SALT LAKE CITY -- Caleb Martin scored a career-high 33 points, Jordan Caroline added 17, and No. 6 Nevada beat Utah 86-71 on Saturday.
Jazz Johnson went 4 for 4 from the beyond the arc as the Wolf Pack made 12 3s and shot 46 percent from long range. Coming into the game, the Wolf Pack had made just 27 of their last 112 3-pint attempts.
Nevada, which forced Utah into 18 turnovers, remained just one of five undefeated NCAA Division I teams.
Martin emerged from a shooting slump in a big way with six 3-pointers to go along with seven assists and four steals.
Sedrick Barefield countered with season-best 33 points for the Utes (6-6), who couldn’t bounce back from Nevada’s big run early in the second half. Donnie Tillman had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Utah, which lost for the first time at home this season.
Trailing by double-digits most of the second half, Utah pulled to 75-66 with 4:17 to play on Charles Jones Jr.'s 3-pointer.
But Martin made a couple more baskets and Nevada grabbed three timely offensive rebounds to seal the win.
Utah had height to content with the formidable Wolf Pack frontline, but the Utes couldn’t stay with the Nevada on drives to the hoop and scrambles for loose balls.
After a back-and-forth first half, the Wolf Pack ratcheted up the pressure and turned a 38-37 edge into an 11-point lead. The Nevada defense forced Utah into five turnovers on their first six possessions of the second half. Caleb Martin sparked the 13-3 run with an off-balance 3 and capped it with an assist to Jordan Caroline to make it 51-40.
Neither team was happy with how tight the officials called any contact and it finally boiled over when Cody Martin got a technical foul with 13:57 left. Trey Porter, who had nine points, fouled out with 9:30 to play and Martin missed significant time with foul trouble.
The win marked the best start since Nevada became a Division I school in 1969 and the only time the Wolf Pack have completed non-conference play with an unblemished record.