A day before Nevada hosted UNLV on Saturday night at Lawlor Events Center, coach Eric Musselman, making his debut in the rivalry series, got a text message from associate athletic director Rory Hickok.
“You’re going to feel something you haven’t felt here,” the text message read.
He was right.
The fifth largest-crowd in Lawlor’s history packed the arena, with 11,341 raucous fans cramming into the 11,536-capacity facility, and Nevada gave those fans just what they wanted: a dramatic win over UNLV.
Riding a wave of emotion from its largest home crowd since 2007, Nevada beat UNLV, 65-63, digging out of a nine-point second-half hole to win its fourth game over the Rebels in the last six matchups.