Nevada Rolls Past UC Irvine, 98-85

So much for the inside game.

UC Irvine Coach Rod Baker, in attempt to revive his team’s sagging offense, said the Anteaters were going to re-emphasize their inside attack, but once again they ended up out in the cold, losing to Nevada, 98-85, before 5,393 at the Lawlor Events Center on Saturday night.

Nevada outscored the Anteaters, 20-0, in a five-minute span of the second-half as Irvine fell to 4-7 overall and 1-2 in the Big West.

“I’m not sure we got the kind of effort inside we needed to make good things happen,” Baker said. “And we threw the ball around as if we were running a dummy offense with no defenders.”

Irvine committed 13 turnovers in the first half, but its outside offense was on target and it trailed by only 47-45 thanks to 10 first-half three-pointers. But the Wolf Pack (6-7, 2-3) had 14 points on breakaway dunks or layups after Anteater turnovers and the tone was set for the second half.

Nevada’s Preston Johnson had 20 points. Chris Brown and Todd Whitehead led Irvine with 17.