Nevada basketball traveled to Lubbock, Texas last weekend to beat the New Mexico Lobos back-to-back in their two-game series, raising its record for the season to 8-3. Many of the points for both sides came in the form of free throws, but Nevada still performed well offensively, particularly in Saturday’s game (Game 2) against the Lobos.
Defensively, UNR is having a little difficulty transitioning from a man to a zone defense, which is something that will have to be worked out before its upcoming series this weekend at San Diego State. With that being said, let’s highlight the strengths and weaknesses of both Nevada’s and New Mexico’s performances last weekend.
It is worth mentioning that in Thursday’s game (Game 1), Nevada was 24 of 31 on free throws, which was a major factor in their winning of the game at New Mexico 68-54. New Mexico also shot quite a few free throws but fell short at 15 of 35, which in addition to their many fouls, was the nail in the coffin for the Lobos in Game 1.
Despite all of this, Nevada forwards Grant Sherfield and Desmond Cambridge Jr. had successful games. Cambridge had 24 points overall with nine of those coming from behind the three-point line. Sherfield had 20 points overall with four rebounds. Notable performances from the Lobos included Makuach Maluach with 15 points and Rod Brown with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
While Game 2 had a bit of a quicker pace, it had a similar story to Game 1 with 54 overall free throw attempts between UNR and New Mexico. Nevada began Game 2 at a snail’s pace but quickly picked up the speed, which had it’s positive and negative consequences. One benefit to Nevada’s quicker pace is that it kept New Mexico off balance, giving the Lobos difficulties on settling down into their defense.
Unfortunately it had the same effect on Nevada a couple times throughout Saturday’s game. Nevada was doing a decent job of settling into its own man defense, but as mentioned earlier it was having problems transitioning to a zone defense on the fly.
While improved throughout the season, this is an issue that Nevada has been dealing with and still needs some smoothing over. There is no doubt that Nevada’s offense is effective, but it now needs to focus on their defensive transitions. Notable UNR performances in Game 2 include Sherfield, Cambridge, and Kane Milling. Sherfield led both teams with 28 points, eight assists, finishing 11 of 12 on free throws. Cambridge pitched in with 15 points and six rebounds. Milling was 4 of 4 on 3-pointers and had 14 points overall.
While Nevada basketball had a couple good wins at New Mexico last weekend, it will have to work on its defensive transitions before it travels to San Diego State to take on the Aztecs this weekend. You can catch both games on CBS Sports Network or ESPN Radio 94.5 FM on Thursday, Jan. 7 at 10 p.m. ET and Saturday, Jan. 9 at 9 p.m. ET.
Photo courtesy of GoLobos.com
