Michael McGarvey
A look at the key moments, players and plays of the Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball 70-69 loss to the Boise State Broncos Saturday afternoon at Lawlor Events Center:
KEY FIRST HALF RUN
The Wolf Pack came out ready to play on Saturday, jumping out to a 23-13 lead after a layup by Chuck Bailey with 8:31 to play in the first half. The Pack, playing without starters Tre Coleman (broken hand) and Daniel Foster (sprained ankle), dominated the first dozen minutes, made 10 of its first 17 shots as Boise State missed 11 of its first 17. But that all ended when Boise's Andrew Meadow hit a 3-pointer with 7:50 left in the first half. The Broncos would go on a game-changing 16-3 run for the next four minutes to take a 29-26 lead and the Pack couldn't shake them off the rest of the game.
KEY BAD LUCK MOMENT
Kobe Sanders hit a short jumper for a 66-65 Pack lead with 59 seconds to play, putting Nevada in position to win a crucial Mountain West game at home. The cruel basketball gods, though, like they have so many times this season, simply weren't about to allow that to happen. Boise State guard Alvaro Cardenas then made like Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, lowering his shoulder and barreling into the teeth of the Pack defense in the lane. Cardenas, with no other real options, then merely flipped up a wild and ridiculous shot toward the basket and the shot appeared to deflect off between one and three Pack players. Cardenas then picked up the ball near his feet and flipped it again toward the basket where it fell through the net for a 67-66 Boise State lead with 39 seconds to go. The play was reminiscent of Nelly Joseph's four-leaf clover play at New Mexico that gave the Lobos an 82-81 win in overtime over the Pack in Albuquerque in early January. Somebody up there doesn't like this Pack team this year.
KEY PACK PLAYER
Kobe Sanders scored a season-high 30 points on 13-of-19 shooting, mainly inside (12-of-16) the 3-point arc. The fifth-year (four years at Cal Poly) 6-6 guard, coming off a seven-point effort at Colorado State, scored 20 points in the second half. Sanders' lone 3-pointer gave the Pack a 46-42 lead with 14:30 to play and hos short jumper made it 66-65 Nevada with just under a minute left. He also had four rebounds and four assists while sitting on the bench for just 2:53 midway through the first half. He played the final 28 minutes without a rest, scoring 24 points. Sanders, though, also missed four crucial free throws in the final 13-plus minutes in the one-point loss and turned the ball over with 12 seconds to play (trailing 67-66).
KEY PACK MYSTERY
Why didn't Tyler Rolison shoot the ball more often? The 6-foot point guard, who was on the floor for 36 minutes, shot the ball just six times (2-of-5 on threes) the entire game. His final stat line looked like a happy, jackpot slot machine result (seven points, seven rebounds, seven assists), but Rolison didn't look like a guy feeling lucky with his shot for the bulk of the game. He didn't even score in the first 31 minutes of the game and took just four shots in the first 35 minutes, missing them both. His two threes cut the Pack deficit to 62-60 with 4:17 to play and made the final 70-69 at the buzzer as Boise State just let him shoot. Rolison was coming off a game in which he fired up 16 shots in 39 minutes at Colorado State, scoring 21 points.
KEY MISSING PIECES
Brandon Love and Xavier DuSell were missing in action. The 6-10 Love had a hollow 16 minutes with no points, two rebounds, one block, one steal, a foul and just one shot. Love, who appeared to have recaptured his offensive happy zone lately with nine (Colorado State) and 13 points (San Jose State) in his last two, took his only shot on Saturday just 51 seconds into the game. DuSell had just five points in 30 minutes, going 2-of-8 from the floor with no rebounds or assists. He missed his last five shots. Three of the starters (Rolison, DuSell and Love), it seemed, were content to simply stand around and watch the other two starters (Davidson, Sanders) shoot the ball on Saturday. Davidson and Sanders were a combined 20-of-31 from the floor for 48 points while the other three starters were 4-of-15 for 12 points and were forgotten and ignored for the bulk of the game.
KEY STAT
Free throw shooting once again let the Wolf Pack down. The Pack, playing on its own home floor, was just 6-of-12 from the line while Boise State was 12-of-17. The Pack was just 1-of-2 from the line in the first half and a frustrating 5-of-10 after the break. Sanders and Davidson, the two guys who ended up taking more than half the shots (31-of-54), were a combined 5-of-10 from the line. Only one other Pack player (Rolison at 1-of-2) even went to the line at all. DuSell, Love, Justin McBride, Chuck Bailey and Jeriah Coleman never went to the line in a combined 90 minutes. The Pack, it seems, is losing its aggressiveness on offense, making single-digit free throws in three of its last four games. This year's is coach Steve Alford's worst free throw shooting team (.686) since he came to Nevada for the 2019-20 season by far. Each of his first five teams at Nevada shot .720 (last year) or better.
KEY HIDDEN STAT
Boise State outrebounded the Wolf Pack, 37-26. Boise State also had a 9-2 edge in second-chance points thanks to a 9-4 edge in offensive rebounds. The Wolf Pack over its last two games combined (losses to Colorado State and Boise State) were beaten off the glass considerably, 71-41 (17-5 on offensive rebounds). The Wolf Pack, with Tre Coleman either missing the entire game playing reduced minutes, has been outrebounded in five of its last seven games.
KEY DROP-OFF
Justin McBride, who has settled into a role as the Pack's offensive energy off the bench, ran out of juice early on Saturday. McBride, who played 23 minutes, scored seven points over his first six-plus minutes on the floor. The Broncos then apparently, made sure to take McBride out of the game. The 6-7 sophomore transfer from Oklahoma State was just 0-for-2 for no points over his final 16-plus minutes with no points. Davidson (10) and Sanders (20) ended up scoring 30 of the Pack's 37 points in the second half (Rolison had the other seven).
UP NEXT
The Wolf Pack, 15-12 overall and 7-9 (seventh place) in the 11-team Mountain West, will host Wyoming on Tuesday (7 p.m.) at Lawlor Events Center. Wyoming is 12-16, 5-12 and coming off an 82-73 loss to San Jose State at home on Saturday. Wyoming, which beat the Wolf Pack 66-63 in Laramie, Wyo., on Dec. 28, has lost six of its last seven games. The last time Wyoming was in the state of Nevada, though, it won at UNLV, 63-61, on Jan. 21.