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Coming off a 14-point loss on the road to San Diego State on Sunday, the Nevada Wolf Pack (19-6, 8-4) are on the road again as they face the Air Force Falcons (10-15, 3-9) on Wednesday night.
The Wolf Pack are looking to snap a two-game road losing streak as they have lost to the Aztecs on Sunday and was blown out on the road against Utah State on February 1st. With back-to-back blowout loses, the Wolf Pack are looking to regain their stellar play from earlier in the season.
“We can’t just go on the road and get blown out whether it’s the first-place team or the last-place team”, said Nevada guard DJ Fenner said on Tuesday. Fenner went on to say that “It can’t happen if we want to contend for the Mountain West championship. We just have to go back and watch film and get better”.
The Wolf Pack face an Air Force team that has dropped four straight games and eight of their last ten games as well. One of those losses was an 83-76 loss to the Wolf Pack on January 18th when the Wolf Pack had a double-digit lead but the Falcons soared back to tie the game before Nevada retook the lead and secured the win. For the Wolf Pack to snap their two-game skid, they must play a wire-to-wire complete game with no lapses to defeat an inferior Falcons team.
Nevada must also return to playing strong defense on the perimeter for them to win on Wednesday. Despite still being the best statically in three-point shooting defense (allowing 29.2 percent from three), their three-point defense was horrid on Sunday against San Diego State and the Falcons are third in the conference in three-point shooting offense at 37.9 percent. So, Nevada must defend the three-point line against Air Force on Wednesday night.
It goes without saying that Nevada needs to win this game as they are trying to keep pace at the top of the conference standings with Boise State and Colorado State. A loss would do some serious damage to Nevada’s chances of winning the regular season championship in the Mountain West.
Air Force is a tough squad to beat when they are hitting their threes but their defense is one of the worst in the conference and that is a recipe for Marcus Marshall, Cameron Oliver and Jordan Caroline to get back on track and win in Colorado Springs and most importantly keep pace in the race for first in the Mountain West Conference.
Game Info:
Where: Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado
When: Wednesday at 6pm
TV/Radio: None/94.5 FM
Online: ESPN 3