The Nevada men’s basketball team hosts Utah Valley on Saturday at Lawlor Events Center. Nevada Sports Net’s Chris Murray breaks down the game with his three keys to victory and prediction. This feature is presented in partnership with Bradley, Drendel & Jeanney.

Utah Valley (2-0) at Nevada (2-1)

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

Where: Lawlor Events Center (11,536 capacity)

TV/Radio: None/95.5 FM

Online: MW+

Betting line: No line listed yet

Three keys for Nevada to win

1. Lock down behind the line: Nevada will play a third straight game against a team that is dangerous from three. The Wolf Pack was burned from deep in the first half of Wednesday’s loss at UCSB before doing a better job of defending the line in the second half. Utah Valley has made an NCAA-best 52.6 percent of its threes, including a 14-of-23 performance in its last game, a 101-93 win over Weber State. Tyler Weaver (7-of-10 from three) and Jordy Barnes (6-of-11) are the guys to mark for Nevada after getting off to hot starts this season. The Wolf Pack must make Utah Valley put the ball on the floor rather than allowing rhythm shots for three, which the Wolverines have proven they can hit.

2. More free throws than threes: Nevada, on the other hand, doesn’t want to take too many threes. So far this season, the deep shot has not been kind to the Wolf Pack. Nevada has made 27.3 percent of its shots from beyond the arc, and was even worse during its exhibition games. It was 2-of-18 from three in the loss to UCSB. Nevada can’t completely shy away from long-range shots, but this doesn’t seem to be a strength. Getting to the free throw line could be a strength. And with Nevada back at home, it needs to be aggressive going to the basket, which Styles Phipps showed in the second half against the Gauchos. Nevada needs to attempt more free throws than 3-pointers in this game, which is highly likely as Utah Valley has allowed 27 free throws attempts an outing, so the Wolverines have been foul prone.

3. Stars step up: Nevada is not going to win many games when Elijah Price and Vaughn Weems are held to a combined 17 points on 7-of-22 shooting (31.8 percent), which is what happened ay UCSB. Those are Nevada’s two returning stars who were voted to the preseason All-MW team. They must rebound against Utah Valley to pair with Phipps, who has been fantastic in all three games this season (19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists per game on 73.3 percent shooting). Price played a good chunk of time at center against UCSB with bigs Simon Majok and Cedric Lath logging a combined 16 minutes. Utah Valley has solid post size, so if Price is going to be matched up against them, he must use his quickness. Weems, meanwhile, has to remain in attack mode despite a tough one in SoCal (10 points on 5-of-14).

Prediction

Nevada 77, Utah Valley 71: After its first loss of the season, Nevada faces a Utah Valley team that has won back-to-back WAC championships while going 52-18 since the start of the 2024-25 season under fourth-year head coach Todd Phillips, who is assisted by former Nevada point guard Todd Okeson. The Wolverines’ top-five scorers have all played multiple years at Utah Valley (leading scorer, Dominick Nelson, returned to the school this season after one year at Iowa State). Utah Valley isn’t the same caliber as Saint Mary’s or UCSB – the Wolf Pack’s last two opponents – but is more than capable of beating Nevada if the team doesn’t bring a strong effort. Season record: 2-1

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter at @ByChrisMurray.