Postgame Notes
Nevada Postgame Notes:
- With the 95-80 loss, Nevada falls to 10-7 overall and 2-2 in WAC play on the year. The loss ended the Wolf Pack’s 14-game WAC home winning streak and was the team’s first conference home loss since falling to Utah State 59-53 on Jan. 23, 2006 at Lawlor Events Center.
- Senior Marcelus Kemp led the team with 23 points, his eighth 20-point game this year and the 31st of his career. He also extended his streak of games in double figures for scoring to 27 consecutive games and 58 of the last 60.
- Freshman Armon Johnson added 20 points, his third 20-point game of the year and his second straight after matching his career best with 23 points Thursday vs. Idaho. Johnson has averaged 16.8 points per game over his last six contests (101 points).
- Sophomore Brandon Fields scored 16 points, and senior Demarshay Johnson added 10.
- As a team, Nevada made a season-best nine three-pointers but allowed Boise State to knock down 13, a season high for a Wolf Pack opponent.
- Kemp matched his season best with four three-pointers, while Fields tied his career high with four as well and turned in his eighth game this year with two or more treys. Kemp moved into sole possession of second place on the Nevada career list with 189 three-pointers made and stands just 20 behind Terrance Green (209, 1999-2003) for the Nevada career mark.
- Armon Johnson also tied his career high with six assists and had just one turnover in the game.
- Nevada was outrebounded 38-29, marking the seventh time this year that the team has been outboarded. The Wolf Pack is 1-6 when being outrebounded this season.
- The Wolf Pack continues WAC play next week, traveling to New Mexico State on Thursday, Jan. 24 and to Louisiana Tech on Saturday, Jan. 26.
Nevada Quotes
Sophomore guard Brandon Fields on the game:
“We didn’t get stops on defense. They were shooting the ball well.”
Senior guard Marcelus Kemp on the difference of the halves:
“The second half, we didn’t have enough intensity on D.”
Freshman guard Armon Johnson on the second half play:
“Our defense wasn’t there in the second half and we just came out flat.”
Kemp on the significance of this loss:
“Any loss is difficult. We want to win every game. This game was no different, but we’ll bounce back.”
Johnson on the difference of halves:
“In the first half, we had intensity and stuff came our way. The second half was just punishing.”
Nevada coach Mark Fox on the overall play of Boise State:
“They are a great offensive team. They are number one in field goal percentage in the country. They’re like us last year in that they can score at every position and you have to play smart. As experienced and good as they are offensively, you have to defend every play.”
Coach Fox on the first half play of Boise State:
“Give credit to Boise, we didn’t guard them well enough in the first half. They are very good offensive team.”
Coach Fox on the overall progress of his team:
“This is a team that as I said from day one is going to try to get better every week. Let’s not kid ourselves, only one WAC team will play in the (NCAA) Tournament. We’re going to have some painful losses, but that’s how you have to learn.”
Coach Fox on the upcoming opponents for the Wolf Pack:
“Our regular-season goals are still the same; we’re trying to get better... We’ll try to use this to get better. We’ve got two important games next week and we’re trying to get two wins.”
Coach Fox on the emotion of the team:
“We played hard in the first half, but you can’t be a good team playing off just emotion, you have to be proficient at both ends.”
Coach Fox on the play of Freshman Guard Armon Johnson:
“He’s starting to get more comfortable on offense. If you look at the past few games his numbers are up.”
Boise State Quotes
Boise State Coach Greg Graham on the game:
"For the Motley Crew, that was our No. 1 single. Our guys played their tails off. To come back off a tough loss, I can't say enough about them."
Graham on Nevada:
"That's a very good basketball team. They're going to get better as they go. They have some amazing talent."
Graham on executing:
"We played hard and come crunch time, we made the plays that we needed to make. We shot the ball well. We got the free throws, we got the fouls and we got the rebounds. We were able to stop them and score on the other end."
Graham on using zone defense:
"The zone hurt them and that's why we stayed with it. Getting McGee in foul trouble helped."
Graham on using his bench:
"We went to them early and didn't want to be tired coming down the stretch. The top five worked a lot of minutes (Thursday at Utah State)."
Boise State's Tyler Tiedeman on Boise State:
"This team thrives on open jumpers. We work on it in practice everyday. We pride ourselves on trying to get 20 assists a game."
Tiedeman on Nevada:
"It's a huge win. Since I've been here for three years we've never won at Nevada. They've been the top dog for the four or five years in the WAC conference. You bring your A game every time you come up here. You know they're going to have a good team."
Boise State's Anthony Thomas on the game:
"Just playing as a team and moving the ball and playing as one, that's what basketball's all about."
Thomas on Nevada:
"We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game."
