stepping back on the floor midway through the second half.

Three of his misses were from the paint and the other two were on threes. He took just one shot (he missed a layup) in his 13 second-half minutes.

K.J. HYMES: C

Hymes is basically a role player disguised as a starter. But to judge Hymes as a starter is unfair to the 6-10 sixth-year, often-injured big man.

Hymes was on the floor for just 20 minutes and produced nine points and three rebounds with a turnover and a pair of fouls. He basically doesn’t even think of shooting unless it can result in a layup or dunk.

Hymes averages just 16 minutes a game, meaning the Pack usually resorts to playing a small lineup the other 24 minutes since the only significant size on the Pack (7-1 Jeriah Coleman and 7-foot freshman Jazz Gardner) have barely stepped on the floor lately.

BENCH

HUNTER McINTOSH: D

McIntosh’s role on this Pack team is to provide an offensive spark off the bench. And, well, that did not happen on three of his four trips to the floor against Drake.

The 6-3 guard had just two points in his 18 minutes without a single assist. Just three nights earlier he had 13 points in 24 minutes against UC Davis. Those 13 points, though, came after five games in a row in which he scored just 21 points over 88 minutes.

His only points on Saturday came on a jumper with 1:21 left in the first half, cutting Drake’s lead to 25-17. McIntosh also had an offensive rebound less than a minute later that led to a pair of Jarod Lucas free throws.

In the second half, though, McIntosh took just one shot and didn’t score or gather any other stat in seven-plus minutes.

DANIEL FOSTER: B -

Foster’s numbers weren’t great (he was 1-of-7 from the floor, missing three threes, with three turnovers) but the 6-6 Australian gave his typical honest effort in his 22 minutes.

Foster scored four points, pulled down six rebounds, dished out three assists and had a block and a steal. All four of his points came in a 61-second span midway through the first half on two free throws and a layup. He then had a block and rebound just 14 seconds later that led to a 3-point attempt by Lucas that, if successful, would have given the Pack a 15-14 lead.

Foster’s three assists came in the second half, leading to nine Pack points on 3-pointers by Lucas and Tyler Rolison and a 3-point play by K.J. Hymes.

TYLER ROLISON: B

The 6-foot freshman scored 10 points in 17 minutes thanks to a magical two-plus minutes in the second half when he drained three 3-pointers.

The threes meant almost nothing on the scoreboard (the Pack still trailed 62-43 when the flurry ended) but it showed Rolison’s explosiveness for the first time this season. He had made just three threes over the first seven games.

Rolison also had a season-high six rebounds along with three fouls, an assist and a turnover, so he certainly wasn’t shy in his 17 minutes. He also, however, missed 3-of-4 free throws after going 9-of-12 from the line over his first seven games.

JAZZ GARDNER, JERIAH COLEMAN, AMIRE ROBINSON: Incomplete

Gardner, Coleman and Robinson combined for zero points in 11 minutes.

Gardner’s three minutes took place in the first half. He assisted on a Tre Coleman layup that tied the game at 7-7 just 29 seconds after stepping on the court but a foul and a turnover two minutes later sent him to the bench for the rest of the game.

Jeriah Coleman blocked a shot 19 seconds after stepping on the court in the second half and then was banished to the bench two minutes later.

Robinson played three minutes late in the first half and the final 1:49 of the second half and missed a 3-pointer.

COACHING: C

The Pack just didn’t seem ready to play on Saturday night. Coleman’s three turnovers in the first two minutes led to a quick 7-0 deficit and the Pack basically played catch-up the rest of the night.

Drake, now 9-1, was the Pack’s biggest test since the second game of the year at Washington. So, yes, some of the shine has been taken off the 7-0 start.

A few concerns of late that got glossed over during those first seven games because the Pack continued to win finally caught up with Alford’s team. The biggest concern is that the Pack once again struggled to play defense in the second half, leading one to wonder about the Pack’s mid-game adjustments.

Drake scored 44 points after halftime, the fifth time this year the Pack has allowed at least 40 points in the second half. This is the first time the lack of second-half defense cost the Pack on the scoreboard, but Drake is also the first team the Pack has faced this year that went to the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

None of the buttons Steve Alford pushed on Saturday worked. It was obvious the Pack wanted to light a fire under Lucas’ 3-point shot but that didn’t work early in the first half. Coleman, who really shouldn’t be handling the ball that often, turned the ball over four times in the first dozen minutes.

Alford also sent a hot Blackshear to the bench with 14 minutes to go in the second half and the Pack trailing just 42-32. When Blackshear returned to the floor 2:47 later the Pack was trailing 52-32 and Blackshear was no longer hot and the game was basically over.

Much of what Alford has done with this team has centered on getting to the free-throw line often. That’s all well and good when you are at home and playing mediocre teams. But when you leave home and play a highly competitive team like on Saturday, well, you might need a Plan B.

The Pack outscored Drake just 9-8 from the line (Nevada was a disturbing 9-of-18 from the line) after averaging a 23-9 advantage over the first seven games.

OVERALL: D

The Pack seemed to be stuck in first gear all game long. It was just the Pack’s second game away from Lawlor Events Center this year and its first in almost a month.

We were wondering how the Pack offense would look in a game when the officials didn’t repeatedly send them to the free-throw line and, well, our worst fears were realized. The 53 points are the Pack’s fewest since a 64-52 loss at Loyola Marymount last season on Dec. 3, 2022.

The Pack was just 9-of-18 (50 percent) from the line against Drake, it’s worst performance from the line since it went 14-of-29 against Fresno nearly two years ago (Jan. 21, 2022). The Pack basically had nowhere to turn for offense on Saturday.

The 51 field-goal attempts equals their low for the season and their 19 successful field goals is their fewest since they went 16-of-51 against Loyola Marymount mount a year ago.

The lack of production from the floor was due to a season-high 19 turnovers, its most since it also had 19 at UNLV on Jan. 28, 2023 (so blame it on southern Nevada).

There simply was little to like about what happened on Saturday but it was probably overdue. The hope is that this will be a much-needed wake-up call.

The Wolf Pack, after all, hasn’t really played all that well the past four games after taking an 11-day break around Thanksgiving.

But never fear, another mediocre team (Weber State of the Big Sky Conference) comes to Lawlor Events Center on Wednesday to cure all that ailed the Pack on Saturday.