RENO, Nev. — Nevada coach Eric Musselman says he focuses on the stars.
"Some coaches have a philosophy that they're going to let the (opposing) stars score and they are going to shut everyone else down," Musselman said. "We don't hide the fact that our total focus is on the star players and we want the peripheral players to beat us."
That's exactly what No. 7 Nevada did in its 72-68 victory Saturday over South Dakota State and its duo of Mike Daum and David Jenkins.
The tandem had averaged 48.7 points this season. They scored a total of 10 points Saturday.
"Those two guys are elite scorers, probably the best duo in the country, and they (Nevada) held them in check tonight," South Dakota State coach T.J. Otzelberger said.
The Jackrabbits jumped ahead 40-33 at halftime in the matchup of 2018 NCAA Tournament teams. Nevada held South Dakota State to 30 percent shooting in the second half en route to its fourth straight comeback of seven points or more.
Nevada forward
Jordan Caroline (24) takes a jump shot against South Dakota State in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Reno, Nev., Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018. (Tom R. Smedes/Associated Press)
Jordan Caroline led Nevada with 21 points. Caleb Martin scored 20 points for Nevada (11-0), and Cody Martin and Trey Porter had 12 each.
But Musselman cared more about Porter's defense than his offense, especially against the All-American Daum.
"That's the best defensive performance on one guy by one individual since I've been coaching here," Musselman said. "I think (Porter) is one of the best defenders in the entire country, if not the best interior defender in the entire country."
After scoring 40 points in the first half against Nevada — and a school-record 139 points in its last game against Savannah State — the Jackrabbits were held to 28 points in the second half Saturday.
Skyler Flatten led South Dakota State (9-4) with 20 points. Owen King scored 13 points, shooting 5 of 6 from the floor.
South Dakota State outrebounded Nevada 41-37, but the Jackrabbits committed 15 turnovers to the Wolf Pack's 6.
Nevada lived from beyond the arc in the first half, shooting 22 of its first 28 shots from deep. Sixty percent of Nevada's total shots Saturday came from 3-point range.
"They did good packing in the paint," Nevada forward Caleb Martin said. "It's one of those things where coach really wants us to try to get to the lane, but us as players, we kind of settle too much because there was that many open shots from the three."
Nevada shot 10 of 39 on 3-point shots and 34 percent from the field.
The Wolf Pack's best 3-point shooter, Jazz Johnson, did not play Saturday after a concussion he suffered in the team's last game against Grand Canyon. Johnson has shot 55 percent from beyond the arc this year, which ranks third best in the nation.
"People are going to try different things on us.like (South Dakota State's) sagging man (to man defense) today," Martin said. "We just got to figure it out and ultimately we just got to knock down shots."
BIG PICTURE
South Dakota State: The Jackrabbits, of the Summit League, played toe-to-toe on the road against the seventh ranked team in the country.
Nevada: After nine flights and 5,875 miles on the road — 25 days since its last home game — Nevada stayed undefeated, grabbing the program's best record to start a season since it entered Division I in 1969-70.
LIVING BEYOND THE ARC
Nevada set a school-record with 39 attempted 3-point shots.
UP NEXT
South Dakota State: At Eastern Washington on Tuesday night.
Nevada: Host Akron on Saturday.
Game Notes:
No. 7 Nevada improved to 11-0 after defeating South Dakota State (9-4) 72-68 tonight before 11,257 fans at Lawlor Events Center. The crowd is the 10th largest in school history.
Nevada hosts Akron (6-4) next Saturday, Dec. 22 at 4 p.m. at LEC.
Wolf Pack head coach Eric Musselman (92-29) won his 92nd game at Nevada which moved him into sole possession of seventh on the Pack's career victories list.
Musselman improved to 26-0 in non-conference home games, 48-5 overall at Lawlor Events Center and 53-14 overall in non-conference games.
The Pack's 39 three-point attempts is a new school record. The old record of 38 occurred at Weber State on Feb. 3, 1989 and the team made 14.
The 76 points scored is a season low.
Nevada improved to 68-16 when ranked in the Associated Press top 25.
The Pack has won three of the four games played with the Jackrabbits.
The 11-0 start is the best in the Division I era for the Wolf Pack that began with the 1969-70 season. The overall best overall start was 14-0 by the 1951-52 Pack squad.
Nevada improved to 5-0 at home this season.
For the first time this season Nevada trailed at home at halftime, 40-33.
Caleb Martin posted his sixth 20-point game of the season and Jordan Caroline his fifth.
Jazz Johnson, the Pack's third leading scorer at 12.6 points per game did not play after suffering concussion in the Grand Canyon and had not cleared concussion protocol.
Caroline scored a game-high 21 points and tied for game honors with nine rebounds. It is the seventh time he led the Pack in scoring and fifth time he posted a game high in points this year. It was his ninth time toping the team in rebounding and seventh time posting a game high this season. He has led the Pack in rebounds 48 times in his career and in scoring 23 times.
Trey Porter had nine rebounds to tie Caroline for game high honors. Porter reached double figures of the third time this season scoring 12 points.
Caleb Martin and Caroline have scored in double figures in every game this season.
Nevada had four players score in double figures; Caroline (21), Caleb Martin (20), Cody Martin (12) and Porter (12).
Cody Martin (6) and Caleb Martin (5) combined for 11 assists and just two turnovers.
