UNLV Rebels guard Nick Blake (22) drives to the basket against Benedictine Mesa Redhawks’ Maurice Walton (32) during a game at the Thomas & Mack Center Thursday Jan. 21, 2021.
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021 | 2 a.m.
UNLV’s heart-stopping 59-56 win over Utah State on Monday could have concluded a little less dramatically if it weren’t for two missed breakaway dunks by freshman Nick Blake in the final minute. Despite those miscues, Blake’s teammates and coaches are standing behind him and seem convinced the Las Vegas native’s breakout year will continue unabated.
The first play came with 50 seconds left and UNLV holding a 57-52 lead. UNLV broke Utah State’s full-court press and Blake swooped in for an uncontested two-handed jam. Except Blake misjudged the attempt and ended up jamming the ball into the back of the rim, where it bounced out and was recovered by Utah State.
After a pair of Utah Sate free throws trimmed UNLV’s lead to 57-54, Blake again broke ahead of the press and caught a pass streaking toward the rim for another dunk. This time Blake misjudged how far away from the hoop he was and took three steps without dribbling; he made the dunk but was called for a travel with 29 seconds on the clock.
Utah State eventually closed within a single point but UNLV held on for the win, thanks in large part to Moses Wood’s block at the buzzer.
“We’re a team,” Wood said. “When mistakes happen we’ve just got to build each other up. Nick is a phenomenal player, a freshman, kind of new to college basketball, but we trust him and we love him. We know he’s going to move on and we’re all going to move on to the next play.”
Before his difficulties dunking the ball, Blake had played a superb game off the bench, totaling eight points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in 25 minutes. During one key second-half stretch, Blake swished a long 3-pointer to extend UNLV’s lead to 48-43; a minute later he came up with a steal, glided into the open court and put the ball behind his back to elude a defender as he went up to convert a highlight layup to make it 50-43.
Those are the kinds of plays Blake can provide, which is why head coach T.J. Otzelberger stressed the need for UNLV to stick with Blake as the season enters its stretch run.
“I couldn’t have more confidence in him,” Otzelberger said. “He’s a tremendous playmaker. He made some big plays [on Monday] throughout the course of the game. He is a freshman, but he’s going to be a big part of this program this year and for years to come. I couldn’t be more confident in him.”
For the season Blake is averaging 8.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 18.7 minutes. He is also connecting on 37.5% of his 3-pointers, making him the second-most accurate shooter on the team.
Otzelberger said he trusts Blake to learn from his mistakes and that he’ll continue to trust the freshman in game-deciding situations.
“There’s some plays I know he wished he’d have had back,” Otzelberger said. “That’s part of the learning curve. That’s part of being a freshman. I’ll take Nick Blake all day long and go to war with him and put him right back in that spot if we’re in it on Wednesday. I believe in my guy and I trust him and I know he’ll come through for us.”
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
