Blog: Rebels have no answers for No. 13 Arizona, lose 82-70

By Taylor Bern

Published Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015 | 4:54 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015 | 8:43 p.m.

No. 13 Arizona 82, UNLV 70

Game over

Dusan Ristic scored 20 points, UNLV played most of the game without freshman Stephen Zimmerman Jr. and No. 13 Arizona secured its 46th consecutive victory at the McKale Center with an 82-70 victory against UNLV. The Rebels wrap up nonconference play Tuesday at home against South Dakota.

Ike Nwamu led UNLV with 17 points while Derrick Jones Jr. finished with 12 points and Ben Carter scored 10 before fouling out. Zimmerman came off the bench to start the game and looked good for a couple of possessions, but then he came up limping and played only a couple of minutes after that before sitting for the remainder with a leg injury.

UNLV went 10-of-14 at the free-throw line compared with Arizona's 29-of-39.

Pat McCaw and Jerome Seagears tried to lead UNLV back, but the Rebels' offense again went cold in the second half. McCaw finished 3-of-14 and UNLV missed its last four shots after going for a long stretch at 1-of-11. The Rebels also got outrebounded 38-26, a trend that has hurt them big in the past four games.

Check lasvegassun.com later tonight for a full report.

According to the efficiency numbers, No. 13 Arizona has its worst defense in three years. The fact that that defense is still rated No. 7 overall tells you both how great the Wildcats have been at that end and that even without a Final Four-type roster, coach Sean Miller can reload with the best of them.

UNLV (8-3) will see that defense first hand tonight at 6:30 p.m. when the Rebels tip-off against the Wildcats (10-1) at the McKale Center. The game will air on ESPN2.

This is the third of a current four-game series between the old rivals, with the home teams holding serve in the first two meetings. They skip next year before another matchup in the Thomas & Mack Center in 2017-18.

One big thing UNLV’s struggling half-court offense won’t have to deal with is Arizona 7-footer Kaleb Tarczewski, who’s been out the past three weeks with multiple foot injuries. In his place mostly has been another 7-footer, sophomore Duran Ristic, who is nearly replicating Tarczewski’s defensive rebounding numbers while drawing more fouls per 40 minutes.

Today the guards might be a bigger defensive concern for UNLV, though, specifically Findlay Prep product Allonzo Trier. He only played in Henderson one season but his scoring potential was obvious while he was there, and two weeks ago Trier dropped a career-high 27 points on Fresno State.

If any one player is going to beat the Rebels today, it’s either Trier or senior forward Ryan Anderson. And Trier has more of the breakout potential so I would expect Pat McCaw to be his assigned shadow all game.

I detailed some of UNLV’s offensive problems during these long scoring droughts earlier today. I’d encourage you to look through some of the numbers and draw your own conclusions, but to me it affirmed what we all believed: UNLV isn’t very good when it isn’t running.

The fact that the Rebels are armed with this information and seem to be slowing down rather than speeding up is alarming. That said, coach Dave Rice’s teams tend to play well in big spots like this one so I expect it to look much better than what we saw in the second half against Arizona State.

Prediction: UNLV will be good, but good won’t be good enough in the McKale Center, where Arizona has won 45 straight. Arizona 68, UNLV 61

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