Nevada was riding high with a seven-game winning streak and facing a San Diego State team that came off a triple overtime win. Things were looking good to start off, but the offense went dormant in the second half as Nevada saw that winning streak snap, falling 73-68 at home to SDSU.
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Scoring Summary
1st Half
SDSU 34 – Nevada 36
2nd Half
SDSU 39 – Nevada 32
Final: SDSU 73, Nevada 68
Offense
After a quiet past few games for Tayshawn Comer, the guard opened up the scoring early with a jumper to give Nevada a quick 2-0 lead. Comer kept that energy up with an early steal and a toss to Corey Camper Jr. for a dunk. Chuck Bailey had a similar fashion with a fast break layup for a quick 6-2 lead within the first three minutes.
Nevada reached a 12-2 lead with 16:08, with eight of those points coming via San Diego State turnovers. It was Camper’s second game back from a back injury and his return to the starting five, cashing in eight points in the first half on 4-8 shooting.
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Comer kept the spark going, being the first to reach double-digit scoring, finishing the first half with 10 points and ending the night with 16.
Nevada’s offense finished the final three minutes of the half without a score, heading into halftime with a tight 36-34 lead. The Wolf Pack shot 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from deep in the first half.
The Wolf Pack got hit with some unlucky misses, both in shooting and in some non-foul calls that should’ve been called. They hit another deep scoring drought until Bailey made a three to cut the Aztecs’ lead down to two points.
Nevada finally retook the lead after Elijah Price made two free throws alongside a jumper. SDSU was able to respond, but another two free throws by Price, and it sat at 64-63 Nevada with under four minutes to go. After not scoring a single point in the first half, Price finished with 17 total points, shooting 11-12 from the free throw line.
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“I just tried to be aggressive and take advantage of mismatches, but it wasn’t enough at the end of the day,” Price said.
Nevada had two chances within the final minute to score and take the lead, but San Diego State forced turnovers both times and kept Nevada’s momentum at bay. Down 69-66, Nevada passed the ball to Camper for a corner three, but the late woes continued as it missed, forcing the Pack to foul.
It wasn’t a good night on the stat sheet. Nevada shot 35 percent from the field and 22 percent in the second half. The free-throw shooting was Nevada’s only offensive strength, ending the night 18-20.
“We lost one game, but we’ll see them again,” Comer said about SDSU.
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Defense
After a quick two points, San Diego State was showing some early sluggishness after playing a triple overtime match just a few days ago. The Aztecs racked up three turnovers, two of them being steals within the first four minutes before a media timeout.
The Aztecs broke out of their funk for a bit, forcing Nevada into three turnovers after the 12-minute mark and cutting the deficit down to nine at 18-9. The small run included San Diego State’s first three of the game, but also saw two missed free throws by the Aztecs.
The early rust quickly washed off for SDSU, turning in a 10-0 run to cut the game down to a 23-21 Nevada lead with 8:20 to go.
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San Diego State took its first lead of the game at the start of the second half at 37-36. The Aztecs kept their late momentum going throughout the second half, mainly powered by Miles Byrd, who dropped 0 points in the second half and finished the game with 0 total.
Every time Nevada brought it back in, San Diego State sparked back, taking a 57-51 lead with 7:45 to go and forcing a Nevada timeout. The Aztecs had the keys to rebounding (38-31), bench points (37-9) and paint points (42-16).
“It was a poor fundamental defensive game,” head coach Steve Alford said. “I thought we were tough in a lot of ways, I thought we battled in a lot of ways, but fundamentally defensively, we weren’t good tonight.”
The 37-9 bench difference was a shock, as Alford has constantly praised the work Nevada’s bench has provided.
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“It’s a good lesson for our bench. I’ve been praising them and talking them up, but you can’t start feeling good about yourself, you’ve got to continue doing the things that make our bench good.”
San Diego State closed it out with the late turnovers and missed shots by Nevada, leading to Price fouling out within the final seconds. The Aztecs shot 52 percent from the field but just 23 percent from three.
What’s Next
Nevada stays home to host Wyoming this weekend on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. PST. The Cowboys are coming off a strong 98-66 win over UNLV and are 11-4 overall.
The Wolf Pack dropped to 11-4 overall and 3-1 in MW play, ending their seven-game winning streak.
