Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

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UNLV-AFA notebook: 46 points second-fewest ever in a Rebels win

Still Scrapping

It may not be a night looked back on with much fondness, but the Rebels were able to scrape by with a 46-43 win over Air Force thanks to some scrappy play on Wednesday's Senior Night.

UNLV vs. Air Force on Senior Night

Rene Rougeau gets a shot over two defenders Wednesday night as UNLV takes on Air Force at the Thomas & Mack Center.  It was the last game of the regular season and Senior Night for the Rebels, who came out on top 46-43. Launch slideshow »
The Rebel Room

AIR FORCE POSTGAME: What do you remember about the early 1960s?

Ryan Greene and Rob 'Once again The Python' Miech discuss UNLV's sluggish, ugly 46-43 victory over Air Force on Senior Night, which, believe it or not, earned a spot in the record books. Wink Adams capped his home career with a layup with 25 seconds to go which put the Rebels up by four and iced UNLV's 21st victory of the season.

Box score

Beyond the Sun

UNLV's five seniors might not make it a point to pull out a videotape of Wednesday's 46-43 victory over Air Force to re-live their Senior Night.

Heck, more than likely, they'll have forgotten about the game by week's end.

But it still earned a spot in the UNLV record books.

The Rebels' 46 points were the second-fewest in a victory in program history. The only lower total came in a 43-42 win against -- brace yourself -- Grand Canyon College, back on Jan. 6, 1962.

However, it goes down as the fewest the Rebels have needed to win a game in the 3-point/shot clock era. The previous low came on March 8, 1991, when UNLV knocked off Long Beach State, 49-29, in the opening round of the Big West Tournament.

UNLV shot just 30 percent from the floor, but on the flip side, held Air Force to 15-of-45 shooting, not allowing the Falcons to move the ball consistently inside the 3-point arc.

"Defensively, we broke down a few times on (Andrew) Henke, but for the most part on the defensive end, we did a pretty good job," senior Joe Darger said. "Especially in the second half."

The fewest points ever by a Rebels team is 39, which was done twice. The first was in a 59-39 loss to Virginia on Jan. 3, 1994, then in a 47-39 loss at New Mexico on March 1, 2006.

Bellfield snaps the slump

No one was as efficient from 3-point range for the Rebels on Wednesday night as freshman Oscar Bellfield.

It's been a bit since that could be said.

Bellfield went 2-of-4 from deep, giving him his first multi-3-pointer game since back on Dec. 23 against Southern Utah.

In the nine games between then and Wednesday's win, he'd gone 7-of-36 (19.4 percent) from beyond the arc.

No mood for chit-chat

UNLV sophomore guard Tre'Von Willis, following Rebels losses, has a penchant for pulling a hooded sweatshirt over his head, covering up as much as possible and slinking out of the arena as fast as possible.

However, for the second time in six games, Willis wasn't in the mood to discuss his performance following a Rebels victory.

When approached on the floor following Wednesday's ugly 46-43 victory over Air Force, Willis passed, but did have one thing to say.

"I've got to work on my point guard skills," he said.

Not that anyone in a Rebels uniform necessarily lit it up against the Falcons, but Willis had one of his more forgettable nights of the season. He finished with five points on 2-of-9 shooting, six rebounds and no assists to two turnovers.

It was the complete opposite of his first try at Air Force, in which he finished with 11 assists and no giveaways.

Instead, the Rebels only had six assists as a team this time around. It was Willis's first game as a Rebel without an assist.

In fact, Wednesday marked only the third time this season in which UNLV has failed to notch double-digit assists as a team, with the other two instances being at UNR on Dec. 6 (seven) and at Wyoming on Feb. 18 (six).

Around the MWC

UNLV's win on Wednesday, coupled with Wyoming's 78-68 loss at home to BYU, secured the Rebels no worse than the fifth seed in next week's Mountain West Conference Tournament.

The Rebels improved to 9-6 in league play, while Wyoming dropped to 7-8 and had its four-game winning streak snapped in what was only the Cowboys' second home loss this season.

Heath Schroyer's club led the Cougars by five at the half at the Arena-Auditorium, but Jonathan Tavernari (19 points, 11 rebounds) and Lee Cummard (24 points, eight rebounds) led an early second-half charge.

BYU made it a 3-way tie atop the current MWC standings at 11-4, alongside Utah and New Mexico.

Meanwhile, San Diego State, which hosts UNLV on Saturday night, stayed a game ahead of the Rebels in the standings, knocking off Colorado State, 68-59, to improve to 10-5.

Green Valley High grad Billy White missed the game for the Aztecs as he continues to recover from a hyperextended left knee.

Ryan Amoroso and Tim Shelton scored 14 apiece for SDSU, while Kyle Spain and Lorrenzo Wade each chipped in 10.

Free throws

Wink Adams' 11 points moved him a tad closer to catching Armon Gilliam for sixth on UNLV's all-time scoring list. Adams now has 1,832 points for his career, while Gilliam notched 1,855 in three seasons from 1984-87 ... René Rougeau attempted only three shots after hoisting 17 in last week's loss at Utah ... UNLV's 28.6 field goal percentage in the second half on Wednesday was its second-worst performance of the season. The only lower number was 27.3 against San Diego in the season opener on Nov. 15 ... 37 of Air Force's 43 points came from the bench ... UNLV scored the game's only two fast break points.

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