New Mexico fell to Nevada in a 77-76 men’s basketball heartbreaker on Tuesday night, thanks to last-second heroics from Kenan Blackshear.
With the win, Nevada head coach Steve Alford improved to 8-0 and 2-0 in the Pit since leaving the Lobos for UCLA in 2013. Video of Alford’s postgame comments are embedded abov,e but here are five key quotes from him and Blackshear:
1. Alford on Blackshear’s game-winning shot:
“There’s a good connection with the staff and Kenan. There’s a lot of trust. And there’s a lot of trust within his teammates. When we were discussing what we wanted to run in that last play with 15 seconds to go, Kenan basically told us no (to running a play) …Jerod was open. Jerod was actually wide open but Kenan wanted this one.
“We scored, they scored and we scored. Kenan did a good enough job on making the basket that it rolled around the rim for a while to where only 0.1 (seconds) was left.”
2. Blackshear on watching his shot fall bounce up and fall through the rim with 0.1 seconds left:
“I wasn’t really thinking about nothing. If it goes off, it goes off, if it goes in, it goes in. I can live with it if I miss it. What am I gonna get, hate mail stuff and stuff like that? I can live with that. I love it.”
3. Alford assessing Nevada’s best road win of the season:
“We didn’t just win on the road. We won at the Pit.”
4. Alford on preparing a team with “zero” Pit experience for Tuesday night:
“I can only do so much. I can tell them what it’s like. I was here for six years. It’s a special place. I’ve said it – not only is it a special fanbase in here at games, it’s a special arena. The Pit’s special to me. I just think it’s one of the neatest venues in college basketball, dating all the way back to (former NC State coach Jim Valvano) winning in here.”
5. Alford on helping “create” the Pit atmosphere and his reception:
“I noticed the pregame video talked about ‘we are New Mexico. Well, that happened at Texas A&M (with an 84-81 win over the Aggies in 2009). I was a part of that. I know I’ve got enough friends here that there’s appreciation of what we did and what we created here. It was the best run academically through six years. It was the best run APR-wise, it was the best run of titles in a six year period …
“I know how special this is … but I also know this fan base as a prideful base. And I left. So, I expect to be booed. But I think deep down, hopefully there’s an appreciation of just what we were able to accomplish here.”
