No. 10 Nevada crushes SJSU, 92-53

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Jordan Caroline bum-rushes the rim with monster dunk

Nevada's Jordan Caroline rises up and throws down massive dunk posturizing a San Jose St player.

Jan 10, 2019, 07:19 am

RENO, Nev. -- The floodgates opened again for No. 10 Nevada on Wednesday night.

After its first loss of the season Saturday, 85-58 at New Mexico, the Wolf Pack returned to form in its 92-53 win against San Jose State.

"These guys have a green light (from beyond the arc)," Nevada coach Eric Musselman said. "Without a green light, we don't open the game like we did tonight. .We feel like the floodgates are coming, it's just a matter of when. We've played 16 games and one night, the floodgates never came. The other 15 nights, at some point in the game, the floodgates came, and one time it didn't."

Caleb Martin led Nevada's push with 21 of his 23 points in the second-half and Jordan Caroline added 19 points. Corey Henson scored 15. Trey Porter grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds.

Brae Ivey led San Jose State (3-11, 0-2 in Mountain West) with 10 points.

After making just one shot in the first half, Nevada's leading scorer, Martin, made seven of eight in the second half, including six 3-pointers.

"First half, it's just all mental," Martin said. "I'm really hard on myself when I miss shots. I know I'm not playing how I'm capable of playing-just inside my own head. .In the second half I was just more freelancing, just playing, I couldn't play any worse (in the second half). It was kind of up from there."

As a team, Nevada shot 64 percent from the floor in the second half compared to 41 in the first.

Caroline hit a 3-pointer 11 seconds in and Nevada (15-1, 2-1) never trailed.

After jumping to a 20-5 lead in the game's first 10 minutes, Nevada struggled offensively, shooting 2 of 16 beyond the arc before halftime. The Wolf Pack has struggled from 3-point land this season, ranked 220th in Division I in 3-point shooting percentage (33 percent) coming into Wednesday.

"They were missing and we basically took the air out of the whole arena," San Jose State coach Jean Prioleau said. "There was 11,000 people in here and they were quiet because we had control of the game, but we couldn't capitalize on anything."

San Jose State, picked to finish last in the Mountain West preseason rankings, stayed close with the highly-favored Wolf Pack, trailing by single digits, 43-34, with 13:46 left in the game.

Nevada outscored the Spartans 49-19 from there.

"It's a good feeling," said Nevada point guard Cody Martin, who had 14 points Wednesday. "It's always a good feeling to come out with a win, but especially after what happened last game. We took it really personal. It didn't matter who we played, we were going to feel bad for the next person that we played just because of the mentality we had and how hard we practiced going into it.what happened last game.(we) don't want it to happen again."

BIG PICTURE

San Jose State: A 27-point underdog, San Jose State rebounded after Nevada's 20-5 run to start the game and stayed within single digits well into the second half. But the Spartans committed 22 turnovers to Nevada's eight.

Nevada: The Wolf Pack bounced back Wednesday after the first loss of the season Saturday, 85-58, at New Mexico.

STARTING LINEUP CHANGE

After Nevada's 85-58 loss at New Mexico, Nevada coach Eric Musselman started Corey Henson and Jordan Brown for the first time this season. Caleb Martin, the team's leading scorer, came off the bench for the first time this season.

PLAYER DISMISSAL

Nevada played its first game Wednesday without walk-on guard Zach Wurm. The 23-year-old Menlo College transfer was charged with driving under the influence and destroying property Sunday.

UP NEXT

San Jose State: Returns home to face Boise State on Saturday.

Nevada: Visits Fresno State on Saturday.