Nevada Postgame Notes:
- With the 87-57 victory over Louisiana Tech, Nevada improved to 19-10 overall and 11-4 in Western Athletic Conference play.
- The team ended its regular-season home slate with a 12-2 mark, winning its sixth consecutive home game and its 20th WAC regular-season home game in its last 21 tries.
- The win gave fourth-year Nevada head coach Mark Fox the 100th win of his career. He now holds a 100-28 career record in four seasons and tied for 21st on the NCAA’s list of fastest coaches to reach 100 wins (among coaches with at least half of their seasons at the Division I level). Duke’s Vic Bubas also took 128 wins to reach the milestone, doing it in his fifth season (1964). He is also the fastest coach in school history to reach the mark and the fourth Wolf Pack mentor to earn 100 career victories.
- For the second consecutive game, Nevada turned in its season high in shooting percentage, making 66.0 percent of its attempts in the game (35-53). The Wolf Pack shot 70.8 percent in the second half (17-24). On Thursday night, Nevada turned in a then season-high 61.4 percent from the field. The team now has four 60-percent efforts on the year.
- The Wolf Pack has scored at least 80 points in 12 games this season and nine of the last 13. The team is 11-1 when scoring at least 80 points this season.
- Sophomore JaVale McGee led the team with a career-best 26 points. He went 12-of-14 from the floor.
- Sophomore Brandon Fields added 14 points and freshman Armon Johnson had 20.
- Although senior Marcelus Kemp saw his streak of 38 consecutive games in double figures come to an end with nine points tonight, he led the team with eight rebounds and eight assists. That marked the second consecutive night that he turned in a career-best eight assists after doing it in Thursday’s victory over New Mexico State.
- Nevada turned in a season-high 27 assists in the game.
- The Wolf Pack also outrebounded the Bulldogs 37-19 and improved to 13-2 on the year when outrebounding its opponent.
- Nevada started its four seniors forwards David Ellis and Demarshay Johnson and guards Marcelus Kemp and Curry Lynch. It marked the first start of Lynch’s career.
- Nevada wraps up the regular season next week, traveling to Fresno State on Saturday, March 8.
Nevada Quotes
Nevada guard Marcelus Kemp on the win:
“It was a great win for us. It put us in a better position to get another ring.”
Nevada guard Curry Lynch on his final night at Lawlor Events Center:
“It hasn’t sunk in yet. It was a great team effort and I’m glad I got the chance to participate.”
“It hasn’t sunk in yet. I was grateful I got to play major minutes.”
Kemp on the play of the team:
“We can still get a lot better on the defensive end and rebounding. We just need to keep working, keep working until it’s all said and done.”
Nevada forward JaVale McGee on his performance:
“I was just playing my game, trying to get rebounds and score. They were falling for me, so it was good.”
Nevada head coach Mark Fox on his 100th career win:
“It’s all players. I haven’t won any games. The players won the games and they’re great players. It’s not about me. It’s about these kids. It’s not about the coach, ever. It’s about the players and the kids, that’s what it should be about.”
Fox on team’s performance:
“We continue to get better. There’s still a lot of room for growth, but we’re getting better. I thought that there were some times tonight we played really well. I think emotions and the disjointed substitution pattern got the best of us. We’re getting better.”
“We’re not the perfect team. We’ve got room for growth in every area of the game. With next week, I’m glad we have only one game because we will have a chance to get a little rest and some practices in. Fresno State is a good team. We’re going to have to play well.”
Fox on guard Curry Lynch:
“Curry played really solid. I’m disappointed he missed his free throws tonight because he’s a good free throw shooter. Defensively, he was very solid. If he didn’t have so many talented guys in front of him, he’d play more. He’s got really good players in front of him and Curry’s been a huge part of this team. I thought he played well.”
“He has a great love for this university and a great love for our team. We see that every day and he’s given us so much. He’s been so productive in the role he has, behind the scenes, in practice and with his leadership. He’s really touched this program in a lot of ways.”
Fox on guard Marcelus Kemp:
“He’s a complete player now. He makes the guys around him better. He rebounds the ball, he defends. He obviously can score and tonight he did a bit of everything and I’m very proud of Marcelus for him improvement and maturity.”
Louisiana Tech Quotes
Louisiana Tech head coach Kenny Rupp on the game:
“We tried to play too fast. I thought we missed some easy shots inside. We didn’t have the defensive balance and they were going down and scoring.”
Rupp on his team’s defense:
“Our defensive game plan was to try and pin the ball to a sideline, try to front that post and block up guys behind it ... We’re not good enough to defend people especially in the post, so we have to bring a team concept to it.”
Rupp on Nevada’s rebounding advantage:
“They pounded us on the boards. They were physical and we were soft ... We can’t get pounded on the boards. We have to fight.”
Rupp on Nevada’s performance:
“Give them credit. That’s a good team. I thought they did a good job of pressuring us.”
Rupp on the last week of the season:
“Our whole thing is trying to regroup and finish strong. We have two games left at home. We have to play team basketball.”
Rupp on Nevada head coach Mark Fox’s technical:
“That’s good coaching. He got on him and fought for his guys. He fought for the calls.”
Louisiana Tech forward Kyle Gibson on the game:
“We came out strong but we couldn’t sustain the game plan. Nevada came out strong for their senior night. If we would have sustained the game plan and ran through our plays to the third and fourth side like we did at the end of the game, I think it would have been a different game, at least a close game.”
Gibson on Tech’s defense:
“Defensively we were giving up points in the paint. As we’re missing they’re getting easy baskets in the paint so it just compounds itself.”
Gibson on rebounding:
“The rebounding was a big part of why they second-chanced us. We were just coming down and getting one shot. We just couldn’t quite do it.
