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#7 Nevada vs. Pacific: Preview & How to Watch
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Nevada looks to stay perfect
The No.7 Nevada Wolf Pack will host the Pacific Tigers on Friday night after both opened their seasons with wins earlier this week.
Pacific had a huge first half on the road at SIUE after they started the game on a 16-0 run and never looked back.
The tigers were led in scoring by Sophomore Lafayette Dorsey with 18 points off the bench. They shot 49% from the field including 35% from distance as well as 82% from the charity stripe. Pacific held SIUE to just 39% from the field and only 26% from deep.
No.7 Nevada beat a very good BYU team 86-70 at home after struggling for much of the first 30 minutes. Neither Caleb Martin or his brother Cody scored in the first half after getting into early foul trouble and sitting for most of it. Caleb would score all 21 of his points in the 2nd half. Jordan Caroline led all scorers with 25 points and 16 rebounds amounting to his 28th career double-double. Caroline continues to be a problem for every team Nevada faces and should excel against the Tigers as well.
Nevada has a huge size advantage vs. the Tigers. Pacific’s tallest starter is the same height as Nevada’s shortest starter, at 6’7. Nevada’s bigs stand 6’11 and should put up good numbers, especially on the glass.
Nevada opens as an 18.5 point favorite in the contest and according to ESPN’s Matchup Predictor, Nevada has a 91.9% chance of staying undefeated and improving to 2-0. Pacific is a solid West Coast Conference team and absolutely shouldn’t be overlooked, though. If Nevada wants to stay in the top 10 they have to shoot better than they did against BYU (especially from 3) and continue to get to the free throw line.
This should be a convincing win for the Wolf Pack and will give coach Eric Musselman more time to figure out his rotations of an incredibly deep squad. Nevada’s Freshman 5 star McDonald’s All-American, Jordan Brown, only totaled five minutes of playing time against BYU and should expect to get more time against the Tigers. Nevada will also need a better shooting performance from Cody Martin who was held scoreless the entire game on opening night. Cody did tally 11 assists for the Wolf Pack though, which was big.
Look for Nevada’s Jazz Johnson to continue to let the threes fly. Jazz was a big part of Nevada’s late run that helped them pull away in the final 10 minutes on Tuesday with his 12 points. He was the much needed energy and production that Nevada needed from their bench.
Pacific’s 3rd year head coach and NBA veteran, Damon Stoudemire, knows this will be one of the toughest games all season for his Tigers. “Nevada will be a really big test. We have our hands full going in there and I am interested to see how we respond to that challenge.”
WHEN: Friday, November 9 — 7:00 PM PT
WHERE: Lawlor Events Center; Reno, Nevada (11,536)
TV: ESPN3
STREAM: Watch ESPN app
RADIO: Nevada Wolf Pack Radio Station and Pacific’s Radio Statio
WEBSITES: NevadaWolfPack.com, the official Nevada athletics website | PacificTigers.com the official Pacific athletics website
ODDS: Nevada -18.5