Michael McGarvey
A look at the key plays, players and moments of the Nevada Wolf Pack's 67-59 loss to the Colorado State Rams in the Mountain West men's basketball tournament in Las Vegas on Thursday:
KEY RUN
The Rams did go on an 8-0 run to start the second half, turning a slim 29-28 lead at halftime into a 37-28 lead with 17:29 left in the game. But that didn't win the game for the Rams. It was a 10-2 run in the final five minutes that finally buried the Wolf Pack after the Pack cut the deficit to just 51-49 with 4:48 to go. The 10-2 run lasted just under three minutes and consisted of two layups by Rashaan Mbemba, a Jaylen Crocker-Johnson 3-pointer, a Nique Clifford jumper in the paint and a free throw by Jalen Lake for a 61-51 Rams lead with 1:55 to play. The Pack went 0-for-2 from the floor and turned the ball over once during the 10-2 run but the main culprit was a tired defense that simply seemed to run out of gas in the final five minutes as Colorado State scored on six consecutive possessions.
KEY PACK PLAYERS
Kobe Sanders and Nick Davidson did all they could to extend the Wolf Pack's stay in the Mountain West tournament. Sanders had 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists while Davidson had 22 points and six rebounds. But if Sanders or Davidson wasn't touching the ball, odds are that not much good was happening for the Wolf Pack. The two scored 45 of the Pack's 59 points, took 35 of the 55 shots, made four of the five threes, were 11-of-11 on free throws and made 15 of the 20 successful field goals in 76 combined minutes. The rest of the team was 5-of-20 from the floor, 1-of-13 on threes, 3-of-6 from the line and scored just 14 points in 124 combined minutes.
KEY FACTOR
The Wolf Pack basically finally fell off the cliff as far as injuries were concerned. The Wolf Pack was already severely shorthanded entering the Mountain West tournament with Tre Coleman (broken hand) and Daniel Foster (ankle) out. But the Pack then lost veteran center K.J. Hymes during Wednesday's 86-71 win over Fresno State on Wednesday and looked like a car trying to win the Indianapolis 500 on three inflated tires. Hymes wasn't producing big numbers but his presence with Coleman and Foster out gave coach Steve Alford's rotations some semblance of normality the past few weeks. Hymes even played extremely well in his eight minutes against Fresno State, with five points, four rebounds and two assists for one of the more efficient and productive games of his career.
KEY STAT
The Wolf Pack simply has turned into one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the nation over the past five games. The Pack went just 5-of-26 on threes against Colorado State and continues to be mired in one of its worst 3-point shooting slumps in school history. Nevada is a horrendous 23-of-113 (.204) over its last five games against UNLV, New Mexico, San Diego State, Fresno State and Colorado State (since Feb. 28). It is the program’s worst (under .250 in all five games) 3-point shooting slump over five games since at least the 1998-99 season (statistics before 1999-2000 are not readily available). Before this latest cold spell, the Wolf Pack this century had gone four games in a row shooting threes under .250 just twice (November-December 2014 and March 2005).
KEY COLD STRETCH
The Wolf Pack trailed just 29-28 a halftime despite missing 12-of-14 threes and not getting to the line even once. The key to the Pack's success in the first 20 minutes was its efficiency inside the arc, draining 11-of-15 shots. But the Wolf Pack offense turned ice cold for the first 10 minutes of the second half, missing 12-of-13 shots from the floor. That 1-of-13 dry spell consisted of the following: 0-for-4 on threes, 1-of-7 in the paint and 0-for-2 on mid-range jumpers, so nothing was working. The Pack stayed in the game because it fought harder than Colorado State the entire game and because of a 7-of-10 performance from the line in those cold first 10 minutes of the second half. The Pack somehow found itself down just 45-40 after Kobe Sanders hit a 3-pointer with 9:43 to play, just the Pack's second successful shot of the second half. Colorado State kept asking to be beaten the entire game, but the brave and valiant Pack was simply exhausted down the stretch.
KEY WHAT-IF
The Wolf Pack likely would have beaten Colorado State with even minimal production from its bench. But the bench gave coach Steve Alford basically nothing. Alford gave his bench 38 minutes (divvied up between Justin McBride, Chuck Bailey and Jeriah Coleman) against Colorado State after Bailey (12) and McBride (8) combined to score 20 points off the bench in Wednesday's 86-71 win over Fresno State. The 20 points, by the way, would have been enough for an easy 12-point win over Colorado State. But McBride, Bailey and Coleman failed to score a single point against the Rams, the first time all season the bench failed to score. The bench on Thursday, though, almost didn't even try to score, going a passive 0-for-1 from the floor (a missed three by Bailey, who was 3-for-4 on threes against Fresno State) in its empty 38 minutes. The bench was also 0-for-2 on free throws (Bailey) and was called for seven fouls and turned the ball over twice.
KEY HISTORICAL NOTE
This is the first time the Wolf Pack has never led or been tied (other than 0-0) in a Mountain West tournament game since joining the conference in the 2012-13 season. The last time the Pack trailed for an entire conference tournament game (after 0-0) was in a 72-62 loss to Utah State in the Western Athletic Conference tournament championship game at Lawlor Events Center on March 14, 2009. Armon Johnson and Luke Babbitt were a combined 10-of-33 from the floor, going 5-of-21 from inside the arc.
KEY CONSPIRACY THEORY
OK, admittedly, it is a wacky conspiracy theory. But it does involve the UNLV Rebels, so you never know. We're going to blame the Wolf Pack's 3-point shooting woes this week on the unkind (to all things silver and blue) Thomas & Mack Center rims. The UNLV Rebels' home, for the most part, has been a nightmare for the Pack's 3-point shooters since Steve Alford became the Pack head coach in 2019-20. Alford's Pack has now played 14 games at Thomas & Mack either against UNLV in the regular season or various opponents in the conference tournament and has shot a lackluster .280 (81-of-289) on threes. The Pack has gone 24-of-101 (.238) in five games against UNLV at Thomas & Mack (the Pack didn't play UNLV on the road in 2020-21 because of COVID). Nevada has also gone 57-of-188 (.303) at The House Where Pack Threes Go To Die in nine Mountain West Tournament games. In case you are wondering, Alford is 3-2 against UNLV and 3-6 in the conference tournament at Thomas & Mack since taking over the Pack.
UP NEXT
The Wolf Pack (17-16, 8-12) now awaits word on whether it will get an invite this weekend to some other postseason tournament not named the NCAA Tournament.