Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

UNLV BASKETBALL:

Novelty game at Memorial pays dividends for ‘Cats

UK relishes experience in turn-back-the-clock scenario

UNLV-Kentucky NIT

Justin M. Bowen

Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie watches the action as UNLV takes on the Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday night in the first round of the NIT.

Not So Lucky in Kentucky

In Tuesday's first round match-up against Kentucky, UNLV's rally falls short, as the Rebels are eliminated from the NIT 70-60.

From Rupp Arena, With Love

Tuesday's first round game between UNLV and Kentucky was held at Memorial Coliseum, instead of Rupp Arena, but the campus gym still shares in the Wildcats' rich history.

Have Fans, Will Travel?

With 1,700 miles separating Las Vegas from Lexington, UNLV fans had to come out of the woodwork to support the Rebels at Memorial Coliseum.

The Rebel Room

UK POSTGAME: And that's that ...

Ryan Greene and Rob Miech take a closer look at a performance in the first round of the NIT typical of UNLV's second half of the season -- close at the end, but not enough to get over the hump. The guys discuss what made for a historic, unique and insane atmosphere at Memorial Coliseum, what the Rebels learned from the season and its finale, plus some other tidbits from the final trip until next fall.

UNLV vs. Kentucky NIT

Brice Massamba battles for a rebound as UNLV takes on the Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday night in the first round of the NIT. The game was played in Memorial Coliseum. Launch slideshow »

UNLV vs. Kentucky - Before the game

The University of Kentucky campus on Tuesday afternoon.  The Rebels face the Kentucky Wildcats in the NIT. Launch slideshow »

Box score

Beyond the Sun

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- For all of the heat second-year Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie has come under for leading the Wildcats into the NIT as opposed to their annual cozy seat in the NCAA tournament's field of 65, things could have gotten much worse Tuesday night at Memorial Coliseum.

Before pulling out a 70-60 victory during which Jodie Meeks was able to comfortably dribble out the final seconds of the clock, the 'Cats -- and 8,327 tightly packed fans -- had watched a 20-point second half lead over UNLV melt to three with just more than four minutes to play.

Had the Rebels completed the epic comeback effort, the postgame treatment of the embattled coach from UK fans could have been historically crass.

Instead, it was just a historic night in, well, a historic barn, not used for a Kentucky men's hoops home game since March 8, 1976, when the shorts were much shorter and media timeouts weren't so frequent.

"I don't think anyone in that building tonight wanted us to be playing in this tournament, but I know this: I doubt if anyone came to the game and didn't enjoy the game, and they did their part to make it a nice game and a good win for us," Gillispie said.

In fact, the first question posed to Gillispie in his postgame press conference was about his opinion on potentially playing down the road from Rupp Arena again in the future.

"How would I feel about it? That's not my decision," he answered with a straight face, hands on knees, rocking back and forth lightly. "It was a lot of fun tonight. As far as those kind of things go, I wouldn't be the one making those decisions. I would think in these economic times, unless we could squeeze 24,000 in here, I think it'd be kind of tough."

Of course, the expansive Rupp Arena offers an atmosphere drenched in hoops nostalgia, but Memorial Coliseum provided more of a novelty-like opportunity to draw some excitement out of UK fans still bumming over not making the NCAA tournament for the first time since probation kept the 'Cats out in 1991.

They showed up as early as 6:30 p.m. Kentucky time -- when doors first opened -- and lined up behind ropes all the way until tip time to take pictures of the old edifice with the old-school tile ceiling, and wooden seats and benches with fresh coats of gloss on them.

Then, of course, there was the bandbox-like atmosphere that helped UK rally from an early 9-2 hole.

"More than usual, the crowd was a lot more alive and active," UK forward Patrick Patterson said. "I could see everyone standing up pretty much the entire game, just fans screaming and yelling a lot more and it was just more loud, and that caused us to have a lot more energy. I think we played a lot harder out there with more intensity, people were diving for loose balls and just having a lot more fun."

The difference was noticed from the other bench, too.

"It was definitely a hostile environment," UNLV senior forward Joe Darger said. "They had a lot of fans packed in here, probably sold out. Sometimes playing in a smaller gym when it's packed is a lot harder than playing in a big gym when it's not packed. It was a cool experience other than the outcome."

The noise inside of Memorial may have hit its peak when Patterson threw down a thunderous follow-up dunk off a Darius Miller miss just before the halftime buzzer.

Miller drove down and put up an awkward short-range jumper, and UNLV's help defense opened up a lane for the 6-foot-9 mammoth of a power forward to fly to the rim and drop the hammer.

"I think it was a huge momentum-builder," Patterson said. "I just kept running in transition and luckily the ball bounced my way off the rim."

In the second half, however, after another Patterson slam put the Wildcats up by 20, the young team let off the gas just a bit too much, allowing UNLV to rip off a 19-2 run en route to making it a 60-57 game late.

Just more of the same for Kentucky fans who watched their team drop nine of its final 13 games heading into the NIT.

"The thing about our team is you still see the immaturity," Gillispie said. "We've got a 20-point lead and then we're gonna relax and not contest shots the same way we were in the first half. It's just because of our immaturity."

Plenty of that came from a supporting cast around Patterson and leading scorer Jodie Meeks that is still young, despite going through a grinder of a season together. Freshman Darius Miller tallied nine points, while junior guard Ramon Harris had six points and 10 rebounds and freshman guard DeAndre Liggins -- a Findlay Prep product -- scored three points and had two assists in 10 minutes off the bench.

However, the crowd deserved as much credit for an assist as anyone for helping Kentucky avoid a crash landing, giving UNLV even more to fight against in trying to scale the mountain completely.

Patterson said Monday afternoon that it's understood at Kentucky that when you're winning, the fans are with you. If you're not, well, they're against you, be it on the message boards behind anonymous usernames or in your face at the games.

The Wildcats' odds of playing another game this season in the hoops fishbowl that is Lexington -- or the smaller fishbowl that is Memorial, for that matter -- depend on the outcome of Wednesday's opening round game between Creighton and Bowling Green.

If the top-seeded Blue Jays win, it's off to Omaha. If the Falcons pull off the upset, Rupp Arena gets at least one more run for the season.

"It's great -- we advanced in postseason play and we lived to play another game," Patterson said. "It's just a great feeling. We're playing great basketball, we're having fun with each other and we don't want it to end. Just try to keep this train rolling and move on to the next game.

"I don't think we have any more to prove. I think we're all here for the same reason and that's to win."

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