6) Should we be concerned about Nevada?
Let me preface this. Yes, Nevada is really, really good and they’re still undefeated. However, they have not been playing well this season.
It started in their season opener against BYU when the Wolf Pack were tied with the Cougars at halftime. Then they needed a run midway through the second half to pull away from Pacific. After two easy wins, they only beat a bad Tulsa team by 10. Finally, on Friday night, Nevada failed to put much distance between themselves and UMass until late in the game.
To be fair, Nevada is taking care of business and winning these games – they just haven’t been overly convincing in doing so. They’re only 48th in adjusted defensive efficiency and rely on getting to the foul line for over 26 percent of their offense. Their wins have all also come against lesser competition.
That will change over the next two weeks when they play at Loyola-Chicago, at USC, and against Arizona State in Los Angeles. Nevada should be the better team in all three of those games yet, if they play like they are now, will lose at least one of those games.