Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Rebels miss their shot in loss at Boise State

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Steve Marcus

UNLV Rebels guard Amauri Hardy (3) and guard Elijah Mitrou-Long (55) head to the Rebels’ bench during a time out in a game against Texas State at the Thomas & Mack Center Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019.

UNLV's newly trademarked intensity certainly made the trip to Boise, but Wednesday's road tilt taught the Rebels that hustle alone can't win basketball games — you've got to make some shots, too.

Boise State did that, especially from beyond the arc, and that was the difference as the Broncos pulled away for a 73-66 win.

It was UNLV's first loss in conference play (3-1), and the Rebels are again under .500 for the season at 8-9.

UNLV finished 6-of-25 from 3-point range, while Boise State was much more efficient at 8-of-19. Broncos' guard Justinian Jessup made 5-of-6 by himself, including a clutch triple late in the game to put UNLV away.

T.J. Otzelberger pointed to the Rebels' inaccuracy — even on open shots — as a big deciding factor.

"I think we had some good looks," Otzelberger said. "If you're going to win on the road against a pretty good team, you're going to have to knock down some shots too, and we didn't make enough of them."

Senior Nick Blair drew the primary assignment of defending Boise State leading scorer Derrick Alston, and Blair's physical approach worked early in the game. Alston missed his first four shots from the field, but quickly warmed up and began finding cracks in the Rebels' defense.

Alston's continual forays into the paint earned him 12 free-throw attempts on the night, and his pull-up 3-pointer from the top of the key beat the halftime buzzer and extended the Broncos' lead to 36-31 heading into the locker room.

Donnie Tillman, who did not play in UNLV's win over Air Force as punishment for being late to the team shoot-around, came off the bench against Boise State and kept the Rebels afloat in the first half by scoring eight points in 12 minutes.

Jessup nailed back-to-back 3's early in the second half to extend the Broncos' lead to 10 points, but UNLV hung around due to tenacious defense and a commitment to the offensive glass that yielded 16 second-chance points.

Boise led, 67-62, with under a minute to play when Jessup got the ball on a short shot clock. UNLV center Mbacke Diong picked up Jessup on a switch, and the 6-foot-5 lefty sized up Diong before pulling up and letting fly a deep 3 from the right wing. The shot swished through to make it 70-62 and extinguish the Rebels' comeback hopes.

Jessup finished with 18 points, while Alston racked up a game-high 26 points on 7-of-19 shooting.

UNLV point guard Marvin Coleman said the Rebels let Alston get too comfortable early in the game, especially driving to the rim.

"We picked it up probably about six or seven minutes into the game, but Alston already had rhythm and their guys were going," Coleman said. "We kept battling so that's a credit to our guys, but we can't start out games like that on the road."

Sophomore Bryce Hamilton continued his run of good play with a team-high 19 points and seven rebounds. Coleman scored 12 on 4-of-6 shooting.

Amauri Hardy (10 points) and Jonah Antonio (five points) struggled with their shooting strokes and finished a combined 3-of-15 from 3-point range.

UNLV will now head to Wyoming on Saturday with a good chance of improving to 4-1 in the Mountain West — if they can avoid falling into the same kind of double-digit hole they found themselves in against Boise.

Otzelberger liked the Rebels' tenacity on Wednesday, but he would have liked it a lot more if it came with some shot-making.

"Our guys continued to fight and compete," Otzelberger said. "There was a point in that game where it was 10 or 11 [points] and it could have gotten away from us, so we battled back to stay in it. We were at a similar point against Cincinnati on the road and found a way to get back into it, so I think our guys believe that they can do it. We've just got to finish plays, especially late."

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.

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