Nevada falls short to UNLV

Nevada came up short against in-state rival Las Vegas in Reno. Here are three reports.

Rebels run away from Wolf Pack
Darrell Moody
Nevada Appeal

RENO — The Nevada basketball team played good defense for a half. The Wolf Pack shot the ball poorly the entire game.

It added up to a 64-57 loss to in-state rival UNLV before a crowd of 9,498 fans at Lawlor Events Center on Saturday.

Nevada dropped to 3-4 overall, while UNLV improved to 7-2 after its second consecutive road win. It was UNLV’s third consecutive win over Nevada, and the second at Lawlor.

The Wolf Pack went 17-for-50 from the field, including a season-low 14.3 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. There were some shots that went in and out, but there were plenty of wide-open misses.

“I think I’ll give credit to their defense,” said Nevada freshman forward Luke Babbitt, who scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds. “They played real tough defense. We had a lot of shots go in and out. It wasn’t our night offensively.”

“I can’t say that I saw a ton of bad shots,” Nevada coach Mark Fox said. “Even one of the officials came over and said there was a lid on the basket...”

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and

Here's Chris Murray with a game report followed by his analysis.

Pack basketball: Nevada can't find the range in loss to UNLV
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
December 7, 2008

As shot after shot smothered every part of the rim but couldn't find the net, one of the referees in the Nevada-UNLV game approached Wolf Pack coach Mark Fox.

"Guys, is there a lid on the basket?" the ref asked Fox.

The answer, obviously, was no. It only seemed that way.

Nevada simply couldn't get enough shots to drop Saturday night, falling to UNLV, 64-57, at Lawlor Events Center...

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and

Postgame thoughts from painful Wolf Pack loss
Chris Murray
Reno Gazette-Journal
12/6/2008

There were three pretty obvious keys to the Wolf Pack's 64-57 loss to UNLV on Saturday.

1) Shooting: Nevada was 17-of-50 from the field (34 percent) and 3-of-21 from 3-point range (14.3 percent).

2) Rebounding: UNLV, which has struggled rebounding entering the game, had nine more boards than the Pack and twice as many offensive rebounds. Both teams are small, but UNLV just looked a step quicker.

3) Second-half defense: Telling stat: UNLV scored 20 points in the first half and 44 in the second half. This is becoming a theme for the Wolf Pack, and not a good one...

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