Nevada Finally Ends Jinx Against Long Beach

They couldn’t take it anymore. Another defeat wouldn’t have ended their season, but the team psyche would have been toast--again.

Succinctly put, Nevada played for its mental health Saturday night at the Pyramid. Losers to Long Beach State in seven consecutive games spanning three seasons since joining the Big West, Nevada needed a victory in the teams’ first meeting this season. As breaking points go, Nevada was well past its pain limit.

The breakthrough came with a 79-75 victory, ending years of frustration. Nevada had lost 10 consecutive games to Long Beach, winning last in 1958. In the end, the Wolf Pack sounded like liberated POWs.

“There is no better feeling than this,” said guard Brian Green, who scored a game-high 23 points. “We needed this. It really hurt to lose all those games to them last year--especially in the [Big West tournament] championship game.”

That was the most frustrating for obvious reasons. Nevada took the lead late in the game but couldn’t put Long Beach away. Long Beach won in overtime, 76-69, earning the NCAA tournament berth that goes to the Big West tournament champion.

The NIT didn’t call Nevada despite its 18-11 overall record, its best record in Coach Pat Foster’s two-year tenure and its second best in a decade. Nevada returned to Reno and watched the tournament on TV, providing even more motivation for its next game against Long Beach.

“We talked about it a lot,” Green said. “That hurt, so we needed to do this. I mean, we hadn’t beat them in Coach Foster’s era yet.”

Two years is a pretty short era, but you get the point.

“This means a lot,” said forward Damien Edwards, who had 20 points and six rebounds.

“For us to lose to them last year in the championship game and then come back and beat them down here on their own floor, that proves to me the Wolf Pack is for real.”

Foster wasn’t so sure. Many preseason publications picked Nevada to battle for the conference title, but it lost its first two Big West games.

Granted, the Big West isn’t the Big East. Still, starting 0-2 is a deep hole in any conference.

Foster decided to break character and shake up his guys a little. He told them they had to win the next four games to have a shot at the regular-season title. That might not seem like a bold statement, but it is considering coaches are reluctant to set victory goals for fear it might make players nervous and backfire.

In this case, Foster made the correct call. Nevada (11-5, 4-2 in conference) began the week tied with UC Irvine for first place.

“When you get down like that, you have to do something to get the team going again,” Foster said. “You get knocked down and sometimes you can’t get back up. You can lose confidence.”

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Man in the middle: Nevada senior center Daniel Watts said he is up to the challenge, whatever the challenge might be. So far, Watts is right.

When senior forward Faron “Meat” Hand decided to seek a medical redshirt season Dec. 13 because of multiple injuries, Watts knew he had to do more. Watts is doing more.

He is averaging 14.3 points and 8.3 rebounds, and leads the conference in field-goal percentage (61.4%). Moreover, Watts was a steadying force for the Wolf Pack during its rocky Big West start.

“Ever since the beginning of the year, I took it on myself to improve my scoring,” Watts said. “I’m playing well and I just thank God for that. The team is really clicking now, and that’s the important thing.”

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Anteaters up next: There are many regular-season games left, but the UC Irvine-Nevada game Thursday night in Reno is the most important so far. Only 1 1/2 games separate first and seventh places. The game between the Big West co-leaders might provide the spark for the winner to take control of the race.

Irvine Coach Rod Baker certainly hopes so.

“At some point, this thing has got to spread itself out,” Baker said. “I mean, I can’t remember the last time I picked up the paper and saw this many teams this close together.

“It’s fun being where we are. I’m glad we’re not on the bottom, but I wouldn’t be too disappointed if we were because you’re still not too far from the top.”

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Big West Notes

Nevada’s Brian Green was selected the Big West Conference player of the week. Green, who averages 19.5 points and 4.9 rebounds, averaged 20.1 points in victories over Pacific, UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State. Green was selected the Big West tournament MVP last season. . . . Nevada is 2-1 in conference road games and is the only team with more than one Big West road victory through the weekend. Five teams have not yet won a road game.