Grades: Pack gets pushed around (again) in second straight loss

Grading the Nevada Wolf Pack’s 71-59 men’s basketball loss to the San Diego State Aztecs at Viejas Arena in San Diego on Wednesday:

STARTERS

JAROD LUCAS: C - 

Lucas just never heated up, scoring nine points on 3-of-10 shooting and missing 5-of-6 3-pointers. It is the first time this year he’s failed to score in double digits.

The Pack’s leading scorer (now 16.9 a game) came up small in the Pack’s two most important games of the year, scoring just 23 points on 8-of-24 shooting (2-of-12 on threes) in back-to-back losses to Boise State and San Diego State. Lucas has also scored 17 or fewer points in each of the Pack’s four Mountain West games (when scouting intensifies), converting just 18-of-48 shots (.375) and averaging 13.5 points a game.

Lucas had four points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half, missing all four of his 3-pointers. The 6-3 guard did play well in the first 11-plus minutes of the second half, scoring five points with three rebounds and a steal.

But he missed a layup that would have tied the game at 53-53 with 8:45 to play and was immediately sent to the bench for a two-minute rest. He returned with 6:14 to go and proceeded to miss two shots and commit two fouls the rest of the game.

KENAN BLACKSHEAR: B 

Blackshear was brilliant for a stretch of six minutes midway through the second half, helping bring the Pack back from a 14-point deficit into a 53-53 tie with eight minutes to play.

The veteran point guard had eight points in those six minutes, with an assist, steal and rebound. But he picked up his fourth foul with 6:42 to play, was sent to the bench and never recaptured the magic once he returned to the floor with five minutes to go.

Blackshear finished with 14 points, seven assists (five in the second half), five rebounds and three steals in his 32 minutes. He did, however, miss all three of his free throws in the second half and turned the ball over three times (all in the game’s final 24 minutes) as the Pack never could get over the hump. The Aztec defense also limited him to just one shot over the final 8:45 of the first half and the first 7:25 of the second half as they were building a double-digit lead.

NICK DAVIDSON: D -

The 6-8 sophomore disappeared on Wednesday, scoring just two points with two rebounds and a turnover in 24 frustrating minutes. Davidson didn’t score in the second half, missing all three of his shots in 15 minutes.

Davidson’s evening started off slow, picking up two fouls in the first four-plus minutes, forcing him to sit the bench for 12 of the final 14-plus minutes of the first half.

When he returned in the second half it was more of the same. He missed a short jumper in the paint that would have tied the game at 53-53 with seven minutes to play.

Two (both misses) of his four shots against the Aztecs were 3-pointers, where he is 9-of-40 this season and 13-of-57 (23 percent) for his two-year career.

Davidson had 17 points (on 10 shots) and seven rebounds in his first game against San Diego State last year as a freshman. The Aztecs learned from that and have limited him to two points (on five shots) and four rebounds over the next two games and 37 minutes they’ve seen him.

TRE COLEMAN: A

The Aztecs let Coleman shoot and, well, they paid the price. The 6-7 defensive-minded forward was 4-of-7 on threes (6-of-10 overall) and finished with a team-high 16 points. The four threes matched his career high (three times before) and the 16 points are the second-most he’s had in his 108-game Pack career, behind the 22 he scored at Wyoming last Feb. 27.

But when Coleman, who has averaged 8.4 points a game in his career, has 27 percent of your points like he did at San Diego State, well, it’s usually not a good thing.

All four of Coleman’s 3-pointers came in the first 15-plus minutes of the second half. His last two trimmed San Diego State’s lead to just 53-51 with 9:10 to go and 61-57 with 4:42 left.

Coleman was just 10-of-39 (26 percent) on threes this season before Wednesday night, prompting the Aztecs to focus their defense on Lucas, Blackshear and Davidson.

The Aztecs, though, allowed Coleman just one 3-point shot over the final 4:42 (a miss with 1:38 to play) and ran away with the game. Blackshear, Davidson, Lucas and Tyler Rolison took the other four Pack 3-point shots (all misses) in the final 4:42.

K.J. HYMES: C +

Hymes played just 15 minutes thanks to five fouls, though he was 3-of-3 from the floor with three rebounds and eight points.

The 6-10 center, despite his production, saw the Aztecs outscore the Pack 24-21 when he was on the floor. Hymes was just 2-of-6 from the free-throw line.

This is the first time Hymes has fouled out in a game this season, though he now has one foul every 6.5 minutes this year. That attraction to fouls is why he plays just 15 minutes or so a game.

BENCH

HUNTER McINTOSH: D

McIntosh gave the Pack 20 empty minutes with a point, rebound, assist, two turnovers and two fouls. He took just two shots, missing both.

The 6-foot-3, fifth-year guard has now scored just four points with five fouls, one assist, three turnovers and no steals or blocks over his last three games and 42 minutes combined.

DANIEL FOSTER: C +

Foster was part of the solution for nine minutes midway through the second half, playing a key role in turning a 44-31 deficit with 17 minutes to play into a 53-53 tie with 7:37 to go.

The 6-6 forward fed Lucas and Coleman for threes and blocked an Aztec shot in the paint during those nine minutes and also drained an open 3-pointer to cut the deficit to just 48-42 with 14 minutes to go. Those two assists are the biggest reason why he gets so many minutes. He finds the open man.

The rest of his 23 minutes, though, were uneventful. He had just one rebound and missed his lone shot in 11 first-half minutes. The Pack, though, outscored San Diego State 31-27 when Foster was on the floor.

TYLER ROLISON: C

Rolison played 5:32 in the first half with a steal and two points on a jumper and then saw the floor for just the final 40 seconds in the second half in garbage time.

The 6-foot freshman from Los Angeles fired up four shots in his six-plus minutes (missing three) so he wasn’t intimidated by the Aztecs or the 12,000-plus rowdy fans in the stands. He stole the ball with 10:32 to go in the first half.

Rolison entered the game with 12:24 to go and 2:42 to play in the first half and then sat out the first 19:20 of the second half.

JAZZ GARDNER: C

The 7-foot freshman is actually still on the team, after all. Well, at least he was in the first half.

Gardner, from Pasadena, Calif., played just two minutes over the Pack’s first three Mountain West games. But there he was in the fourth league game, playing 11 minutes in the first half alone on Wednesday, scoring four points, pulling down two rebounds and blocking a shot.

But then he vanished once again, playing just the final 40 seconds of the second half. We’ll assume coach Steve Alford had his reasons.

TYLAN POPE: Incomplete

The fifth-year, 6-foot-6, 240-pound junior played just two minutes and committed two fouls. Pope has seen just 22 minutes over the Pack’s first four Mountain West games and has failed to score.

COACHING: C

Alford’s rotations and substitutions were all over the place on Wednesday, with Gardner and Rolison basically playing just in the first half and the offensively challenged McIntosh and Foster getting 43 minutes off the bench combined.

But that is just a coach desperate for a spark to ignite his team, simply hoping for something positive out of what is now an inconsistent roster.

Alford also had to deal with bothersome foul trouble all night long as Hymes fouled out and Lucas, Blackshear and Foster all picked up four. It also didn’t help that everyone not named Coleman was 2-for-16 on threes and that the Pack missed 10-of-17 free throws, equaling its worst free throw shooting night of the year.

But the biggest problem Alford has right now is figuring out a way to get his team to rebound against teams that are more physical and aggressive. The Pack was obliterated on the boards once again (44-25) and has been bullied to the tune of 87-49 on the glass in its last two games, losses to Boise State and San Diego State.

That minus-38 rebounding margin is the worst for the Pack over two consecutive games since the program joined the Mountain West in the 2012-13 season. It also never happened in the Pack’s dozen seasons (2000-01 through 2011-12) in the Western Athletic Conference.

OVERALL: C

It is nearly impossible to win a game anywhere on the road in which you can’t rebound or shoot free throws. And when you do that in one of the most difficult environments in the country against a physical, defensive-minded team that just went to the national title game, well, you have no chance.

But the Pack kept fighting, stuck to its game plan, didn’t let the wheels fall off and found itself in a 53-53 tie with under eight minutes to play. That personality trait and work ethic will serve them well the rest of the year in environments and against opponents far less frightening.

So, relax, this is not a sign that the Wolf Pack’s sky is falling. Yes, it’s a bit more cloudy and overcast than it was last week before the losses to Boise State and San Diego State dropped the Pack to 15-3 overall and 2-2 in league play.

But silver and blue skies will return.