Nevada cruises to 86-64 win over Saluki Men’s Basketball

By Tom Weber 

LAS VEGAS, NV — Caleb Martin buried his first five shots from 3-point distance and finished with 19 points, as Nevada cruised to an 86-64 win over Southern Illinois on Friday night at Orleans Arena.

The Wolfpack (11-2) used a devastating 25-2 run during the first half to blow open what was a close game in the opening minutes. Martin didn’t start the game but the contest shifted dramatically after he entered, as the 6-foot-7 guard made four treys during the game-changing run.

“Martin was the key for them,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson, who saw his team’s three-game winning streak come to an end. “He was a pro. There’s a reason all these pro scouts were here.”

The Salukis (7-5) made five of their first six shots from the field and led, 14-10, with 14:07 to go in the first half. Kavion Pippen was a factor early, scoring five points for Southern, Sean Lloyd hit a three, and Tyler Smithpeters was fouled on a 3-point shot and made all three from the charity stripe.

Those were the highlights before the bottom fell out for Southern. During an eight-minute stretch in which they were out-scored by 23 points, the Salukis missed 10-of-11 shots and committed five turnovers.

Nevada’s advantage in length and athleticism was apparent on both ends of the floor. The Wolfpack shot 57 percent from the field, made 11-of-19 from long distance, out-rebounded SIU, 41-23, and had a 14-point advantage in bench scoring, thanks primarily to Martin.

“I think a lot of (our success) has to do with Caleb Martin has been willing to come off the bench,” said Nevada head coach Eric Musselman. “I thought we shared the ball, did a really good job of playing team basketball. Cody (Martin) was great at distributing the ball. We were phenomenal tonight on the glass.”

Southern had four players score in double figures — Lloyd (12), Pippen (11), Rudy Stradnieks (11) and Aaron Cook (10), but the offense shot just 38 percent from the field, including 4-of-17 from deep.

Nevada’s only apparent weakness was the lack of a true center, and Southern had success throwing it into the post, where both Pippen and Stradnieks were effective. Pippen, however, struggled on defense and fouled out after logging just 14 minutes. He picked up his third foul of the first half when Southern was forced to put him back in to try to stop the bleeding.

“When we put him back in with two (fouls), we said they’re going to run an iso at you, you have to stay down on the ground,” Hinson said. “Sure enough, he rises up and gets the third foul. The fourth foul was the same thing, the fifth the same thing.”

Stradnieks had a career-high and the first double-figure scoring night of his career. He even buried a 3-ball.

“We told him in the timeouts, we told him coming into the game — you’re going to be a priority,” Hinson said. “We’re going to get the ball down to you low and our guys did a good job getting it to him.”

SIU’s four starting guards combined to shoot 8-of-33 from the field, and point guard Marcus Bartley played only 13 minutes before leaving the game with a lower back strain.

Although Southern struggled defensively, it managed to hold former Saluki Jordan Caroline to 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting.

“We probably know how to guard Jordan better than anybody because we had the luxury having him with us,” Hinson said.

Nevada led by as many as 28, but the Salukis kept the game from getting out of hand in the second half, unlike the team’s 42-point loss to Louisville earlier this season.

“We didn’t do what we did at Louisville,” Hinson said. “Louisville  — we just stopped competing. Tonight, we kept competing and we told them we wanted to get this thing under 20 if we could. The guys kept fighting and kept doing what we asked them to do.”

SIU returns to action tomorrow for the final game of the Las Vegas Invitational when it plays Duquesne at 5:30 p.m. Central. The game will be televised on Fox Sports 1.