Nevada’s Kenan Blackshear, shown in a game last season, had 31 points, six rebounds and five assists in the Wolf Pack’s road win at Washington.
NAP file
Grading the Nevada Wolf Pack’s 83-76 men’s basketball victory over the Washington Huskies in Seattle on Sunday:
STARTERS
JAROD LUCAS: C
Fortunately for the Wolf Pack, Lucas wasn’t really needed to beat this Pac-12 team on the road. The 6-foot-4 senior, a former Oregon State guard, struggled his way to 13 points on 3-of-12 shooting, missing 5-of-6 threes. He also didn’t have an assist and had just one rebound in his 36 minutes. His biggest contribution was a 6-of-6 performance at the line.
Lucas’ 3-pointer gave the Pack an 18-13 lead nine minutes into the game but then he missed his final five 3-pointers, the last three coming in the final six minutes.
KENAN BLACKSHEAR: A +
Washington basically had no answer for Blackshear. The 6-6 senior dominated the game from start to finish, scoring 31 points on 12-of-22 shooting, 7-of-10 from the line, with six rebounds, five assists and a steal in 36 minutes.
Blackshear had 15 points in the first half and 16 in the second half and didn’t even need to throw up a 3-pointer.
When Blackshear was off the floor, for 1:33 in the first half and 1:49 in the second half, the Pack was outscored 11-7. When he was on the floor, controlling everything, the Pack outscored the Huskies 76-65.
Blackshear scored 11 points in a stretch of just 6:30 in the first half, expanding an 18-14 Pack lead into a 36-23 advantage four minutes before halftime. He pulled down an offensive rebound off a Lucas missed 3-pointer and had a layup to start his 11-point flurry.
He scored nine points in the final 6:35 of the game to allow the Pack to stroll to the easy victory.
NICK DAVIDSON: B
The 6-9 sophomore had a very productive night, scoring 13 points with nine rebounds in a career-high 32 minutes.
Davidson had three 3-point plays, getting a layup and a free throw for leads of 23-15 (9:11 in the first half), 41-25 (1:39 in the first half) and 48-37 (16:05 in the second half).
He scored 11 of his 13 points over the final 9:11 of the first half and first 3:55 of the second half. Davidson missed all three of his 3-point shots but his work on the glass was instrumental in keeping Washington at arm’s-length the entire game.
TRE COLEMAN: C +
The 6-7 Coleman had a roller coaster performance, missing 6-of-9 shots with two turnovers while scoring eight points with two assists and also pulling down nine rebounds in 33 active minutes.
Half his points came in the first 2-plus minutes of the game on a dunk and a layup. In one 12-second whirlwind about three minutes into the game he had a steal, rebound and missed two layups.
His two assists led to a Kenan Blackshear layup late in the first half and a Nick Davidson layup early in the second half.
Coleman actually played 33:56. The Pack battled Washington to a 13-13 draw with Coleman on the bench.
K.J. HYMES: D
The Pack center was limited to just 11 minutes because of three fouls. He made both his shots with one rebound and finished with four points.
Hymes was immediately pulled from the game after each of his three fouls, with 16:11 and 12:28 to go in the first half and 18:38 left in the second half.
He had a dunk less than two minutes into the game and a jumper in the paint four minutes later. He didn’t play the final 9:38.
BENCH
HUNTER McINTOSH: B +
McIntosh didn’t start but he was on the floor at the most important times, playing 10 of the final 13-plus minutes of the first half and 11 of the final 13 minutes of the second half.
The 6-3 senior guard had an efficient 21 minutes on the floor with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting with four rebounds and an assist. He has the ability to be a starter, but on this team his offensive skills are a must coming off the bench.
He drained a 3-pointer just 17 seconds after stepping on the court for the first time. McIntosh went to the bench for a stretch of just 2:10 starting with 5:23 to play and the Pack up comfortably 73-57. Washington, though, proceeded to outscore the Pack 11-2 over the next 2:10 and McIntosh was sent back out on the floor.
With McIntosh on the floor in the final 3:13 the Pack played Washington to an 8-8 stalemate (McIntosh scored three of the final eight points) to secure the victory.
JAZZ GARDNER: D
The 7-foot freshman from Pasadena, Calif., stumbled his way through eight minutes.
Gardner first stepped on the floor with 16:11 to go in the first half and proceeded to miss a jumper in the paint and commit two fouls before being taken out of the game less than two minutes later.
He did salvage his evening with an impressive offensive rebound and layup with 14:43 to go in the second half for a 52-37 lead but he missed a 3-pointer 71 seconds later and was removed from the game 32 seconds after that and never returned.
He finished with two points, a rebound and two fouls in his actual 7:23 of playing time.
DANIEL FOSTER: C
Foster played 15 minutes and contributed two points, a rebound and a steal.
His jumper in the paint off a feed from Kenan Blackshear gave the Pack an important 63-54 lead with 8:38 to play.
Foster missed a 3-pointer three minutes after stepping on the court with a dozen minutes to play in the first half and then didn’t attempt another shot until Blackshear fed him in the paint in the second half.
TYLER ROLISON, AMIRE ROBINSON, JERIAH COLEMAN: Incomplete
Rolison played just four minutes while Robinson and Coleman each saw just two minutes.
Rolison and Robinson each had a rebound. Rolison, though, also committed three fouls and had a turnover in his four minutes.
Rolison hit a jumper just 26 seconds after stepping on the court in the second half for his only two points. He then committed a turnover and a foul and was lifted from the game for good less than two minutes later.
COACHING: A
Blackshear basically put the Pack on his back and carried his teammates to a solid road victory. Everyone not named Blackshear scored 52 points on just 18-of-43 shooting.
But coach Steve Alford has never shied away from simply letting a hot player dominate the ball and he’s not going to stop that now. There was this confident kid at Indiana in the mid-1980s who did the same thing and it worked out pretty well.
Lucas, the Pack’s top scorer a year ago, didn’t shoot well and Hymes couldn’t stay on the court. The bench outside of McIntosh also didn’t do all that much.
So, give Alford credit for orchestrating a fairly easy (the Pack never trailed) victory on the road at a Pac-12 school when his team is still in the getting-to-know-each-other stage.
The Pack simply won this game at the free throw line, making 21-of-26 while Washington clanked its way to a 9-of-21 showing at the line. But getting to the free-throw line (always an Alford staple) is the result of coaching.
Alford has what he has called a deep bench this year, but the bulk of that bench depth is very young and unpredictable with freshman like Rolison, Gardner and Robinson. The three freshman were able to contribute just 14 minutes on Sunday, with three rebounds, four points, six fouls and a turnover.
OVERALL: A
Going on the road for the first time in a season is always filled with trepidation, anxiety and a little bit of self-doubt. But a confident Wolf Pack handled it extremely well and never really blinked.
Washington, to be sure, is not a great Pac-12 team. The Huskies are now just 55-70 since the start of the 2019-20 season. But they’ve been 39-27 at home in that same time frame and probably thought they were getting to play a rebuilding Pack team that lost Darrion Williams and Will Baker off last year’s team at just the right time.
But the Pack, to Alford’s credit, jumped right into this season ready to play. It’s a Pack team that hasn’t shot the ball well yet (just 6-of-29 on threes) but is now 2-0 because it never stops working hard and playing within itself.
The Pack has gone to the line 53 times in its two games and has made 42 while its opponents have been just 15-of-29.