How to Watch (and bet)
Date: Thursday, 11/27/25
Tip-Off Time: 1:30 pm PT
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: Huskies Gameday App, Sports Radio KJR
Location: Palm Springs, CA
Betting Line: Washington Huskies -6.5
Nevada Wolfpack 2025-26 Statistics:
Record: 4-2
Points For per Game: 78.7 (131st)
Points Against per Game: 74.2 (156th)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 111.7 (107th)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 105.3 (112th)
Strength of Schedule: 199th
Nevada Key Players:
G- Tayshawn Comer, Sr. 6’1, 204: 15.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.5 apg, 41.1% FG, 30.4% 3pt, 77.8% FT
Evanmiya.com Stats: +2.56 BPR (1st), 117.3 Adj Off Eff (3rd), 102.2 Adj Def Eff (6th)
Comer is on his 3rd school after starting his career at Eastern Kentucky then playing last season at Evansville and averaged 16.2 points per game but on sub-40% shooting. His numbers so far at Nevada are nearly identical but in 8 fewer minutes per game. That’s a sign that he has a sky high usage rate for the Wolfpack so far and will have the ball in his hands most of the time he’s on the court. Comer’s 31.3% career 3-point percentage shows that he can shoot it from deep but would prefer to drive the ball when possible.
G- Corey Camper, Sr. 6’5, 181: 16.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.5 apg, 48.6% FG, 38.7 3pt, 79.2% FT
Evanmiya.com Stats: +2.00 BPR (3rd), 121.0 Adj Off Eff (1st), 102.2 Adj Def Eff (5th)
Camper transferred in from UTEP and is having a breakout season in his new surroundings. His true shooting percentage the last two seasons was 47% and 48.6% and this season it is up to 60.5% as he’s shooting better than his career average from every part of the floor. That could suggest he’s clicking in a new system or that he’s very much due for a regression to the mean once he starts playing against harder competition. He’s coming off a game with 27 points on 9/14 shooting including a career best 4 made 3-point shots.
F- Chuck Bailey III, Jr. 6’4, 218: 8.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.3 apg, 35.6% FG, 38.9% 3pt, 76.9% FT
Evanmiya.com Stats: -1.08 BPR (9th), 110.7 Adj Off Eff (6th), 103.0 Adj Def Eff (7th)
Bailey also played at Evansville but did so the year before Comer arrived and so came off the bench for Nevada last season. Bailey has been abysmal at the rim but shooting well from outside so both will probably regress towards the middle soon. His assist rate was 5.4% last year and is 22.6% this year so he’s playing way more with the ball in his hands this season in addition to his minutes doubling.
F- Elijah Price, So. 6’9, 215: 12.3 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 1.5 ast, 40.9% FG, 25.0% 3pt, 72.0% FT
Evanmiya.com Stats: +2.22 BPR (2nd), 114.5 Adj Off Eff (4th), 99.7 Adj Def Eff (2nd)
Price had a really nice freshman season at Fresno State and transferred within the Mountain West only to be even better so far this year. He is an absolute load to deal with in the paint having finished 3rd nationally in free throw rate last year and currently ranking 5th so far this year (not great for a woefully depleted UW frontline). He’s also an elite rebounder particularly on offense. Price will step out 1-2 times per game and attempt a 3-pointer which should be considered a win for UW every time he does given his career 13% mark from that range.
F- Joel Armotrading, Sr. 6’10, 244: 6.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.5 blk, 40.7% FG, 79.2% FT
Evanmiya.com Stats: +1.60 BPR (5th), 113.9 Adj Off Eff (5th), 98.3 Adj Def Eff (1st)
A British big who is on his 3rd stop after one and done years with Cal Poly and UC Riverside, Armotrading is a perfectly solid defensive big man. He has ranked in the top-125 nationally in block rate each of the past 3 seasons (including early on this year) and put up big rebounding numbers at previous stops. Playing alongside Price has dented his rebound totals a bit but he has gotten more aggressive in the paint ranking 28th in free throw rate so far despite only shooting 41% from the floor.
The Outlook
It would be lovely to be able to break down this game from the perspective of both teams being able to compare their full rosters. But that ignores the reality of the situation. Coach Sprinkle mentioned in his press conference on Monday that Lathan Sommerville twisted an ankle this past weekend in practice while Bryson Tucker and Hannes Steinbach hadn’t even returned to jogging following their sprained ankles. Maybe one of them comes back to play at a reduced level in this tournament but Washington appears very realistically headed towards a scenario of playing a pair of games in consecutive days with only 1 of the 7 players on the roster taller than 6’6 available.
That doesn’t bode well playing against Nevada. This Wolfpack squad seems to be a step down from the one that beat the Huskies last season in Reno and they rank just 109th at KenPom. Nevada hasn’t played anyone 200+ at KenPom and have losses to #172 UC Davis and were taken to overtime by #132 Southern Illinois. This is a game that a healthy Washington team should be able to handle if the Huskies want to be considered an NCAA tournament team.
The problem is that frontcourt depth is one of the most needed things when playing Nevada and that’s what the Huskies are completely missing right now. The Wolfpack rank 7th nationally in free throw rate and 5th in the percentage of their points that come at the free throw line where they shoot 75%. The forward/center duo of Price and Armotrading both rank in the top 30 nationally in free throw rate. They are going to keep attacking down low as options A, B, and C whenever their bigs have the ball. Not great when UW’s (likely) only player available with the size to contend with them is also the most foul prone of the bunch. Expect the Huskies to dust off their hardly-practiced zone to keep Kepnang out of foul trouble as much as possible.
When Washington has the ball, Nevada has been apt to giving up made baskets but tend to corral the rebound if the opponent does happen to miss. The Wolfpack are 260th in opponent effective field goal percentage and 25th in defensive rebounding rate. Armotrading is a good shot blocker on the interior but Washington’s 4 (or 5) guard lineups should be able to get where they want on the floor if he’s out of the game. And it would be huge if they’re able to get Price or Armotrading in foul trouble by driving to the basket since Nevada relies heavily on those two bigs and usually slides Price to the 5 if Armotrading is out rather than bringing in a 3rd center into the rotation.
Nevada tried to run a lot of full-court press early on this season and it worked against Louisiana Tech in their opener and then stopped working against better opponents. It would make sense to run it against Washington to tire the Huskies out but then again you’d hope UW with 4-5 guards on the court would be able to have the guard skills to reliably beat out. It’ll an interesting strategic decision to watch on Nevada’s part.
Coach Sprinkle has mentioned that part of the reason the offense looked so bad at times against Southern was that players aren’t used to being in the roles they’re being asked to play right now. It sounds great to say you’re going to play 5 out in a super small ball lineup and spread the floor but that ignores some simple realities. You need guys to set screens. You need guys to box out. If your guards aren’t used to doing that and haven’t had the chance to practice it then it probably won’t go well against competent opposition.
If it really is just Kepnang available then he’ll have to play a game like he did against Penn State last year for the Huskies to have a chance. Washington will likely be rolling with a starting lineup of Mandaquit/Yates/Diallo/Claude/Kepnang and relying on Claude or Rencher to ostensibly play center whenever Kepnang is on the bench (plus Peterson and Muldrew as the only other 2 on the bench). That sounds like a disaster on defense even if it theoretically means Claude and Diallo should have open driving lanes whenever they want.
Maybe Kepnang is able to rein in his instinct to block every shot that comes near him and is able to play 30 minutes without getting in foul trouble. Maybe Washington hits a ton of 3’s which counteracts the advantage Nevada will have on the other side of the ball. And maybe Nevada, like Southern, will just have a bad game from the free throw line that lets Washington pull it out. But I just have a hard time seeing the Huskies winning when they’re this undersized. If the Huskies get at least one of the trio of ankle sprain-ees back at something close to 100% then my tune changes but until then I’m marking this one down as an unfortunate L with the hope the Dawgs can somehow salvage a split in the desert and get somewhat healthy for the L.A schools next week.
Prediction
Washington Huskies– 72, Nevada Wolfpack- 80
Season picks: 5-0 straight up, 3-2 against the spread