Jalen Harris goes on-on-one against a Cal State East Bay player. Harris is wearing all white, with blue accents. He is holding a basketball in his right hand.

Ryan Freeberg/Nevada Sagebrush. Jalen Harris goes one-on-one during a scrimmage against Cal State East Bay. In Nevada’s scrimmage against Colorado Christian. Harris is now a member of the NBA G-Leauge.

 

It was just one year ago when former Nevada guard Jalen Harris recorded eye-popping numbers within the Mountain West Conference. 

In his first year of eligibility with the Wolf Pack, Harris averaged a conference-best 21.7 points— including 25.4 points in conference play—with 6.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists per game and 1.1 steals per game in the 2019-20 campaign. 

In the Wolf Pack’s final 10 regular season games, Harris averaged 27.4 points on 48.5 percent shooting, 38.5 percent shooting from 3-point range and 80 percent from the free-throw line. He finished second behind San Diego State guard Malachi Flynn for Mountain West Player of the Year. 

The first-team All-Mountain West honoree forgoed his final year of eligibility, electing to go to the NBA Draft. He was selected No. 59 overall in the second round to the Toronto Raptors. 

Harris signed a two-way deal with Toronto and is making early noise in the NBA G-League, which began on Feb. 20. 

In Harris’ seven regular season games, he tallied 17.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game on a 50 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Though it’s a small sample, he’s had a considerable increase in his 3-point rate compared to his brief stint at Nevada: 43 percent in the G-League to 36.9 percent at Nevada. 

Against the Salt Lake City Stars on Feb. 18, the G-League affiliate of the Utah Jazz, Harris tallied a career-best 32 points with six rebounds on 6-8 shooting from deep. 

Harris is the only Pack player to have logged minutes in the G-League this year, but let’s look at the three Wolf Pack alumnus that appeared in the 2019-20 season.

Tre’Shawn Thurman

Thurman spent one season with the Pack in 2018-19 after spending three seasons with Omaha. 

Thurman averaged 7.7 points and 3.5 rebounds on 45.0 percent shooting and 36.5 percent from 3-point range in his only season with the Grand Rapids Drive, the G-League Affiliate withs the Detroit Pistons.

After registering four double-doubles in his only season with Nevada in 2018-19, Thurman tallied one last season. 

On Feb. 23 versus the Wisconsin Herd, Thurman had 18 points coupled with 10 rebounds — including seven offensive rebounds that translated into eight second-chance points. The 6-foot-7 forward added four steals in the 126-117 victory. 

That wasn’t his only dominant performance against the Herd, tallying a career-best 25 points with seven 3-pointers and eight rebounds on Jan. 22. 

Brandon Fields

Fields spent four years with the Wolf Pack from 2006-10 and is 18th in school history in scoring with 1,271 career points.

In his only season with the Texas Legends, Fields averaged 9.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 21.2 minutes per contest.

Fields was inefficient from the floor, knocking down just 38.3 percent of his field goal attempts versus 31 percent from deep and 61.2 percent from the free-throw line. 

The 6-foot-4 guard ended the 2019 calendar year with his top performances. On Dec. 29 against the Stockton Kings, Fields tallied a season-high 27 points on 12-of-19 shooting and 3-of-6 from deep, adding six rebounds, seven assists and two steals. He had 26 points against the Santa Cruz Warriors on 12-of-18 shooting, piling on 14 assists. 

Deonte Burton

Burton, who is recognized as one of the best point guards in Wolf Pack history from 2010-14, finished his fourth year in the G-League and his third straight with the Stars. 

He had a down season in 2019-20, tallying just 3.8 points on 41.9 percent shooting — including 41.7 percent from 3-point range in 26 games. In 11 starts, Burton tallied 4.8 points and 2.0 assists per game on 44.8 percent shooting and an adept 42.9 percent shooting. 

Each season Burton has been in the G-League, his scoring numbers have seen a considerable dip. Burton started his career averaging 9.3 points in 2015-16 with the Bakersfield Jam, but his G-League performance has suffered a slow decline. 

Matt Hanifan can be reached at mhanifan@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @MattHanifan_.