Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

UNLV basketball:

Blog: Rebels on wrong side of another close game, losing 76-75 at Air Force

UNLV beats Air Force

Jeremy Rincon / Special to the Sun

Air Force fell to 2-8 in Mountain West Conference play with a 74-63 loss to UNLV on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015, at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Updated Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 | 1:05 p.m.

Air Force 76, UNLV 75

Game over

Chris Wood hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to finish with a career-high 31 points, but unfortunately for UNLV the Rebels trailed by four and the shot was meaningless except for the point spread. UNLV picked up its scoring in Rashad Vaughn's absence but the defense wasn't good enough to fend off Air Force in a 76-75 defeat.

Wood had 31, nine rebounds and five blocks while Pat McCaw scored a career-high 20 points, all in the second half, to give UNLV a fighting chance. However, UNLV's zone defense didn't close up its gaps very well and Air Force started to really take advantage in the second half, when it shot 9-of-13 from deep.

Both teams picked up the scoring considerably in the second half as Air Force scored as many points in the second half (51) as both teams combined to score in the first 20 minutes.

UNLV coach Dave Rice didn't seem to use his timeouts effectively down the stretch, although that's been a consistent issue. In the end it was probably UNLV's defense that simply wasn't good enough for long stretches to give the Rebels a better chance to actually pull out a close game.

UNLV drops to 14-11 overall and 5-7 in Mountain West play. Check lasvegassun.com later tonight for a full report from the Rebels' defeat.

The Rebel Room

No benefit of the doubt

A one-point loss at Colorado State is no shame, except when it comes on the heals of an already middling Mountain West slate. Las Vegas Sun sports writers Ray Brewer and Taylor Bern get into UNLV's latest setback and the perception of the team at 13-10.

The Rebels are about to see what life is like the way most of the Mountain West has been living it this season.

Freshman Rashad Vaughn, UNLV’s leading scorer, tore the meniscus in his left knee at the end of Tuesday’s Fresno State victory and might be done for the season. The Rebels are now the eighth team in the league to miss a key contributor for multiple games.

Today’s opponent, Air Force, is a much different team since it got leading scorer Max Yon back after an absence for personal reasons. The Falcons were 1-5 without him and have gone 2-1 since his return, which combined with Vaughn’s absence has made Air Force (11-13, 4-9) a 1.5-point favorite today.

The Rebels (14-10, 5-6) haven’t been an underdog at Clune Arena since 2007. Today’s game tips off at 11 a.m. Las Vegas time and will stream on ESPN3.

Going top to bottom in the standings, San Diego State (Dwayne Polee), Boise State (Anthony Drmic), Wyoming (Larry Nance), Fresno State (Marvelle Harris), New Mexico (Cullen Neal), Air Force (Yon) and San Jose State (half the team) have all had to play at least a couple of games without one of the their top two or three players. Without Nance, Wyoming came into Clune and lost by 23, and if he doesn’t return soon the Cowboys’ NCAA Tournament bubble will burst.

The point is, as much as Vaughn’s absence sucks for UNLV, it’s not like the Rebels are in a unique situation. What makes it different for them is depth, in that they already had none before losing the guy who averages 32.3 minutes per game went down.

As I wrote yesterday, the immediate benefactors appear to be senior Jelan Kendrick and freshman Jordan Cornish, whose minutes and roles should increase. Will they be able to take advantage? Can Christian Wood’s dominance continue? Can UNLV find enough other ways to score (looking at you, Pat McCaw)?

No one can accurately say how today or the rest of the games without Vaughn will go. It’s a crapshoot, largely because it basically was while he was still in the lineup, too.

Another interesting element to all of this is whom the Rebels go to at the end of the rotation. They’ve only played basically eight guys all year, so now that they’re down to seven, how much run will there be for Dantley Walker or Barry Cheaney? Personally, I think Cheaney has legitimately earned himself some playing time, and if it doesn’t happen in Vaughn’s absence I’m not sure when it will, so I hope he gets a chance.

Bern’s prediction: This is even more of a guess than normal, and it requires the Falcons to be very cold offensively. UNLV 61, Air Force 59

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

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