Blog: Rebels blow big lead, fall to Arizona State 66-56 at home

By Taylor Bern

Published Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015 | 6 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015 | 9:18 p.m.

Arizona State 66, UNLV 56

Game over

A 12-point halftime lead wasn't nearly enough for the Rebels, who went on a long second-half offensive drought and got outrebounded 43-30 on the way to a 66-56 loss to an Arizona State team that had only eight scholarship players and was without its leading scorer/rebounder Savon Goodman.

Arizona State started to heat up behind the 3-point line in the second half, which was big, but more important was the fact that the Devils dominated rebounding and other hustle plays pretty much the entire game. Getting better on the defensive glass was supposed to be a big emphasis, but UNLV allowed 16 offensive rebounds for 16 second-chance points.

ASU's Tra Holder had 19 points and nine rebounds while Willie Atwood finished with 14 points. No Rebels scored in the double digits. Stephen Zimmerman Jr. and Ike Nwamu led the scoring with nine points. UNLV shot 5-of-26 in the second half and 38 percent for the game after building a 12-point halftime lead thanks to 58.3 percent shooting.

The Rebels travel to No. 13 Arizona on Saturday. Check lasvegassun.com later tonight for a full report from the Rebels' defeat.

Stephen Zimmerman Jr. is averaging 10 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, yet he probably has as much room to grow this season as just about anyone on the team. Injury and illness have limited some of his minutes to this point, but as long as foul trouble doesn’t do the same tonight, he figures to have a big game against an Arizona State lineup missing frontcourt depth.

UNLV (8-2) tips off against Arizona State (6-3) at 7 p.m. in the Thomas & Mack Center. The game will air on CBS Sports Network.

The Sun Devils’ most productive player, former Rebel Savon Goodman, didn’t make the trip and might be suspended multiple games because of “personal reasons.” That means UNLV’s freshman 7-footer has an even bigger advantage than he already did in the paint, and UNLV coach Dave Rice feels like that’s going to be on display as long as Zimmerman and freshman Derrick Jones Jr. avoid the bad fouls that sidelined them at UC Riverside.

“We’ve got to get away from some of the tough fouls,” Rice said.

He doesn’t mind if they get called for fouls while trying to make a play. What he can no longer tolerate 10 games into their careers is a foul 90 feet from the basket, which is a conversation he had with all three first-year players.

Junior forward Ben Carter was solid in replace of Zimmerman over the weekend, but the elder Gael knows it’s best for the team to get Zimmerman going early and keep him on the court as an option.

“I make it a point that we need to get him going as far as we need to get him touches, we need to get him the ball in the right spots for him to score,” Carter said.

Prediction: Expect the Rebels to go to Zimmerman early and often tonight. As long as he stays out of foul trouble, he’s going to have a big night. UNLV 76, Arizona State 66

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.