The Nevada men’s basketball team beat San Jose State, 87-54, on Tuesday night at Lawlor Events Center to improve to 14-5 overall and 6-2 in the Mountain West. Here are three takeaways from Nevada’s win over the Spartans.

1. Nevada’s one preseason weakness on paper has turned into an elite strength

Nevada’s one big weakness on paper entering the season — its 3-point shooting — has turned into one of its biggest strengths. The Wolf Pack entered the year with a roster that had shot a combined 31 percent from three during their Division I careers. That deep-shooting concern has not only been assuaged but turned into a point of power. Against San Jose State, the Wolf Pack made 12-of-21 3-pointers (57.1 percent) to improve its season-long 3-point shooting to 38.2 percent, which ranks 17th in the nation. In MW play, Nevada has been even better, making a league-best 40.2 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. While there was much debate about what happened to last year’s Nevada team, it was pretty simple — the team forgot how to shoot. After making 41.9 percent of its 3-pointers in non-league play (second best in the nation), that figure sunk to 31.1 percent in MW games (worst in the league). If you can’t make 3-pointers, it’s hard to win basketball games these days. But this year’s Wolf Pack team has found a strength in long-range shooting with Corey Camper Jr. (43.2 percent), Vaughn Weems (52.4), Amire Robinson (42.4), Chuck Bailey III (40.4) and Myles Walker (45.5) all making more than 40 percent.

2. Corey Camper Jr. is back with a vengeance

The Wolf Pack added a bevy of transfers this offseason with Fresno State’s Elijah Price and Evansville’s Tayshawn Comer getting most of the acclaim. But it was UTEP’s Corey Camper Jr. who was Nevada’s best player in the early going this season. Camper averaged 15.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists in Nevada’s first nine games, making 44.2 percent of his shots and 37.2 percent from three. He then suffered a back injury that knocked him out of action for a month. And while Nevada went 4-0 during that stretch, the Wolf Pack is clearly at its best with a healthy Camper. It took Camper a couple of games to get back in a groove as he was held to six points in a narrow win over Fresno State and eight in a loss to San Diego State, making just 6-of-18 shots and 1-of-6 threes during that stretch. Now fully reacclimated, Camper has averaged 21.8 points in Nevada’s last four games, shooting 58.8 percent overall and 60 percent from three. In the win over San Jose State, Camper had a team-high 19 points in 20 minutes, setting the tone early with three made threes in the first five minutes. If Nevada is going to do something special, Camper will be a big reason why, and he’s back to the productive and healthy version witnessed to start the season.

3. Nevada walk-on hangs a highlight-reel dunk

In blowout situations like the one Nevada had against San Jose State, the walk-on usually gets a couple of minutes at the end of the game with his teammates working the ball around to get him an open three. Well, Wolf Pack walk-on Christopher Baudreau took a different approach. He was going for a body bag, and he delivered that in the waning moments. The true freshman from Las Vegas put a pair of Spartans on a poster with his on-their-head dunk off an Ethan Croley miss with 46 seconds remaining. It was just the second appearance in Baudreau’s career — he scored two points in 2 minutes in the season opener against Louisiana Tech — but it was a moment Baudreau will not soon forget, with his dunk the highlight of the game. Per usual, never question a man named Chris. You can see the dunk below,.

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Credit Nevada for taking care of business against cellar-dwellers Air Force and San Jose State, which was without its top-three scorers due to injury. Those victories boosted the Wolf Pack about 10 spots in the KenPom and NET rankings with Nevada slotting 63 in KenPom and 65 in NET. Now, the schedule stiffens back up with the Wolf Pack playing at New Mexico on Saturday, hosting Grand Canyon and UNLV next week and then traveling to Boise State for a game after that. Utah State lost its second straight contest last night, this one at home to UNLV for a Quad 3 loss. That pushed Nevada (6-2) into a tie for second in the MW behind only San Diego State (7-0). The Wolf Pack is one of five teams with two league losses, making each game of the utmost importance. A road win at New Mexico would keep Nevada firmly in the MW title hunt.

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