Brigham Young Cougars vs Nevada Wolf Pack Match Player Stats On Nov 06, 2018

Jordan Caroline's 28th career double-double gave No. 7 Nevada a good start to the most anticipated season in its program's history Tuesday night, an 86-70 win over BYU in Reno, Nev.

Caroline scored 25 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for the Wolf Pack, while Caleb Martin recovered from a foul-plagued first half in which he played just four minutes. Martin added 21 points, and Jazz Johnson came off the bench to tally 12.

"We put Jordan in the middle of the zone offensively and just told him to attack," Nevada coach Eric Musselman said.

Cougars forward Yoeli Childs had 16 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out with 2:35 left in the game, while Jahshire Hardnett contributed 17 points. However, BYU couldn't consistently make shots, sinking only 37.7 percent from the field and 6 of 31 on 3-point attempts.

BYU also wasn't able to keep Nevada off the foul line. The Wolf Pack went 28 of 39 at the stripe while the Cougars were 12 of 19.

Hardnett canned two foul shots with 13:50 left to give the Cougars a 52-49 edge, but Nevada responded with 10 consecutive points, taking the lead for good when Caroline converted a layup with 12:49 remaining. Another Caroline layup at the 5:44 mark kicked off a game-ending 21-9 spurt for the Wolf Pack.

Nevada ripped off the game's first nine points, forcing BYU coach Dave Rose into the unenviable position of calling a timeout before his team got on the board for the season. It took the usually potent Cougars 5:04 to score, Zac Seljaas doing the honors with a 3-pointer.

BYU found traction after its rough start, though, and took its first lead at the 8:40 mark when TJ Haws stroked a 3-pointer to make it 22-20. From there, the game see-sawed back and forth, both teams playing physically and fouling often.

The Wolf Pack owned a 34-28 advantage after Corey Henson drilled two free throws with 2:36 remaining in the half, but the Cougars rallied. Kolby Lee's layup with 54 seconds on the clock made it a 34-34 game at halftime.

--Field Level Media