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One could easily say it took a career game by the best player in the WAC to best KU Thursday night, but the story behind Nevada’s 72-70 victory Thursday night at Allen Field House was less about Nick Fazekas and more about Nevada’s experience prevailing over Kansas’ talent. The bottom line was Nevada had played together in many close games over several seasons, while this team is still playing its fifth game. When Kansas coach Bill Self exposed Nevada’s poor outside shooting by switching to a zone defense at the under-12 timeout in the second half. The Jayhawks were really quite close to falling out of the game (not necessarily getting blown out, but not being in the game either) and after the change from man-to-man Nevada made only four field goals, and two of those were stick backs by Fazekas. The move sparked a 12-2 KU run that gave the Jayhawks a 52-50 lead at the eight minute mark. Nevada kept their poise throughout the stretch run, and Fazekas kept hitting shot after shot. A huge defensive mistake allowed Fazekas to nail a wide open three pointer with three minutes to go, making it a two possession game at 64-60. About a minute later, Fazekas hit two free throws, extending Nevada’s lead to six. With about a minute and a half left, sophomore Russell Robinson hit the first of two free throws, and C.J. Giles tipped in the rebound after Robinson missed the second shot, and KU was back in business at 68-65. A dunk by freshman Brandon Rush and a three by Micah Downs weren’t enough to overcome Nevada’s free throw accuracy. KU had one last chance, getting the ball back with 6.9 seconds left. Jeff Hawkins took the inbounds pass and drove the length of the court, reminding me of Tyus Edney’s drive against Missouri in the 1995 NCAA tournament. (Hey, anytime anything bad happens to Mizzou, I tend to remember it fondly.) Unlike Missouri, Nevada played defense. Hawkins found no one open, drove the ball under the hoop and tried to pass the ball to Giles or draw the foul. The officials didn’t bite, and that was the ballgame. Was Hawkins fouled at the end of the game? Possibly, but he did have the option of pulling up for the jumper. After a 2-9 performance from the field, I wonder if he lacked confidence in himself to take that shot. Nevada’s super sub Marcellus Kemp was held to six points, well under his 21 a game average, and Mo Charlo was just under his average with 12 points. Fazekas had their backs, and kept the attention of the 17 NBA scouts in the house. “They had a great player tonight; better than anybody else on the floor by a long ways” coach Self said after the game. “He was terrific, and we knew that, and we don’t have a guy that can guard a player like that yet.” The home team did do some things well in the second half, playing with more intensity and making a few strong moves to the basket. For the game they made 76 percent of their free throws. Unfortunately, Nevada made 88 percent. However, the ‘Hawks didn’t stay away from the ticky-tack fouls that allowed Nevada into the bonus free throws sooner than they should have been. The team is still way too found of the three point shot, and Hawkins may want to consider why he’s so open for the three all the time. I have yet to see a final stat sheet; it appeared after a rocky start (two turnovers in the first two minutes of the game) that the number of turnovers is down some and the issue is when they are committed. It seemed there would be a turnover when KU could take a two possession lead (the biggest lead of the night for KU was three). Overall, Kansas looked like a very average basketball team at best Thursday night, thus the ‘C’ grade. The Jayhawks weren’t good enough to beat Nevada in the Fieldhouse, and if this game had been played anywhere else I think final score wouldn’t have been as close. It’s coming along, but it’s difficult to watch a KU team make so many mental mistakes. This game wasn’t as ugly as the Arizona game, which could be largely attributed to nerves. Nevada played well, but not over their heads. The Wolf Pack was beatable, and I’m sure the KU coaches and players see this game as an opportunity lost. Mark Howe is a freelance writer currently residing in Milford, IN. He is a former ticket taker, usher and security worker at Allen Fieldhouse, and can be reached at mhowe (at) rockchalk (dot) com.