An early two-game losing streak for Nevada quickly ended after a 77-64 win over UC Santa Barbara. It wasn’t Nevada’s most efficient offensive performance, but tight defense and a career night from Corey Camper Jr. were enough to give Nevada its fourth win of the season.
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Summary of scores
1st half:
UCSB 28 – Nevada 32
2nd half:
UCSB 36 – Nevada 45
Final: USCB 64, Nevada 77
Offense
Nevada’s offense got off to a strong start, with Elijah Price and Camper Jr. knocking down early buckets. A nine-point lead midway through the game’s first 20 minutes gave Nevada early momentum.
The Pack shot about 40 percent from the field for most of the first half, finishing that half at 43 percent and the entire game at 48 percent. Most of the momentum came from Camper Jr. in that first half, knocking down a couple threes to give Nevada a 32-28 lead before halftime.
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Camper Jr. ended the night with. a career-high 27 points on 9-14 shooting and 4-7 from three. Price and Tayshawn Comer followed with 14 points each.
“Corey can really cut, he knows how to score and he knows we have to have him as one of our go-to players,” head coach Steve Alford said after the game. “I think Corey would tell you he hasn’t been a go-to guy in his career. And you know, we want him to be a go-to guy. That doesn’t mean he’s going to lead us in scoring every night, but we want him to be very active. He’s not going to score 27 a night, but there’s no reason why he can’t be at the top of the food chain when it comes to spotting us, because I think he Definitely not always a good offensive player. He can really defend, so obviously a huge key for us.
The second half continued to be a strong performance, as Camper Jr. reached 20 points a few minutes into the half. Nevada shot even better at 55 percent from the field in the second half and forced 23 free throws, converting 21 of them.
“We just didn’t panic,” Price said. “We understood the situation. We understood what we had to do on both ends of the floor. We had great leadership in our locker room, with our coaches and our players, so we stuck together and found a way to win.”
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Defense
Nevada had struggled defending the three-point line lately, so it was a big step forward when it forced UCSB to just 27 percent from beyond the arc in the first half and 29 percent overall.
UCSB made some noise late in the first half, thanks to three shots from Miro Little, who finished the night with a team-leading 13 points on 3-6 shooting. The team shot a combined 40 percent from the field, but turnovers and fouls ended up being the dagger against the Gauchos.
Nevada forced 15 turnovers, which allowed the Pack to score 24 points, a sign of a much more dynamic defense.
“It’s crucial, because we didn’t turn people over late, and I think we were soft defensively, and today we were a physical defensive team again,” Alford said. “We were really good with the ball; our ball pressure was good. Our gap assist was outstanding. We had a lot of good putbacks, deflections out of our spaces. They got a few more offensive rebounds than I would have liked, and they did a good job of breaking down our offensive boards, but I think because of that focus, it affected their transition, because we were concerned about their transition, and those are the messages you want to send.”
What’s next
Nevada will hit the road again to play in the Acrisure Series, starting against Washington on Thanksgiving.
The alert is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. PST.
