Michael McGarvey
A look at the key stretches, players and moments from the Nevada Wolf Pack's 91-75 season-opening victory over the Sam Houston Bearkats on Monday at Lawlor Events Center:
KEY TURNING POINT
The Wolf Pack only trailed once the entire game, and it was just 2-0 for a mere 82 seconds less than two minutes into the game. But the Pack, leading just 63-60 with 9:29 to play, seemingly could never shake the Bearkats off their back. That all changed the final 9:16 when Kobe Sanders drained a 3-pointer for a 66-60 lead. The Pack went on a game-deciding, extended run of 28-15 over the final 9:16 to run away with the victory. All 28 points were scored by three players (Sanders with 15, Nick Davidson with nine and Tre Coleman with four).
KEY FLIP-THE-SWITCH MOMENT
The Wolf Pack was a mediocre 12-of-31 from the floor in the first half and just 5-of-15 on 3-pointers while building a 37-34 halftime lead. The Pack came out of the halftime locker room and, well, seemingly couldn't miss a shot for the rest of the game. It was as if everyone in silver and blue was channeling their inner Steve Alford and shooting like their head coach in his prime back in Indiana. The Pack was 18-of-22 from the floor (82 percent) and 5-of-7 on threes in the second half. They were 9-of-10 during the final 9:16 when they took over the game. It was a shooting clinic. The Pack actually missed more free throws (they were 13-of-18 from the line in the second half) than they missed field goals.
KEY PLAYER
It sure didn't take Kobe Sanders long to make his presence known in Northern Nevada. The 6-foot-9 Cal Poly transfer scored a game-high 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting in his Wolf Pack debut. Sanders put the team on his back in the final nine-plus minutes with 17 points in the final 9:41. He started slowly, with just three points on 0-for-4 shooting in the first half. In the second half he was 9-of-10 from the floor for 24 points. Sanders also had six rebounds, four assists and blocked a shot and had a steal. He was 2-of-3 on threes and 7-of-8 from the line in one of the best Pack debuts in school history.
KEY PLAYER II
Sanders was great in his Wolf Pack debut. But Nick Davidson was the Robin to Sanders' Batman. Davidson showed his breakout sophomore season last year was not a fluke and was even better on Monday. The 6-10 Davidson scored 26 points on near-flawless 8-of-10 shooting to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds. Davidson had 12 points and nine rebounds in the first half and 14 points and one board in the second half. He scored nine points in the final eight minutes of the game. He also chipped in with two blocks, two steals and three assists.
KEY UNSUNG HERO
Tre Coleman, now in his fifth year at Nevada, was the perfect complement to Sanders and Davidson. The 6-7 do-it-all forward had 13 points, eight assists and three steals. He had a rollercoaster first half with eight points on just 3-of-10 shooting. He then stopped shooting in the second half and concentrated on getting his teammates better shots. Coleman had five assists in the second half, all in the first 10-plus minutes. He also found the time to get to the line, making five of six.
KEY HIDDEN RUN
The Wolf Pack set the tone for the entire evening with a 15-0 run in the first six-plus minutes of the game. The entire run lasted 4:26 as the Pack turned a brief 2-0 deficit into a 15-2 lead with 13:50 to go in the first half. Xavier DuSell, now with his third Mountain West team in three years (after Wyoming and Fresno State), started the Pack run with a 3-pointer. Davidson and Coleman also had threes in the run while Davidson had a dunk and a layup and Brandon Love had a dunk.
KEY HIDDEN NEWCOMER
Brandon Love, a 6-9 transfer from Texas State, also played well in his Pack debut. Love started, played 22 minutes and had six points on 3-of-4 shooting, with five rebounds, two blocks and a steal. All six of his points came on three dunks. All five of his rebounds came in the first half.
KEY HIDDEN FACTOR
The Wolf Pack had a clear size advantage on the Bearkats. Love, Davidson, and Sanders are all 6-9 or 6-10. Coleman is 6-7 with long arms. The Pack also used the 6-10 K.J. Hymes off the bench for nine minutes. Sam Houston had just one player taller than 6-8 (the 6-11 Kalifa Sakho, a transfer from Utah State). Marcus Boykin (6-1), Lamar Wilkerson (6-5), Dorian Finister (6-5), Josiah Hammons (6-2), Brennan Burns (5-10) and Kian Scroggins (6-7) all played between 18-32 minutes for Sam Houston. The Pack enjoyed a 38-26 edge on the boards and had 11 offensive rebounds and blocked five shots. The Pack also had a welcome 34-24 edge in points in the paint.
KEY CONCERN
The Wolf Pack bench was outscored 29-12 by Sam Houston's bench. The Pack bench featured three familiar faces in Daniel Foster, Tyler Rolison and K.J. Hymes, now in their second (Rolison), fifth (Foster) and seventh seasons (Kymes) with the Nevada program. Foster and Hymes combined for just 15 minutes, three rebounds, three turnovers and six fouls. The 6-foot Rolison got the most minutes off the bench (with 16) and contributed six points, a steal and a rebound. A couple newcomers (Chuck Bailey and Justin McBride) also came off the bench and showed flashes of production in their Pack debuts. McBride had two points, four rebounds and a steal in 11 minutes while Bailey had two points in seven minutes.
KEY COACHING DECISION
Nevada's Steve Alford didn't exactly treat this game like a typical get-your-feet-wet and try-to-find-your-rhythm season opener. Alford clearly has high aspirations for this team, and he treated it like a game his team definitely needed to win. The starters combined to play 151 of the 200 minutes. Alford used three players (Sanders, Davidson and Coleman) between 32 and 38 minutes each. And those three took the bulk of the shots (34-of-53) and scored the bulk of the points (66-of-91). They also were the only ones passing the ball (15 of the 17 assists), playing the bulk of the defense (six of the nine steals) and going to the line (the three were 19-of-23 from the line while everyone else was 2-of-8.
KEY HISTORICAL NOTE
The Wolf Pack didn't beat a meaningless opponent in their season opener. Sam Houston is one of the hidden gems of college basketball, although most fans don't know it because hardly anyone has seen them in the postseason. The Bearkats have had 21 winning seasons out of their last 25 with two of the non-winning seasons finishing at .500. Sam Houston came to Lawlor on Monday with 11 winning seasons in a row, winning 18 or more games in all 11 seasons. They went 21-12 last year and 26-8 two years ago. But they get overlooked because they haven't been picked for the NCAA tournament since 2009-10 and before that it was 2002-03.
UP NEXT
The Wolf Pack (1-0) will host the Washington Huskies (0-0) on Saturday (7 p.m.) at Lawlor Events Center. Washington beat Western Oregon, 105-68, in an exhibition game on Oct. 29 and will open its regular season on Tuesday (Nov. 5) at home against UC Davis. The Pack has won its last five games against Washington, with only one of the victories (76-73 in 2011-12) coming at home.