After a huge win over Boise State to start conference play 1-0, Nevada went on the road to play another opponent atop the standings in Colorado State. It would be a Quad 1 win if Nevada were able to pull one out over the Rams, and a commanding defensive performance made that happen as Nevada won 75-62 over Colorado State.
Scoring Summary
1st Half
Nevada 37 – Colorado State 36
2nd Half
Nevada 38 – Colorado State 26
Final: Nevada 75, Colorado State 62
Offense
It was an early 5-0 lead for Nevada after Vaughn Weems hit a layup, followed
by a three-pointer by Kaleb Lowery. The early momentum continued to roll for the Pack, getting some key shots from Tyler Rolison, who hasn’t made much noise this season. He scored eight points in the first half on 3-4 shooting.
Nevada would go up by as much as nine points with a 17-8 lead and collected 14 second-chance points off of just six offensive boards. Weems was the lead scorer through the first half with nine points on 3-4 shooting and four rebounds.
Nevada’s offense continued some early momentum, led by Rolison, who had his best game of the season so far with a team-leading 21 points on 6-9 shooting. An 11-0 run over five minutes of play within the final six minutes gave the Wolf Pack all it needed to pick up a huge road win to start 2-0 in conference play.
Chuck Bailey was close behind with 15 points, and Weems finished with 12. Nevada’s top two scorers, Elijah Price and Tayshawn Comer, shot a combined 2-17, continuing to prove that head coach Steve Alford’s praise for the bench remains intact.
Nevada shot 42 percent from the field and 36 percent from three. It was another low-turnover game with eight on the night.
Defense
It took five minutes for Colorado State to score its first field goal of the game, going 0-5 and only making two free throws, before back-to-back layups gave the Rams six points.
The Rams were without their best player, Kyle Jorgensen, due to an injury, and it hurt them early on. After some early momentum from Nevada, Colorado State’s offense went on a huge stretch of seven straight buckets, including a few threes that eventually gave Colorado State the lead.
Starting guard Brandon Rechsteiner scored 11 first-half points for the Rams and ended the night with 14. Jevin Muniz went 6-11 with a team-leading 15 points.
The second half opened similarly for CSU, going nearly three minutes without a field goal before turning on the jets. Colorado State managed to take a 57-56 lead with 7:18 in the second half, and the Rams would be held to 57 for the next six and a half minutes until they scored with 51 seconds left in the game.
Colorado State entered this game first in the nation in three-point shooting and second in free-throw shooting. The Rams struggled in both, going 6-23 from deep and 18-29 from the line. They won the rebound battle 36-34, but Nevada’s 21 second-chance points off those rebounds proved more important.
What’s Next
Nevada stays on the road and will head to California to take on Fresno State on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 4 p.m. PST. The Wolf Pack improves to 10-3 overall and 2-0 in conference play and are right in the early heat between Utah State and New Mexico.
