Nevada Basketball: The three keys or “B’s” to beating Texas
By Shaun Gordon
3. Get Bench Help
The Wol Ppack have never been a particularly deep team this year. They survived most of their season with a seven-or-eight man rotation, and it worked.
But then a month ago one of their key cogs, Lindsey Drew, went down for the season, making a thin Nevada rotation even thinner.
They’ve managed to still play well since, going 6-2 from Drew’s injury on. At the same time, that lack of depth will probably catch up to them at some point.
They’re running basically a 6 1/2 man rotation now, with Josh Hall getting starter minutes and Elijah Foster getting about 8-12 minutes a night.
That’s basically it for the rotation.
A few other players get a handful of minutes as the game dictates, but not enough to matter much.
Hall and Foster don’t have to score a lot for Nevada to be successful. Between the two, they only average roughly 8 points per game.
But they both play hard and fill their roles. Hall is a do-it-all player who rebounds and passes well while still shooting respectably. Foster is a good rebounder and tough post defender.
If they can fill those roles against the Longhorns and add at least a little scoring, Nevada will be in a good position to win.
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On the other hand, if the starters get into foul trouble or the short bench is ineffective, that may place too much strain on an already depleted team.
When you’re playing with so few players, especially against NCAA Tournament-caliber teams, the margin for error becomes razor-thin.