The Nevada men’s basketball team was searching for its first win at Wyoming’s Arena-Auditorium since February 2020 on Tuesday, but instead fell to the Cowboys, 83-73, on Wyoming’s senior night.
Within the first four minutes of the game, the Cowboys had already taken a double digit lead following a poster dunk from freshman Gavin Gores. Wyoming set the tone early after making its first 6-of-7 shots from the floor. Nevada looked to find answers on offense as Corey Camper Jr. knocked down a 3-pointer to cap off a 10-0 run and pull within a point, 15-14, with just under 13 minutes to play in the first half. Wyoming’s Khaden Bennett paced the Cowboys with 18 first-half points and was unstoppable from beyond the arc, knocking down 6-of-7 first half shots, all from 3-point range, and helping Wyoming to a 49-28 lead at halftime.
“Just a miserable effort for 20 minutes,” Nevada head coach Steve Alford told NSN after the game. “The first 20 minutes, that wasn’t our basketball team, so I have no idea what team that was in the first half. The second half the guys that played, really battled and really competed. I thought our defense was way better in the second half, our offense was way better in the second half, but we did nothing that we set up to do in the first half, offensively or defensively, so very, very upset with the first half.”
The Cowboys shot 69% in the first half, including 47% from three. Nevada shot 42% from the floor in the first half, including 33% from three. Eljiah Price led the Pack with 12 first half points while collecting three personal fouls in the first 20 minutes. Wyoming entered the game as the Mountain West’s worst 3-point shooting team in league play.
“Well, when you’re wide open, you take them (3-pointers) and like I said we were we were just miserable defensively,” Alford said. We gave up 49. I think our halftime efficiency was in the 140s. It was just terrible, terrible first half defensively, offensively we weren’t much better. But defensively we were as bad as we’ve been all year and that’s very, very frustrating.”
Nevada answered with a 7-0 run out of the locker room, trailing 49-35. At the 11 minute mark in the second half, Nevada had outscored Wyoming 20-13, but still trailed by double digits for majority of the second half. With under 90 seconds to play, Camper knocked down a 3-pointer to cut Nevada’s deficit, 79-71. Wyoming turned the ball over on a inbound pass and while Chuck Bailey III snagged it, he just barely missed a layup, which would have made it a two possession game, had his shot fallen. Tyler Rolison came up with a nice drive to the basket to trim the deficit, 80-73, but Nevada nearly snagged the ball from the Cowboys again right after his bucket in hopes of gaining another possession late. Nevada’s comeback fell short, dropping its sixth straight road game of the season.
“I just told the guys in locker room that I hope that we plays with as much purpose and effort that Wyoming did on their senior night,” Alford said. “I hope that that’s what we can do on our senior night.”
Wyoming shot 63% from the floor, including 43% from three for the contest, while Nevada shot 46% from the floor, including 27% from three. Bennett led all scorers with 27 points. Elijah Price led Nevada with 20 points, while Camper followed with 11. Tayshawn Comer played nine first-half minutes without scoring a point and Alford said Comer did not play in the second half due to a coaches decision.
Nevada no longer controls its destiny for a first-round bye at the Mountain West tournament, sitting one game behind Grand Canyon in the league standings. Following Tuesday’s results, Nevada is currently in a three-way tie for fifth-place with an 11-8 record in league play with UNLV and Boise State. Nevada closes out the regular season against Air Force on Saturday. Tip off is at 7 p.m. on Nevada Sports Net.