Nevada's Marcus Marshall takes a jump shot against UNLV on Saturday.
RENO — Marcus Marshall is back to being the most feared 3-point shooter in the Mountain West Conference.
After a mini slump, Marshall has scored 20 or more points in the last three Nevada games, all wins, including eight 3-pointers en route to a 28-point performance in the 94-58 win over intrastate rival UNLV Saturday afternoon.
That game, coupled with his 26-point effort in a tough win over Boise State, earned Marshall his second MW Player of the Week honor of the season.
Marshall averaged 27 points, 4.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals in two big wins for the Wolf Pack. Jordan Caroline (twice) and Cameron Oliver also have been honored this year.
“All the hard work the guys put in during August and September it’s nice to see them get rewarded with Player of the Week,” Musselman said. “Obviously we’ve gotten a number of guys honored. It shows the talent level on the team. It’s meaningful for the individual player, his teammates and the program.”
Marshall, with his 8 3-pointers against UNLV became Nevada’s all-time single-season 3-point leader, surpassing Jimmy Carroll. He is the third MW player to eclipse 100 3-pointers in a season, and the first since BYU’s Jimmer Fredette.
Marshall (28) and Caroline (31) outscored the entire UNLV team (59-58), and Musselman admitted Monday he’s not sure he’s ever been a part of a game when that happened.
“I really don’t know,” Musselman said. “Maybe Gilbert Arenas and Jason Richardson (with the Warriors), probably not going to win.
“Marcus and Jordan were on fire. Jordan got us off to a great start, and then Marcus got hot with 3s. One thing neat about our team is that they are unselfish, and they see when someone gets hot.
An aching back
Caroline, according to Musselman, has been bothered by a tight back.
“About three weeks,” Musselman said. “He rolls around on a foam thing and gets massages. He is closer with Elbert (Denina) our trainer than he is with me (these days).
“I asked him about 20 times during the UNLV game if he needed (to come out) to get his back stretched out.
“I think the only time it affects him is between 11:30 and 1:30 when we practice.”
All forgotten
Freshman Josh Hall took a nasty spill against the Spartans in the first meeting, suffering a concussion, which caused him to miss a few games.
Musselman said he thought it was a hard foul, but a clean play, and said it hasn’t been discussed among the team.
“San Jose is a class program,” Musselman said. “It was just two guys going to the basket hard. Unfortunately the landing (was bad).
“Coach (Dave) Wojcik called when the team was on the bus to see how Josh was, and he checked back a couple of other times.”
