Career Nights By Price, Camper Jr. Lead to 89-76 Win Over UNLV

In front of a sold-out crowd of 11,997 fans, Nevada welcomed in-state rival UNLV for the first time this season. Nevada let off the gas just a little bit toward the end, but a career night by Corey Camper Jr. and Elijah Price led to a 89-76 win over the Rebels.

“Our student [section] has been phenomenal the past two games so we’re so appreciative of that,” Steve Alford said about the crowd and the student section. “Our community always supports us in a tremendous way, so we’re very proud of that.”

“Hearing the crowd and seeing them here 72 minutes before the game in warmups, that gets us going and gets us fired up,” Camper said.

Scoring Summary

1st Half

UNLV 28 – Nevada 33

2nd Half

UNLV 48 – Nevada 56

Final: UNLV 76, Nevada 89

Offense

I’m repeating myself from the past few games, but it was once again Corey Camper Jr. who got the scoring started for the Pack. Two layups, one by Camper and the other by Vaughn Weems, gave Nevada an early 4-0 to start things off.

Camper also made the first three of the night to give Nevada a 9-0 lead after just five minutes of play. He reached double digits around the halfway mark of the first half with a put-back piece to extend Nevada’s lead to 13 points.

Nevada reached 31 points around the three-minute mark but went cold to close out the half, only scoring two points in those final three minutes, and went into halftime up 33-28. Camper closed out the half with 14 points on 6-9 shooting and finished the night with a career-high 32 points.

Camper kept drilling it down with his second three on the night, within the first three minutes of the second half. Nevada kept the wheels going with a 9-0 run, forcing UNLV to take a timeout at the 14:23 mark, and gave the Pack a 19-point lead.

UNLV made a slight dent in the lead, but Nevada got it back up to 19 points thanks to Camper’s third three of the night and reached the 20’s in points.

Nevada big man Jeriah Coleman came in off the bench with a nice stretch of a dunk, followed by a block, helping Nevada make five out of its last six field goals. Another three by Camper, followed by an and one for Weems and Nevada reached the 80 point mark with just over four minutes left.

Elijah Price finished the night just behind Camper with 22 points and 11 rebounds. He also shot 14-15 from the free-throw line. Nevada as a team shot 58 percent from the field and 57 percent from beyond the arc.

“I think we should shoot more [threes,]” Alford said. “We shot 14 tonight and made eight of them, so maybe we need to start shooting more of them, but I like our motion offense right now.”

Defense

UNLV turned the ball over early, committing a shot clock violation and a couple air ball shots to stay scoreless until the 15:32 mark of the game with a three-pointer.

The Rebels melted the ice a bit, scoring on three straight drives, including two three-pointers, to cut the deficit down to five points. Things froze back up after those quick eight points, hitting another scoring drought of over four minutes.

Momentum built up for UNLV within the final minute of the half, cutting a 13-point deficit down to five points at 33-28. Despite the hot end of the half, UNLV shot just 31 percent from the field and 29 percent from deep during that span.

In any rivalry, added tension is going to arise. This game ended up being no different, as just before the first half closed out, Alford and UNLV guard Howie Fleming Jr. got into a slight exchange of words.

“It wasn’t anything bad, he was just talking to the bench,” Alford said. “In my opinion, you don’t talk to the opposing players, and opposing players don’t talk to the bench.”

The Rebels found themselves in yet another scoring drought, this time lasting over four minutes. During that span, UNLV was shooting just 1-7 from the field.

UNLV had three players reach double digits in scoring and shot over 50 percent in the second half. Overall, UNLV shot 46 percent from the field and 42 percent from three while committing 23 personal fouls. The Rebels also turned the ball over 10 times, which turned into 19 points for the Wolf Pack.

What’s Next

Nevada will head on the road to face Boise State for the final time as conference opponents. The Pack took down the Broncos in Reno last month, 81-66.

Tip-off in Boise is set for 6 p.m. PST on Tuesday, Feb. 3.

Source link