Utah State forward Brandon Horvath takes a shot as Nevada guard Desmond Cambridge Jr., left, and guard Daniel Foster (20) defend Feb. 11, 2022, in Logan, Utah. (Eli Lucero/Herald Journal via AP)
Grading the Nevada Wolf Pack’s 85-72 victory on Friday over the Utah State Aggies in Logan, Utah:
STARTERS
GRANT SHERFIELD: A
Sherfield, playing just his second game after missing three with a foot injury, dominated the game down the stretch. The point guard made just 5-of-14 shots overall but got to the line for 14 free throws and made 12.
Sherfield always struggles from the field against Utah State. He’s 12-for-47 from the floor and 7-for-30 on threes in four games in his career against the Aggies. But he stepped up and held off the Aggies almost by himself in the final three minutes. He was 8-for-10 from the line in the final 2:21 and scored 11 of the Pack final 13 points over the final three minutes.
Sherfield scored just two of the Pack’s first 20 points and had just eight in the first half overall. In the second half, though, Sherfield helped carry the Pack, scoring 16 points and finishing with 24. This is the Sherfield that can lead a team to a conference tournament title.
DESMOND CAMBRIDGE: A+
Cambridge was brilliant for the second consecutive game, hitting 10-of-16 shots, 6-of-9 threes and scoring 27 points with nine rebounds and two blocks. The last two games Cambridge has been the best player in the conference and one of the best in the nation. Cambridge has scored 63 points the last two games combined on unbelievable 23-of-32 shooting overall and 13-of-18 threes. So call him Steph Cambridge from now on.
We have, without a doubt, just witnessed one of the most efficient and productive back-to-back performances by one player in Wolf Pack history. His 27-point performance against Utah State, though, was even better than his 36-point game against Colorado State earlier in the week. The reason it was better is because the Pack won and Cambridge’s points had meaning and came under pressure.
Cambridge had 15 points in the first half against Utah State, draining three threes. In the second half he literally dominated the game over a stretch of five-plus minutes, both offensively and defensively. It all started with his layup that tied the game at 47-47 with 13:50 to play. A minute later he blocked a shot by Rylan Jones and drained a 3-pointer six seconds later to tie the game at 50-50. He hit another three less than a minute later to put the Pack up 53-52 and two minutes later connected again from long distance for a 61-56 lead.
A minute after that he blocked a shot by Sean Bairstow that led to a dunk by Will Baker and a 65-58 Pack lead with 8:14 to go.
KENAN BLACKSHEAR: A
This was the ultimate Kenan Blackshear game. The 6-foot-6 junior from Orlando, Fla., nearly had a triple double with 10 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. He also had two steals and seemed to do whatever the Pack needed exactly when it needed it. In the first nine minutes of the first half Blackshear had a layup, two free throws and a jumper and assisted on two 3-pointers by Cambridge and a jumper by Sherfield as the Pack took a 17-10 lead.
In the second half he hit a jumper to cut Utah State’s lead to 37-36 and a layup for a 62-60 lead with 7:23 to go. In between those two buckets he assisted on two 3-pointers by Cambridge, two layups by Will Baker and a 3-pointer by Daniel Foster. Sherfield and Cambridge were indeed brilliant but the Pack also doesn’t win this game without Blackshear.
WILL BAKER: B
Baker gave the Pack a solid 28 minutes, scoring 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, pulling down four rebounds with a steal. Baker had an uneventful first half and then turned in one of his best halves of basketball this season in the second half. Baker scored 11 of his 12 points in the second half with nine of those points coming in a span of just 6:47. The 7-footer dominated inside in the second half. His dunk cut the Aggies’ lead to 37-34 just 23 seconds into the half. He then had three layups in a span of just four minutes as the Pack took a 69-60 lead with 6:41 to go. Baker then capped off his night with a 3-pointer and a 72-63 Pack lead with 4:02 to go.
TRE COLEMAN: C+
Coleman had seven points, four rebounds, two steals, two assists and a block in 29 minutes. He was a constant source of energy for the Pack the entire game but never more so than four minutes into the game when he had a defensive rebound, missed a 3-pointer, pulled down the offensive rebound and missed a layup all in a span of a mere 21 seconds.
He had short jumpers for leads of 14-8 and 21-17 in the first half. He assisted on a dunk by Baker and a layup by Cambridge less than a minute apart as the Pack cut the deficit to 39-38 just 90 seconds into the second half. He had an offensive rebound and a layup for a 63-58 lead with 8:48 to play.
BENCH
DANIEL FOSTER: C
Foster was efficient and productive in his 17 minutes. He hit 2-of-3 shots, drained a 3-pointer, pulled down two boards, had two assists and scored five points. And, of course, he also had three fouls since fouling seems to be a prerequisite for Pack bench players this year.
In the second half Foster had a layup off a feed from Sherfield that cut Utah State’s lead to 47-45 with 14:38 to go. He assisted on a three by Cambridge that tied the game at 50-50 and connected on a three of his own for a 58-53 lead with 10:20 to go. Foster did not play the final 9:34 as the Pack outscored the Aggies 27-16 without him to run away with the game.
K.J. HYMES: D
Hymes played just nine minutes with a pair of rebounds and a block. He missed his only shot as well as both his free throws and also, somehow, found the time in those nine minutes to commit three fouls and turn the ball over once. This has been a lost season so far for Hymes.
ALEM HUSEINOVIC, DeANDRE HENRY, JALEN WEAVER: Incomplete
Henry played six minutes, Huseinovic played five and Weaver got two. Henry, though, pulled down four rebounds in his six minutes, all in the first half.
COACHING: A+
This was, without question, one of Steve Alford’s most meaningful victories in his three-year Pack career. The victory ended a miserable six-game losing streak. It also took place at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, one of the toughest places to play in the Mountain West. The Aggies were also playing well, having won five of their last six games (the only loss was on the road at Wyoming in overtime three nights earlier). And Utah State just embarrassed the Wolf Pack in Reno (78-49) two weeks earlier.
The last time the Pack lost to a team by 25 or more points and won the rematch in the same season was in 2018-19 when they lost at New Mexico 85-58 and beat the Lobos 91-62 in Reno a month later. Alford seemed to get the best out of almost all his starters on Friday. Cambridge was extraordinary once again. Sherfield played like one of the best point guards in the conference again. Blackshear and Coleman were all over the place and doing the dirty work and Baker was aggressive and forceful and reminded everyone that he is indeed 7-feet tall.
Utah State dominated the final 11 minutes of the first half, outscoring the Pack, 27-15, to take a 37-32 lead at the break. But the Pack had a magical transformation at halftime and played its best 20 minutes of basketball of the season in the second half. That's coaching.
OVERALL: A+
As far as the Wolf Pack should be concerned, the season started last Friday night in Logan, Utah. That’s because this is the type of dominating victory that can turn an entire season around.
This is the Wolf Pack team most everyone expected going into the season and why the first 22 games were, for the most part, so frustrating. For one reason or another – the pandemic, injuries, an unpredictable schedule, players losing confidence – we just didn’t see the best of the Pack until Friday. The Pack is still just 10-13 overall but could very well win its next three games (two against San Jose State, home and away, and one against UNLV at home) and find itself back to .500 with just three games remaining in the regular season.
The Wolf Pack was the best team in the Mountain West in the second half against Utah State, connecting on 18-of-30 shots, 7-of-11 threes and scoring 53 points. Don’t forget the Pack scored just 49 points the entire game in a 29-point loss to these same Aggies at home on Jan. 29. Cambridge and Sherfield had more than that (51) by themselves on Friday.
The Pack now has to take what happened in the last 20 minutes against Utah State and extend it out over the next month.
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