Nevada wins big over San Jose

San Jose State (3-11, 0-2 MW) ran into a major buzz saw at Nevada (15-1, 2-1 MW) on Wednesday night losing 92-53 in front of 11,536 at Lawlor Events Center. The Wolf Pack’s overwhelming 60-point run in the second half completely incapacitated the Spartans, after a slow Nevada start.

“It’s not indicative of the score.” said Spartan head coach Jean Prioleau. “We had control of the game in the first half and we gave them too many opportunities to get back in the game. We actually took the air out of the arena, but we couldn’t capitalize on anything. We missed free throws and shots, got blocked and were only down by nine at half time. And with what happened to Nevada at New Mexico, you’re not going to hold back a top 10 team like that for long if we’re not hitting and tonight we didn’t.”

In the first few minutes of the first half, the Wolf Pack did not play like a 10th-ranked team, though it started out on a 9-2 run in the first four minutes. San Jose didn’t score until four minutes in. After Prioleau called a timeout and applied an adamant pep talk, the Spartans settled in. Nevada then couldn’t score for over four minutes and was only 2-16 on three’s. By halftime, San Jose was behind 32-23, which was manageable.

The key to the big loss for the Spartans was 22 overall turnovers (12 in the first half), which turned into 27 points for the Wolf Pack. Nevada had only eight. 15 of those turnovers were Nevada steals. The Wolf Pack ultimately were just too strong and athletic.

The second half 60-point Wolf Pack explosion was led by forward Caleb Martin’s game high 23 points. Martin also had a non-productive first half before heating up in the second half; going 6-6 from the arc. Nevada’s Jordan Caroline, Cody Martin and Corey Henson had 19, 14 and 15 points, respectively.

San Jose guard Brae Ivey was the only double-digit scorer with 10 points, though most of Ivey’s points came in the first half.

Midway into the second half was the point of no return for the Spartans after maintaining a single digit deficit up to that point until Nevada finally heated up and went on a shooting tear and a 39-point win.

The Spartans next face Boise State at home on Saturday.