Nevada was one win away from its first MW Championship appearance since 2017 and two wins away from its first NCAA bid since the 2023-24 season. Both of those dreams faded away after a flat 79-66 loss to Utah State in the semifinal.
Nevada rode a lot of momentum after winning the first two games of this tournament, but Utah State was the No. 1 seed for a reason. The Aggies’ defensive performance was just too much for Nevada to find the bucket.
Scoring Summary
1st Half
Nevada 32 – Utah State 39
2nd Half
Nevada 34 – Utah
State 40
Final: Nevada 66, Utah State 79
First Half
The first 10 shot attempts of the game all missed, with both sides starting 0-5. Utah State broke that drought after three minutes with a layup for a 2-0 lead. Nevada broke its 0-6 start with a layup of its own by Vaughn Weems.
The first three of the game came from Utah State’s Karson Templin to give the Aggies a 9-5 lead under 14 minutes. The first three for Nevada came from the hands of Chuck Bailey in the corner, cutting it back down to a three-point game. Kaleb Lowery and Joel Armotrading traded scores in the paint and the Wolf Pack took a 12-11 lead just under 11 minutes.
Utah State snatched the momentum right back, taking a seven-point lead before another media timeout under the eight-minute mark. Nevada had picked up six personal fouls at the mark, which turned into a perfect 8-8 from the free-throw line for the Aggies.
The Aggies pushed themselves back on top with an eight-point lead at 27-19. Nevada’s best scorer in Corey Camper Jr. was held scoreless for most of the half until he made his first shot of the game under five minutes. It was a three that made it 29-24 Utah State.
A 6-0 run within the final minutes of the first half gave Utah State a nine-point lead. Elijah Price turned in a layup followed by some free throws to cut it down to five, but Utah State scored in the paint just before the buzzer. Nevada shot just 36 percent from the field and 25 percent from three, with Camper going 2-9 and five points.
Second Half
The second half started similarly to the first, with both sides missing their first few shots. Utah State turned in a quick five points after that, forcing Nevada to call a timeout just two and a half minutes into the half.
Nevada’s first five minutes went without a score until Tayshawn Comer hit a fadeaway shot to make it 45-34 Utah State. The Aggies responded with a three to make it 48-34 with 15 minutes left.
The soul of Nevada’s team seemed just to fade away. Utah State forced turnover after turnover, and by the next media timeout under 12 minutes, the Aggies had a 57-37 lead. Nevada struggled to find consistent ball movement and turned the ball over 15 total times, with a lot of them coming in bunches.
“It shows how much pride we have as a team,” Weems said about Nevada not giving up and keeping the game somewhat interesting. “We could’ve laid down and given up multiple times throughout the game, but during timeouts, we had all our coaches and players saying, ‘We’ve been in this situation before, keep playing.‘”
Momentum never truly turned over after that. Nevada played how it has in road games all season, with costly turnovers and simply missing too many shots. Utah State’s student section, The Hurd, traveled well all tournament, and that was no different in this game. Whether the crowd sucked Nevada’s soul out, or there was sluggishness after playing its third game in three days, or maybe it was both.
Nevada ended the night shooting 41 percent from the field, 26 percent from three and 65 percent from the free-throw line. All around, it just wasn’t a good shooting night for Nevada by any means. Weems was the lead scorer with 17 points, but went 0-6 from beyond the arc. In games like this, Nevada needed a big game from Camper that just never came, as he finished with nine points on 3-12 shooting.
“It felt a little fatigued, but we knew what we had with four games in four days, so we were prepared for it mentally,” Camper said of potential sluggishness in this one.
Utah State shot 45 percent from the field and 21 percent from deep. Adlan Elamin led the Aggies with 15 points on 6-9 shooting. The Aggies had five players reach double digits, including four starters.
What’s Next
Nevada was two wins away from an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament, but for the second consecutive year, the Wolf Pack will not be dancing.
The Wolf Pack submitted a bid to host an NIT game, so now it’s just the waiting game to see if Nevada will get that or participate in any other postseason tournament. Nevada declined to participate last year, but it appears Alford is more fond of the idea this year.
“I think it should be a no-brainer that we’re an NIT team,” Alford said about playing another game. “We’ve done a lot of good things this year and have beaten a lot of really good teams, so I hope and pray we get a bid for the NIT that we’d be very excited to play in.”
