A look at the Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball team's 68-62 victory over the Air Force Falcons on Tuesday at Lawlor Events Center:
KEY NEVADA RUN
Once again, as in the 77-66 overtime victory over Fresno State three nights earlier, the Pack saved its best for last and avoided an embarrassing loss against another bottom-feeder in the Mountain West. The Pack found itself trailing the Falcons (now 3-14, 0-6), 60-56 with under four minutes to play at home. That alone is reason for concern. But the Pack (now 10-7, 2-4) then thankfully went on a 12-2 run over the final 3:21 to send a confused but happy crowd of 7,430 home. The run started when Tre Coleman blocked a layup by the Falcons' Kyle Marshall with 3:43 to go. Coleman's play seemed to ignite the crowd and the Pack offense, which finally caught fire starting with a pivotal 3-pointer by Justin McBride with 3:21 to go. Kobe Sanders then hit a jumper with 2:36 left and Daniel Foster, who had just three 3-pointers all season, stunned the home crowd and the Falcons with an out-of-the-blue 3-pointer with just 2:04 to go for a 64-60 Pack lead.
KEY AIR FORCE RUN
It wasn't so much a run (Air Force's offense is basically incapable of a substantial run) as it was a bone-chilling draft that seemed to fill Lawlor for about 10 minutes midway through the first half. Air Force went on an extended 23-10 run to take a 31-20 lead with five minutes to go before the break. It took roughly 10 and a half minutes, but it also showed the Air Force offense in all of its intended glory as four different Falcons (Ethan Taylor, Sam Springer, Will Cooper and Jeffrey Mills) connected for 3-pointers. Yes, of course, it didn't last. Air Force would only score 31 more points on 4-of-18 3-point shooting the rest of the game over the final 25 minutes as the Pack was handed another game it didn't seem interested enough to win for most of the evening.
KEY NEVADA STAT
Air Force's defense makes opponents work for everything they get on offense. That's the reason the Pack attempted just 47 shots, its second fewest of the season. But if you are patient and play unselfish basketball, chances are you'll eventually get an easy shot because Air Force is trying to win basketball games with pilots. The Pack listened to its coaches, stayed patient, almost always found an easy shot and was very efficient, shooting 26-of-47 from the floor for its best shooting night (.553 success rate) in its six Mountain West games this year. The Pack was a solid 6-of-14 on threes, 5-of-9 on mid-range jumpers outside the paint, 2-of-5 on jumpers in the paint and 13-of-19 on dunks, layups and tip-ins.
KEY PACK CONCERN
We witnessed one of the worst free-throw shooting performances by the Wolf Pack since coach Steve Alford, one of the greatest free-throw shooters in the history of the sport, took over the program for the 2019-20 season. The Pack was a frightening 10-of-23 from the line (.435) for its worst showing on free throws since it was 7-of-17 (.412) twice last season (Jan. 17, 2024, at San Diego State and Dec. 13, 2023, against Weber State). The only other time the Pack has shot less than 50 percent from the line in Alford's six seasons was Jan. 21, 2022, against Fresno State when it was 14-of-29 (.483). The Pack is shooting just .652 (88-of-135) in its six Mountain West games this season from the line. The five Pack players (Nick Davidson, Tre Coleman, Kobe Sanders, Justin McBride, K.J. Hymes) with at least 10 free-throw attempts are shooting a combined .636 from the line in conference games.
KEY PACK PLAYER
Tre Coleman took his success in overtime last Saturday (seven points in the extra five minutes) in the 77-66 win over Fresno State and extended it to an entire game on Tuesday against Air Force with 18 points, nine rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. Coleman's performance was a welcome relief after he scored a grand total of 22 points in regulation time over his past four games. Coleman started slowly against Air Force, with just three points on 1-of-4 shooting over the game's first 17 minutes as the Pack fell behind 31-21. But he took over leadership of the team and poured in 15 points over the final 23 minutes.
KEY HIDDEN PACK PLAYER
Kobe Sanders was clearly struggling to find any production with just five points over the game's first 35 minutes. Alford, though, sent Sanders to the bench with 7:30 to play in a move that seemed to wake up the Cal Poly transfer. Sanders returned to the floor with just 5:06 to play (for Xavier DuSell) and proceeded to put his teammates on his back over the final five minutes with six points and an assist. He hit mid-range jumpers with 4:12 and 2:36 to go and a pair of free throws with 21 seconds left and also fed Daniel Foster for an assist for arguably the biggest shot (a 3-pointer) of the night with 2:04 left. Coleman, it must be noted, disappeared after converting a layup with 7:52 to go and missed his next three shots with a turnover. But that's when Sanders stepped up and filled the void.
KEY PACK DISAPPEARANCE
Nick Davidson, coming off a 20-point, 14-rebound, four-assist, two-block performance three nights earlier against Fresno State, basically vanished in the second half against Air Force. Davidson had just two points in the second half, taking just one shot (he missed) over the final 17 minutes. Davidson had just nine points and four rebounds for the game, going 0-for-5 from the free-throw line. More than half his points (five) came in the first 4:20 of the game. He was on the floor for the final 9:41 and proceeded to go 0-for-4 from the line with two fouls and without taking a shot from the floor.
KEY PACK TREND
The Pack offense continues to be stuck in neutral ever since Alford replaced Xavier DuSell and Brandon Love in the starting lineup with, for the most part, veteran role players Daniel Foster and K.J. Hymes. Foster and Hymes, two loyal hard-working players who have been on the roster for a combined 12 seasons, did produce an important 3-pointer (Foster) and dunk (Hymes) in the final seven minutes on Tuesday. But, make no mistake, they are not on the floor for their scoring abilities. The two have combined for just 19 games (15 by Hymes) of 10 points or more (none more than 17) in 243 combined games. The Pack, since the starting lineup tinkering began, has reached 70 points in regulation time over its six Mountain West games just once. And it needed two free throws by Nick Davidson with a second to go in regulation against New Mexico to get to its only 70-point game in regulation. The Pack, in its six Mountain West games, has scored 64 (Colorado State, Utah State, Fresno State), 63 (Wyoming), 68 (Air Force) and 70 (New Mexico) in regulation. It scored 71 or more points in regulation in seven of its first 11 games with DuSell and Love in the starting lineup.
UP NEXT
The Wolf Pack will host San Jose State (9-10, 2-5) on Saturday (3 p.m. tip-off) at Lawlor Events Center. Nevada has won 37 of its last 41 games against San Jose State since 2003. The Spartans, though, are coming off one of the biggest upsets in the Mountain West this season, a 71-70 victory over New Mexico on Tuesday at San Jose on an offensive rebound and basket by Latrell Davis with two seconds to play.