Michael McGarvey
A look at the key moments, players and plays from the Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball team's 82-81 loss in overtime Friday night in Albuquerque N.M.:
KEY NEVADA RUN
One of the Wolf Pack's concerns during its current four-game losing streak has been its inability to sustain consistency, efficiency and excellence over any great length of time, resulting in four losses by five points or less. That was the case once again at New Mexico. The Pack did have a pair of mini 6-0 runs. The first spurt cut New Mexico's lead from 22-14 to 22-20 midway through the first half on a 3-pointer by Tre Coleman and a 3-point play by Kobe Sanders. The second 6-0 outburst on two free throws each by Justin McBride and Nick Davidson and a dunk by Sanders wiped out a 70-66 New Mexico lead in the final minute of regulation to force overtime and was extended to the first minute of overtime for a 72-70 Pack lead. But those Pack bursts weren't so much a pair of runs as they were two short, quick brisk walks.
KEY NEW MEXICO RUN
New Mexico, too, struggled to sustain anything that could be remotely considered a run of great importance. The game, after all, featured 18 lead changes and 18 ties so neither team was able to run away and hide. The Lobos, though, did score eight unanswered points to turn a 47-43 deficit with 13:48 left in the second half into a 51-47 lead with 11:25 to go.
KEY TURNING POINT
The Wolf Pack had an excellent chance to steal the victory. Kobe Sanders drained two huge free throws with 30 seconds to go in overtime for an 81-80 Pack lead. The Pack's Chuck Bailey then tied up New Mexico point guard Donovan Dent in the paint at the other end of the floor, forcing a jump ball with 18 seconds to go. Possession, and control of the game, was awarded to the Pack. The Lobos, though, then trapped the Pack's Kobe Sanders in the corner to the left of the basket and Sanders frantically tossed the ball back out over halfcourt where it was retrieved by the Lobos' Nelly Joseph with 10 seconds to go. The ball eventually ended up in the hands of Dent who then dribbled toward the free throw line. Dent then ran into traffic and began to fall to the floor, seemingly traveling with the ball. Dent, though, somehow rolled the ball to his left to Joseph, who picked it up off the floor and somehow rose above the Pack's Nick Davidson to drain the game-winning jumper at about the free throw line as time expired. It wasn't the Lobos that beat the Pack on Friday. It was the cruel basketball Gods.
KEY HIDDEN LOBO PLAYS
There were two Lobo moments that prevented the Pack from securing the victory. The first was a timely 3-pointer by C.J. Noland with 1:49 to play in overtime that wiped out a 76-73 Nevada lead. Noland's shot (it was his only successful three in four attempts on Friday) made all of the craziness in the final 18 seconds possible and meaningful. The second Lobo play that helped stick a dagger in the Pack's heart was Sanders being forced to simply throw the ball away with 10 seconds to play. The Lobos, trailing 81-80 and desperately needing the ball, trapped Sanders in the far left corner. "The trap, when they didn't have a timeout, was huge," New Mexico coach Richard Pitino said on golobos.com.
KEY ALFORD ROSTER MOVES
Pack coach Steve Alford continued on Friday to relegate former starters Xavier DuSell and Brandon Love to the bench. DuSell started the Pack's first dozen games and Love started the first 11 but the two have been sent to the bench for the past four (Love) and three (DuSell) games and the Pack has lost them all. DuSell played just eight minutes against the Lobos and somehow found the time to foul out . Love played seven minutes, with just three of them coming after halftime. The two new role players combined for just two points, two rebounds, an assist and a turnover in their 15 minutes. Daniel Foster, who has started the last three games, played 37 minutes and contributed five points, two steals and seven rebounds. He's scored 12 points with 11 rebounds, seven assists and four steals over his last three starts and 88 minutes. K.J. Hymes started on Friday for the first time since the third game of the year and was on the floor for 20 minutes, none of it coming over the final 15 minutes of the game. He had eight points and four rebounds.
KEY CONCERN
The biggest concern continues to be offense. The Pack, since Alford has been fiddling with the starting lineup and his rotations, scored just 64 (twice) and 63 points in the first three losses of the four-game losing streak. Yes, the Pack scored 81 points against the Lobos. But they got five extra minutes on Friday and, it must be noted, had just 66 points until the final 45 seconds of regulation. The offense looked great in the first half and was reminiscent of the one that carried the Pack to an 8-3 record after a 105-73 win over Texas Southern on Dec. 14. The Pack was 14-of-27 (52 percent) from the floor in the first half and 6-of-11 on threes. The second half, though, saw the offense dry up again as the Pack was 8-of-26 (31 percent) from the floor and 2-of-8 on threes.
KEY HIDDEN DECISION
Justin McBride was one of the biggest reasons why the Wolf Pack got to overtime in the first place. The 6-foot-8 forward, who transferred to Nevada from Oklahoma State after last season, scored 11 points in the final 9:28 of the second half. All 11 points were critical as he gave the Pack leads of 53-52 on a jumper with 8:51 left, 60-59 with a dunk with 5:35 left and 65-64 on a 3-pointer with three minutes remaining. He also cut New Mexico's lead to just 52-51 with two free throws with 9:28 to play in regulation and 70-68 with 43 seconds left. McBride, though, played just the first 2:02 of overtime after picking up his third foul with 3:33 left.
KEY PACK NO-SHOW
Tre Coleman played 39 of the 45 minutes but he basically disappeared from the stat sheet over nearly the final 19 minutes of the game. Coleman was instrumental in the Pack's 37-34 halftime lead with a 3-pointer, layup and steal over the final 7:46 of the opening half and he was one of the driving forces in the first six-plus minutes of the second half as the Pack took a 47-43 lead with 13:48 left. He had two layups, a 3-pointer and an assist in the first 6:12 of the second half. But his 3-pointer for a 47-43 lead with 13:48 left in regulation turned out to be his final positive statistic of the night. All he contributed on the stat sheet over the final 18:48 of the game was two fouls, a missed 3-pointer and a missed jumper. Coleman had a dozen points in his 39 minutes but he had just one assist and no rebounds, two areas where he normally excels. He was averaging 4.4 assists and 3.1 rebounds a game going into Friday night.
KEY PACK MYSTERY
Nick Davidson was like a flaming meteor in the sky on Friday and then struggled to ignite his teammates or his offense the rest of the game. Davidson was red hot over a three-minute stretch late in the first half when he connected for four 3-pointers in the final 3:23 before the break. He tied the game at 28-28 and then gave the Pack leads of 31-30, 34-31 and 37-33. The rest of the game (the final 25 minutes) all he could muster was six free throws, going 6-of-8. Fortunaely for the Pack, two of his free throws tied the game at 70-70 with a second left in regulation. Davidson, though, was 0-for-3 from the floor after halftime and didn't even take a shot in the overtime.
KEY PACK POSITIVE NOTE
The Wolf Pack has lost four games in a row and six of its last eight for one of the worst stretches in Steve Alford's Pack career (since 2019-20). The last time the Pack lost four in a row under Alford was the final four games of 2022-23. It is important to note, however, that the Pack could easily be 14-1 right now overall and 4-0 in the Mountain West (instead 8-7, 0-4) with a bit more luck and some well-placed shots and defensive stops. Six of the Pack's seven losses this year have been by five points or less. The only loss larger than five was 68-57 at home to Washington State after the Thanksgiving holiday. That 11-point loss, though, on Dec. 2 at home was the one that started the Pack on its slide of six losses in eight games.
KEY HISTORICAL NOTE
Four of the last five games between the Wolf Pack and Lobos have featured dramatic, thrilling and heartbreaking endings. A Jamal Mashburn 3-pointer with 20 seconds to go on Feb. 13, 2024 gave New Mexico an 83-82 win in Reno. The Pack's Kenan Blackshear nailed a jumper right before the buzzer to give the Pack a stunning 77-76 win on Feb. 7, 2023 in Albuquerque. Darrion Williams hit a 3-pointer and Kenan Blackshear hit a jumper to wipe out an 87-82 New Mexico lead in the final minute of the first overtime before the Pack won 94-94 in two overtimes on Jan. 23, 2023. And then Friday night and Nelly Joseph happened. Two other Nevada-New Mexico thrillers in recent years also come to mind. Jordan Caroline scored 45 points, including a game-winning 3-pointer with two seconds left in overtime, for a 105-104 Pack win in Albuquerque in Jan. 7, 2017. The Pack won in overtime, 66-63, at home on Feb. 14, 2015 as Marqueze Coleman had 24 points.
KEY COACH QUOTES
New Mexico coach Richard Pitino made a point of praising Pack coach Steve Alford and the Wolf Pack after the game. Pitino (on golobos.com) said Alford, who coached the Lobos for six seasons (2007-13), "is the reason why I took this job." Pitino also said the Pack, "is way better than their record is." Pitino continued to say that Friday's game (the 1000th game in the 58-year history of The Pit, the Lobos home stadium), is "my favorite game in The Pit ever. It was a nine o'clock start on a Friday night in front of nearly 15,000 (14,622). I had to pinch myself. I am so fortunate to be able to coach in this environment." Winning the game, of course, made it his favorite. "It takes years off my life when I lose a game in The Pit," Pitino said.
UP NEXT
The Wolf Pack (8-7, 0-4) will play at Fresno State on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m.). Fresno State is now 4-11 overall and also 0-4 in the Mountain West after an 89-83 loss at Utah State on Saturday.