MILWAUKEE – One area where Nevada coach Eric Musselman thought his team had an advantage going into its NCAA opener against Iowa State was in rebounding.
Unfortunately for the Wolf Pack, it didn’t come to fruition. Iowa State held a 38-28 advantage on the glass that led to nine-second chance points in the 84-73 loss to the Cyclones on Thursday night at Bradley Center.
“One area I was most disappointed in is the rebounding because I felt that was an area that we needed to succeed in,” he said. “And, then to lose the battle of the boards by 10 is, you know, that’s the biggest difference in the game. They had a couple of long rebounds.”
Musselman was pleased the Pack held Iowa State to two less 3s (8 compared to the Cyclones’ average of 10). The Pack, with some big-time pressure in the second half, forced ISU into 13 turnovers that led to 15 points.
“Again, they don’t turn the ball over,” Musselman said. “We turned them over a lot compared to what they normally do.”
A couple of those ISU turnovers came when Nevada closed the gap to 55-51 midway through the second half.
GOOD TO BE HOME
Iowa State’s Milwaukee trio of Darrell Bowie, Donovan Jackson and Deonte Burton had a big hand in the Cyclones’ win over Nevada on Thursday.
Bowie scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds off the bench, Burton scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Jackson had 12 points after knocking down all four of his free-throw attempts and all four of his field-goal attempts.
“That’s how you put on for your city,” Bowie said. “That is what you call a homecourt advantage. We just wanted to give the crowd a reason to get loud and be proud of us.”
Musselman was impressed with ISU’s bench play. Not surprisingly, ISU’s reserves outscored Nevada, 20-4.
“I thought two guys in particular were phenomenal,” he said. “We talked about Jackson really being a starter, and Bowie started until they moved Solomon Young in there.”
CROWD COUNT
The numbers were good for the two sessions on Thursday. The early session drew 17,303 for the doubleheader, and the night session which included Vermont, Nevada, Purdue and Iowa State, drew 18,025.
DID YOU KNOW
Jordan Caroline scored at least 20 points for the ninth game this year, ending the night with 20… Senior Marcus Marshall scored at least 10 points for the 33rd game this season, finishing the game with 22…Cam Oliver finished with four blocks. It was the 18th time this year and 39th time overall he had three or more blocks in a game. He currently is third on the school’s all-time block list, trailing Dario Hunt and Nick Fazekas … Caroline had eight rebounds, and it was the 15th time he led the team … Oliver and Marshall played the entire 40 minutes.
