Nevada Wolf Pack Notebook: Stephens living behind the line

LAS VEGAS — Kendall Stephens never met a 3-point shot he didn’t like.

He is absolutely dangerous from beyond the arc as Nevada’s opponents have found out this year.

The Purdue transfer continued his 3-point assault on Saturday, bringing his streak of double-figure scoring games to four straight and seven of the last eight. In the surge the 3-ball has been a big factor.

In the last seven contests, Stephens has scored 27 3-point field goals, including five against Irvine, Texas Tech and Illinois State. He is shooting 43 percent from 3-point range.

Stephens had four more in Saturday’s heartbreaking 66-64 loss to USF.

HIGHS AND LOWS OF CODY

Point guard Cody Martin scored in double figures the first 10 games of the season, but has just nine points in his last two games. Through 12 games, he was still averaging 13.7 a contest.

The North Carolina State transfer is contributing in many other ways. He has 13 assists, 12 rebounds, two blocked shots and just two turnovers. He has dished out seven assists in a game three times.

He is fourth in field goal percentage (54.1), second in assists (4.2), tied for second in steals (1.2), leads in minutes played (36.1), second in blocked shots (1.9) and second in assist to turnover ratio (2.1) behind teammate Lindsey Drew.

MORE STATS

Nevada had several players ranked in the top 10 of several Mountain West categories through Friday’s games.

Caleb Martin (18.5) and Jordan Caroline (17.8) are ranked third and sixth, respectively, in scoring. Martin is also third in 3-pointers per game at 2.9 and second in 3-point percentage at 48.7.

Caroline is fifth in minutes played (33), fourth in defensive rebounding (6.9) and fifth in offensive rebounding (2.6) and third in rebounding (9.5).

DID YOU KNOW?

Nevada’s RPI after the win over Southern Illinois is 14 … Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com has Nevada a No. 6 seed and a top 40 strength of schedule. Nevada is 2-2 against teams in the top 50, 1-0 vs. top 100 teams, 6-0 against teams in the top 150 and 2-0 in teams in top 200.