Michael McGarvey
A look at the key plays, players and moments of the Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball 94-69 victory over the Fresno State Bulldogs at Lawlor Events Center on Monday night:
KEY WOLF PACK RUN
The Wolf Pack went on a 13-0 run for a 23-10 lead with 8:15 to go in the first half, turning the game into a glorified layup drill the rest of the way. The Pack led by six or more points over roughly the last 30 minutes, finally blowing out a Mountain West team for the first time this season. The game-changing 13-0 run was keyed by a pair of 3-pointers by Tre Coleman. Kobe Sanders also nailed a 3-pointer and Justin McBride had a pair of jumpers. The Wolf Pack led by 10 points or more for basically 24 of the final 31 minutes.
KEY FACTOR
Fresno State is now 5-20 overall and 1-13 in Mountain West games this season. Enough said. The Wolf Pack was on six days’ rest, playing at home and coming off a 74-60 win over Air Force, another Mountain West doormat (3-21, 0-13). The Wolf Pack, a program that has been to the last two NCAA Tournaments, simply did what it was supposed to do at home on a weird Monday night tip-off against a team that hasn't won a road game since late November.
KEY PACK CONNECTION
Kobe Sanders and Nick Davidson looked like John Stockton and Karl Malone on Monday night. Eight of Sanders' 10 assists came on feeds to Davidson as Fresno State was helpless trying to stop something everyone in the crowd of 7,146 knew was coming. Sanders had four assists on Davidson buckets over a span of under three minutes as the Pack took a 32-22 lead with 4:33 left in the first half. He then followed that up with three assists on Davidson's baskets in 77 seconds as the Pack went up 49-34 two minutes into the second half. Davidson finally returned the favor with just under 14 minutes to go in the game when he fed Sanders for a layup for a 63-39 lead.
KEY PACK PLAYER
Nick Davidson. The Pack's key player is always Nick Davidson. When Davidson is efficient and scoring at will like he was Monday night, the Pack looks like a team that could win a game or two in the NCAA Tournament. Davidson scored 25 points on near-flawless 10-of-12 shooting. He became the first Pack player to score 25 or more points in consecutive games since Grant Sherfield did it three games in a row to end the 2021-22 season (30 against San Diego State, 27 against New Mexico and 25 against Boise State). Davidson made his first nine shots against Fresno State.
KEY PACK RETURN
Tre Coleman was, once again, Tre Coleman on Monday. The Wolf Pack senior, who has been battling a leg injury and off-the-court problems (he was benched at Air Force last week for disciplinary reasons), had not scored a single point over his last three appearances over 54 minutes going into the Fresno State game. Coleman played 21 minutes off the bench against the Bulldogs and was an efficient 3-of-4 from the floor (3-of-3 on threes) for nine points to go along with four rebounds, four assists and a block. When Coleman is filling up the stat sheet the Wolf Pack is a much different (and more dangerous) team.
KEY PACK SECRET WEAPON
Justin McBride is the Wolf Pack's Energizer Bunny off the bench. The 6-foot-7 sophomore transfer from Oklahoma State (he's just 19) scored a season-high 19 points against Fresno State in 24 minutes. He made his first eight shots from the floor and finished 9-of-12. McBride was also the Pack's hardest-working player (at least on offense), turning four offensive rebounds into layups. McBride also finished with a team-high eight rebounds thanks to his work on the offensive glass.
KEY HIDDEN PACK PLAYER
Xavier DuSell, who played last season for Fresno State after three years at Wyoming, filled in all the right gaps at the right time on Monday. The 6-5 shooting guard played a season-high 32 minutes and contributed five 3-pointers, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and 15 points. He made his last five threes in a row (all in the second half). DuSell is currently third in 3-point shooting percentage for a single season (54-of-120, .450) in school history behind just Ray Kraemer (59-of-121, .488 in 2009-10) and Rob Harden (64-of-132, .485 in 1984-85) and slightly ahead of Rod Brown (61-of-138, .449 in 1992-93) and Jimmy Carroll (96-of-214, .449 in 1996-97).
KEY PACK STAT
The Wolf Pack is suffocating struggling teams with its defense. The Wolf Pack forced Fresno State into 18 turnovers, the most by a Pack opponent since Wyoming had 19 on Dec. 28. The Pack also enjoyed a 20-12 edge in points off turnovers and has now outscored its opponent 58-28 off turnovers during its last three games against UNLV, Air Force and Fresno State. UNLV, Air Force and Fresno State combined to commit 49 turnovers against the Pack and left the game against Nevada with losing streaks of four (UNLV), seven (Fresno State) and 13 (Air Force) games.
KEY HISTORICAL NOTE
The Wolf Pack's 30 assists against Fresno State are its most in school history against a Mountain West team since joining the conference for the 2012-13 season. It is the most Pack assists in a conference game since it had 33 against North Texas in a Big West Conference game on Feb. 26, 1998 (a 107-93 victory at Lawlor Events Center). The 30 assists equal the Pack's season high set on Dec. 14 in a 105-73 non-conference victory over Texas Southern. The most assists the Pack had in a Mountain West game before Monday was 25 against New Mexico, in a 105-104 two-overtime win in Albuquerque on Jan. 7, 2017. The most in regulation time in a Mountain West game before Monday was 23 (accomplished nine times).
UP NEXT
The Wolf Pack (14-10, 6-7) will play at San Jose State on Friday. San Jose State, which lost to the Wolf Pack, 75-64, on Jan. 18 at Lawlor Events Center, is 12-13 overall and 5-8 in the Mountain West this season. The Spartans will host San Diego State on Tuesday (Feb. 11) before playing the Wolf Pack.