LAS VEGAS — Nevada’s bench had one of his best efforts of the season against intrastate rival UNLV on Saturday.
Led by Leland King II and Josh Hall, the reserves accounted for 15 points, 16 rebounds and five assists in the easy 94-58 win over UNLV before a paid crowd of 14,808 at Thomas & Mack Center.
King led the way with nine points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes while Hall added five points, five rebounds and five assists. Both played expanded minutes due to foul trouble with D.J. Fenner and Cam Oliver.
“Both were really good tonight,” Nevada coach Eric Musselman said. “Leland gives us a low-post presence who can draw fouls. He is kind of crafty and the way he scores is unorthodox. We threw it into the post time and again, and he made some nice passes.
“Josh has some point guard attributes. He had five assists, and against Boise State, he had two of the best passes we’ve had all season. We might play around with him at point guard next year.”
Former Damonte Ranch star John Carlson scored his first point in a Pack uniform. He went 1-for-4 at the line and grabbed a rebound in his six-minute stint.
A little rest
The foul trouble for Fenner and Oliver came at the right time and against the right team.
Fenner had 11 points and six rebounds in 20 minutes, and Oliver had nine points, three rebounds, two blocks and two assists.
Musselman said he hopes that his two stars will be fresh for Wednesday’s game at San Jose State because of the extra rest.
UNLV reunion
At halftime, UNLV welcomed back its 1986-87 Final Four squad to Thomas & Mack.
For you basketball historians, that team was the first in school history to end the season with a No. 1 ranking. The team went 18-0 in the old Pacific Coast Athletic Association, and its only regular-season loss was at Oklahoma.
After beating Iowa 84-81 to advance to the Final Four, UNLV lost 97-93 to Bobby Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers in the national semifinals.
Fred Banks, Jarvis Basnight, Mark Wade, the late Armon Gilliam and Gerald Paddio were key members of the squad.
Radtke misses second game
Ryan Radtke, Nevada’s play-by-play announcer, missed his second consecutive game.
His spot was taken by Don Marchand, who usually does the Nevada women’s games. Marchand’s spot in Reno was taken by Alex Margulies, who was behind the microphone for Nevada’s win against Boise State on Wednesday.
Lunardi likes Pack
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, who does his bracketology weekly, has Nevada replacing Colorado State as the lone Mountain West Conference team in the NCAA Tournament.
Lunardi has the Pack seeded 12th in the South Region in Sacramento. The Pack would be playing No. 5 Butler.
Battle Born uniforms back
Nevada wore its navy blue Battle Born uniforms for the second time this season.
The first time was also against UNLV, which resulted in a 104-77 victory.
Ex-NFL star in the house
Simeon Rice, the former NFL star and father of Jordan Caroline, was at the game on Saturday.
