Michael McGarvey
A look at the key plays, players and moments of the Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball 80-61 loss to the San Diego State Aztecs on Saturday at San Diego's Viejas Arena:
KEY RUN
The Aztecs turned the game into a glorified scrimmage with a 15-0 run midway through the first half, turning an already comfortable 17-10 lead into a 32-10 blowout with 6:30 to play before halftime. The Aztecs were 5-of-7 from the floor during the four-minute run while the Pack went 0-for-3 with two missed free throws. Mile Byrd and Nick Boyd (two) combined for 3 3-pointers in just 2:13 to cap off the run and inflate the Aztecs' lead. Defense, as usual, keyed the Aztecs' uprising as Pharoah Compton blocked a shot and Jared Coleman-Jones and Nick Boyd each had steals.
KEY LESSON LEARNED
The Wolf Pack was taught a strict and unforgiving lesson in what it means to show up physically and mentally for a statement game. This was a heavyweight fight that was over at the weigh-in. How much did the Aztecs dominate this game? Take away the 15-0 run and they still win 65-61. The Pack never led and only was tied (0-0, 2-2) for a total of 64 seconds. San Diego State's defense forced the Pack into 12 turnovers, leading to a 20-8 San Diego State edge in points off turnovers. The Pack saw firsthand what it will take to go to Las Vegas on Wednesday for the Mountain West tournament and shock the conference by winning four games in four days.
KEY FACTOR
San Diego State's defense and energy basically suffocated the Wolf Pack in the first half for a 43-21 lead at intermission. The Wolf Pack missed 13-of-19 shots in the first 20 minutes (they also missed 9-of-12 3-pointers and 4-of-10 free throws). The Wolf Pack trailed 41-14 with just over two minutes left in the half. The Aztecs' huge edge (20-8) in points off turnovers was built in the first half (17-3) before they humanely called off the dogs in the second half. San Diego State simply bullied the Pack in the first half to the tune of a 22-6 edge in points in the paint. The Aztecs also ran the Pack off the floor in the opening half (8-0 in fast break points). The Pack bench didn't score a single point in the first half when the starters were drowning.
KEY HIDDEN FACTOR
The only Pack player that seemed to know when the game started was Nick Davidson, who scored 13 of Nevada's 21 first-half points. Starters Kobe Sanders and Tyler Rolison combined for just one point (by Sanders) in the first half. The San Diego State defense, though, limited Sanders and Rolison to just three shots apiece in the first half (both were 0-for-3). The Aztecs' defense threw a blanket over the Wolf Pack offense in the first half, limiting the Pack to just 19 shots (the Aztecs took 30 and made 18). San Diego State emptied its bench after halftime (13 different players saw action) as Sanders (12 points) and Rolison (19) padded their stats. Davidson, though, disappeared after halftime with just two points.
KEY STAT
It was obvious roughly midway through the first half that if the Pack was going to at least stay in the game, it needed to loosen the Aztec defense by hitting some threes. That, unfortunately for Nevada, never happened. The Wolf Pack was just 5-of-23 from beyond the arc and heads into the Mountain West tournament this week mired in one of its worst 3-point shooting slumps in recent history. The Wolf Pack has gone just 12-of-63 (19 percent) on threes over its last three games, losses to UNLV, New Mexico and San Diego State. The Pack was 3-of-21 against UNLV (.142), 4-of-19 against New Mexico (.210) and 5-of-23 (.217) on Saturday. It is the first time the Pack has had three consecutive games of shooting less than 25 percent on threes since January 2015 when it went 2-of-16 (.125) against Fresno State, 1-of-10 (.100) against Colorado State and 2-of-18 (.111) against Utah State. That Pack team (David Carter's last as head coach) shot just .266 on threes for the season.
KEY HISTORICAL MOMENT
The Wolf Pack's Xavier DuSell set the Mountain West record for successful career 3-pointers on Saturday. DuSell made two 3-pointers to give him 326 for his career, topping Justinian Jessup's record of 325 set from 2016-20 for Boise State. The record breaker came with 2:10 left in the first half to cut San Diego State's lead to 41-17. DuSell was 2-of-5 on threes against San Diego State, missing his final two in the second half. Jessup played four years for Boise State while DuSell is in his fifth year (three at Wyoming, one each at Fresno State and Nevada). DuSell has more years (5-4) and games played (150-129) and has taken more threes than Jessup (815-797) but the two have played almost the same amount of minutes (4,021-4,019 for DuSell). DuSell will have at least one more game to play this season in the Mountain West tournament to add to his record.
UP NEXT
The Wolf Pack (16-15, 8-12) will open Mountain West tournament play on Wednesday against the Fresno State Bulldogs at 1:30 p.m. Nevada is the No. 7 seed while Fresno State (6-25, 2-18) is No. 10. If victorious, the Wolf Pack will play No. 2 seed Colorado State (22-9, 16-4) in Thursday's quarterfinals at 6 p.m.