While Nevada basketball played hard throughout the Mountain West Tournament semifinals against San Diego State, the Aztecs’ experience ultimately earned them the win. While this is the end of the season for Nevada, it has shown very much improvement as a young team and clearly has talent that will stay for a couple years to come.
The first half of the game was very up and down for the Wolf Pack at one point being down 12 points only to tie the game toward the end of the half. Although Nevada was playing patiently and methodically on defense, the Aztecs have quite a few players that are big threats on offense. This forced the Wolf Pack to over (or under) rotate, leaving wide open gaps for San Diego State players like Matt Mitchell and Jordan Schakel to shoot almost uncontested. As for Nevada basketball’s offense, it was having a tough time penetrating the Aztecs defense early on, causing poor passing and a low level of productivity. Nevada picked up the pace towards the middle of the half, slowly closing the deficit with good shot selection, passing and rebounds on defense. The first half ended with a score of 37-32, San Diego State.
The Aztecs came out hot in the second half, making most of their shots and shutting down Nevada on defense. Much like the first half, the Wolf Pack started to press back and play some good defense of their own, but San Diego State was consistently hitting shots and even packed a couple shots from Nevada’s best shooters. There were a couple defensive plays for the Wolf Pack where they got lost and just stood flat on their feet as one of the Aztecs drove in for the layup. The Wolf Pack made a final push with around two minutes left in the game but ultimately could not make up enough ground to overcome San Diego State. The final score of the game was 77-70.
Nevada basketball’s MVP’s in this game were sophomore guard Grant Sherfield (25 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds), sophomore forward Warren Washington (19 points, 9 rebounds) and junior guard Desmond Cambridge (17 points, 3 assists, 5 turnovers). San Diego State’s best performances were senior forward Mitchell (24 points, 8 rebounds), senior guard Schakel (15 points, 9 rebounds) and senior guard Trey Pulliam (13 points, 4 assists).
Again, while this is the end of the season for Nevada basketball, the program has a lot of young talent as well as a phenomenal coaching staff that will surely be making a major impact in the Mountain West Conference. This team even has the potential to become nationally ranked, reviving the basketball culture at UNR when it was nationally ranked just a couple years ago. With that being said, Nevada basketball needs to stay healthy and work hard in the offseason to ensure that it can take it’s game back up to the next level.
Photo by Brenden Tuccinardi | The Daily Aztec
