The Nevada Basketball team finished their second exhibition game this past Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017 at Lawlor Events Center against Stanislaus State. Following its charity exhibition game victory against Grand Canyon University, the Wolf Pack followed up their victory with another impressive outing. Below are three takeaways from the most recent game against Stanislaus State.

Kendall Stephens

Kendall Stephens’ ability to shoot was the driving force to the Pack’s win over the Warriors. Stephens was 9-14 from beyond the arc, finishing with 35 points. Stephens has improved drastically with his shooting in the first two exhibition games.

The Wolf Pack ran plays specifically for the incoming transfer and he was up to task. Stephens looks to replace the void left by the departure of former point guard Marcus Marshall as well as forward D.J. Fenner, who both graduated last spring.

Stephens struggled in Costa Rica while the Pack were playing preseason games, only going 9-31 from three-point range. However, he has seemed to have found his shot in these past couple of exhibition games. Expect the Purdue transfer to light up the court offensively this season.

Defense

Head Coach Eric Musselman was extremely furious with the Pack’s defensive performance, and rightfully so.

Stanislaus State, a Division II team, had a lot of fight and did not give up in last Sunday’s matchup. The warriors scored 52 points, and outscored the Pack by 10 in the second half. Nevada will have to sharpen up defensively very quickly, as their first regular season game is a week from Friday. Nevada cannot play the defense they played today and expect to beat teams like Fresno State and San Diego State.

Postgame Musselman

Some will say Musselman’s comments after the game were intended to light a fire within the team, but whatever Muss’s words portrayed, it sent a message. Musselman thinks the Pack would be an average to below average Mountain West team right now and are extremely overrated.

However, Musselman did compliment the offense’s performance today, scoring 100 points today. Caleb Martin and Josh Hall each scored 20 points, and Kendall Stephens with 35 points, and would have tied the record for most three point field goals made in a game (9) if this was not an exhibition game.

Musselman will be sure to work the defensive side of the ball this week.

The Wolf Pack will return to action this Friday, Nov. 3 for its final exhibition game against Dominican University at Virginia Street Gym. This game is dubbed as the “Throwback” game as the Wolf Pack used to play its games at the Virginia Street Gym prior to the construction of Lawlor Events Center.

Regular season play will tip off next week as the Wolf Pack will host the Idaho Vandals on Friday, Nov. 10, 2017.