Grant Sherfield, Nevada basketball’s newcomer of the year
RENO, Nev. (BVM) — After a 16-10 season, the University of Nevada, Reno men’s basketball team has earned a much-deserved break.
The 2021 Mountain West Conference season was a trying time for the Wolf Pack. Many new faces stepped out onto the court, but this young team made its way through under head coach Steve Alford.
The men finished their season in the first game of the MWC tournament, but regardless of how far they made it, the season was successful and the expectations for Nevada basketball will only continue to grow.
Men’s basketball had a year full of personal acquisition for the unification of the team. Grant Sherfield, a sophomore, is one of Nevada’s most notable players. Coming in as a transfer from Wichita State University, Sherfield chose Nevada after originally being a UCLA commit. Before Alford’s success at Nevada, he coached at UCLA establishing a relationship with Sherfield long ago.
“I’m excited to have him at the beginning of our culture building.” Alford mentioned to Nevada Athletics. “He’s a tremendous individual with a great work ethic. He stands for all the things we want in a student-athlete.”
Sherfield showed his work ethic and as a starting sophomore, he finished the season averaging 18.6 points per game.
After being voted to the USBWA All-District VIII team, Sherfield also was voted to the NABC All-District 17 First Team, and named Mountain West Newcomer of the Year and All-Mountain West First Team. With it only being his first season at Nevada, Sherfield described what it has been like to achieve as much as he has his sophomore year.
“It’s a lot of time in the gym, it’s a lot of long nights and early mornings just paying off.” Sherfield said. “It’s always good to get recognition and to see accolades come, but you just can’t be complacent when you see them. You just have to continue to work. Try to get better.”
The team played San Diego State University back in January, a game that had both teams going neck-to-neck. Sherfield described this as the most memorable game of the season.
“We were up 15 and they just went on a run and we just kept fighting back,” Sherfield said. “They caught the lead from us and then it was a real battle down the stretch. And then that was one of the first times we hit adversity and just bounced back as a team.”
Flashing forward to the latest game, The Pack faced San Diego but lost 77-70. With the team starting practice back up this week, Sherfield shared his goals for himself and the team.
“I have a pretty long goal list,” Sherfield said. “I try to shoot for the stars, but my biggest goal right now is to play in a tournament. We missed out on that this year being a young team, but that’s still no excuse, we want to go far and I definitely think we can get there.”
