Nevada Wolf Pack Basketball

Nevada suffered a blowout loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils 98-73 in the First Four of the NCAA tournament on Wednesday night at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, and the selection committee has to be questioning the decision to put the Wolf Pack in the tournament.

Both Nevada and Arizona State snuck into the tournament as two of the last four teams into the 68-team bracket, but now fans aren't so sure the Wolf Pack deserved a spot to begin with following Wednesday's loss.

Nevada was outplayed from start to finish, entering halftime down 53-26 after a disappointing first-half showing. The Wolf Pack played better in the second half, as Will Baker (17 points) and Tré Coleman (14 points) tried to lead a comeback, but it was too little, too late for Nevada.

Following the loss, fans ripped Nevada for being undeserving of a chance to play in the biggest tournament of the year:

Nevada was selected to the tournament despite losing three straight games to Wyoming, UNLV and San Jose State—all non-NCAA tournament teams—prior to Selection Sunday.

Many basketball fans were puzzled by the decision to give the Wolf Pack a First Four berth, and their performance on Wednesday only confirmed that skepticism.

Arizona State's DJ Horne (20 points), Desmond Cambridge Jr. (17 points) and Jamiya Neal (16 points) paced the Sun Devils on Wednesday, and that trio is going to need to continue playing at a high level if they hope to advance further in the NCAA tournament.

The Sun Devils are set to face TCU in the West Region's first round later this week.

Watch March Madness Live to stream every tournament game through the Final Four.

The Nevada Wolf Pack officially hired former UCLA Bruins head coach Steve Alford Thursday on a 10-year contract.

247Sports' Evan Daniels first reported the news earlier on Thursday.

Alford replaces Eric Musselman, who left to take over the Arkansas Razorbacks. He spent the past five-and-a-half seasons at UCLA, compiling a 124-63 record.

The Bruins made four NCAA tournament appearances under Alford, reaching the Sweet 16 on three occasions.

Between his stops at UCLA, New Mexico, Iowa and Missouri State, Alford has a 509-269 overall record and helped guide his teams to the NCAA tournament on 11 occasions. The 54-year-old has the profile and the track record to fit with a Nevada program that became a tournament mainstay under Musselman.

Alford's time with the Lobos is particularly encouraging. New Mexico reached the Big Dance once in the previous eight years before he arrived. In his third year, the Lobos reached the second round of the tournament and won 30 games.

Despite Alford's arrival, a step backward is likely inevitable for the Wolf Pack. Of the 15 players on their 2018-19 roster, eight were seniors, including Caleb Martin, Cody Martin and Jordan Caroline.

Stadium's Jeff Goodman also reported freshman forward Jordan Brown plans to transfer. Brown was the No. 19 player and No. 5 power forward in the 2018 recruiting class, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

The Wolf Pack's 2019 class ranks just 120th nationally, with 3-star junior college small forward Eric Parrish and Pittsburgh transfer Shamiel Stevenson the only additions so far. Alford still has some time to strengthen his squad, but most top players have already signed their letter of intent.

Musselman certainly picked the right time to move on, leaving Alford to inherit a tough situation.

The Nevada Wolf Pack are reportedly turning to former UCLA head coach Steve Alford as their next men's basketball coach.

On Wednesday, Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported the Mountain West Conference school will hire him unless there is a "last-second breakdown in negotiations." 

Evan Daniels of 247Sports reported Alford was the "frontrunner" after the school discussed the position with a number of other candidates. UCLA fired Alford on Dec. 31 in the middle of his sixth season with the program.

The Nevada position was only open because the Arkansas Razorbacks hired Eric Musselman after he led the Wolf Pack to the NCAA tournament each of the last three years.

Tracy Pierson of 247Sports reported UCLA fired Alford in part because "influential donors" pressured the administration to do so following a four-game losing streak that dropped the team to 7-6 this season. NBC Sports' Rob Dauster cited a source who said Bruins players hated Alford and quit on him. 

Alford coached at Missouri State, Iowa and New Mexico prior to his time with UCLA and sports a 509-269 career record. He was 124-63 with the Bruins and reached the NCAA tournament in four of his first five years, but he never made it past the Sweet 16 and lost in 2018's First Four.

That ultimately didn't cut it at the school with the most national titles in men's college basketball history, but he will attempt to continue Musselman's success with Nevada.

The Wolf Pack hadn't been to the NCAA tournament since 2007 when Musselman took over prior to the 2015-16 campaign. However, he led them to Mountain West regular-season championships in each of the last three seasons and reached the Sweet 16 in 2018.

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Cooleemee, North Carolina, is a town of approximately 900 people that has long dealt with deep-seated prejudice.

For their entire childhood, Jenny Bennett, a white mother of biracial children, protected her three kids, including Nevada Wolf Pack stars Cody and Caleb Martin.

In a B/R exclusive with Master Tesfatsion, the Martin twins and Jenny describe the struggles of living under a cloud of aggressive discrimination. 

Special thank you to Ballislife for the high school footage of Caleb and Cody Martin.

Nevada forward Jordan Caroline appeared to break glass protecting a fire extinguisher near the locker room after Saturday's 81-76 loss to Utah State.

In video footage provided by Jake Edmonds of KUTV 2 News (warning: contains strong language), Caroline appeared to be yelling at someone after breaking the glass. Wolf Pack players and coaches reportedly took offense to Utah State fans allegedly touching and verbally abusing them after storming the court.

Edmonds added Nevada players shouldn't have been in the tunnel they went down, but his assumption is they went that way because "there were too many fans on the court to allow them easy access to their own tunnel."

Players and coaches for Nevada were not made available to the media after the game.

Saturday's game was a crucial showdown in the Mountain West. Utah State moved to the top of the conference standings thanks to the win with a 14-3 record, followed by the Wolf Pack at 13-3.

Nevada received a massive boost to its 2018 recruiting class Friday with a verbal commitment from elite power forward prospect Jordan Brown.

"It honestly felt like it would be a good fit for me," Brown told 247Sports' Evan Daniels. "They were the first school to offer me so I'm just really comfortable with the coaching staff and the whole program. It's a good veteran team and they have a good chance at making to the NCAA Tournament again. I want to be a part of that."

Brown is a 5-star prospect who rates as the No. 17 overall recruit in the 2018 class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He's also graded as the fifth-ranked power forward in the group and the No. 1 player in the state of California. 

The Prolific Prep and former Woodcreck High School sensation, who measures 6'10" and 195 pounds, has done most of his damage so far attacking the rim. He's started to work on bringing more variety to his offensive skill set, however, including an ongoing extension of his shooting range.

Mitch Stephens of MaxPreps passed along comments Woodcreek head coach Paul Hayes made last March about his prized forward.

"There's not much he can't do," he said. "He was very skilled when he got here and he's just got better. A nice new thing for him is his ability to avoid contact and now he can step outside and shoot. He can consistently knock down 15-footers. He has tremendous footwork and moves. He's the complete package."

One other thing that stands out watching Brown are his soft hands. He rarely juggles or mishandles the ball when it's tossed to him in the post. He makes a confident catch and uses a growing variety of moves to create an open look around the rim.

While he'll need to add more weight to his frame as well as increase his overall strength, the other raw tools are already in place for him to shine during what could be a short stay in college.

Ultimately, it's hard to overstate Brown's potential impact for head coach Eric Musselman and the Wolfpack. He's one of the best players in the class, and his hard work to further expand his all-around game continues to increase his upside.

Although it may take some time for him to find his footing at the collegiate level, especially as he hits the weight room to power up, he should take off during the second half of his freshman year at Nevada. He should be a reliable force down low by the time the NCAA tournament arrives.

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Nevada completed one of the biggest comebacks in NCAA tournament history on a last-second basket by Josh Hall.

The No. 7 seed trailed No. 2 Cincinnati by 22 points late in the second half Sunday but closed the second-round game on a 32-8 run to pull off the 75-73 upset at Bridgestone Arena.

The final points came when Hall grabbed an offensive rebound on a miss by Cody Martin and laid it in for two points with 10 seconds remaining. The Bearcats were unable to tie the game on their last possession.

Hall had a relatively quiet sophomore season but now has 29 points in the Wolf Pack's first two tournament games, with his last field goal being arguably the biggest of his career.

When your team comes back from a 22-point deficit to reach the Sweet 16, you gotta celebrate in style.

Nevada Wolf Pack head coach Eric Musselman couldn't contain his excitement following a 75-73 defeat of the second-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats in the second round of the 2018 NCAA men's basketball tournament Sunday.

Musselman removed his shirt and tie as he entered the locker room and was doused with water by his players and assistant coaches:

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The seventh-seeded Wolf Pack are moving on to the regional semifinals for only the second time in program history. Nevada will face off Thursday with the No. 11 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers, who upset the No. 3 Tennessee Volunteers in the second round.

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Warning: Video contains profanity. 

Nevada Wolfpack head coach Eric Musselman was just a little fired up after his team defeated the 10th-seeded Texas Longhorns, 87-83, in overtime on Friday. 

Speaking to his players in the locker room following the Wolfpack's first-round NCAA tournament win, Musselman dropped multiple F-bombs while celebrating with his squad. 

Nevada, the No. 7 seed in the South Region, erased a 14-point second-half deficit to force the extra session. It then erupted for 19 points in overtime to seal the deal. 

The Wolfpack will square off against the No. 2 Cincinnati Bearcats in second-round action on Sunday.