Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

For longtime UNLV fans, game with Duke is chance to go back in time

Gala Celebrating Rebels Championship Team

The UNLV basketball team beat Duke 103-73 to win the 1990 national championship. After more than 25 years later, the teams play Dec. 10, 2016, at T-Mobile Arena.

It was the best day of our childhood and still one of the notable days of our life. If you are a native Las Vegan like me, the UNLV basketball team’s national championship game victory in 1990 against Duke is still meaningful.

More than two decades after the legendary UNLV-Duke clashes in consecutive Final Fours in the early 1990s, the programs will meet at 2:15 p.m. Saturday at T-Mobile Arena. It’s a night I’ve long waited for because it will help stir up memories of yesteryear — yes, we Rebel fans sure love to live in the past.

We tell our children about those great UNLV teams, have photos and memorabilia documenting the greatest sports moment in our city’s history, and can easily recall parts of the championship game — LJ’s behind-the-back pass, Stacey Augmon’s dunks and Anderson Hunt’s 3-pointers.

The final score was 103-73 and you don’t hesitate reciting the score a few times a year when talking about your favorite team. You remember where you watched the game and where you celebrated.

You also remember the following season. How could the undefeated Rebels, still widely considered the greatest team in college history, lose to Duke in the Final Four? It still seems unbelievable.

You imagine Hunt’s desperation heave at the buzzer, like every important shot he took, swishing through the net instead of violently hitting off the back of the rim to end the season with a two-point defeat.

That was the beginning of the end for UNLV basketball, which needed more than 15 years to win its next NCAA Tournament game and return to the Sweet 16.

That, unfortunately, was also the end of the rivalry with Duke until Saturday. And there’s not much of a rivalry left — UNLV is a shell of its former shelf and expected to lose by more than 20 points; Duke is one of the sport’s elite programs.

You either love Duke or hate the Blue Devils. In Las Vegas, especially in the immediate years after the Final Four loss, we hated Duke and everyone associated with the program. You wouldn’t dare wear a Duke shirt in Las Vegas without getting a dirty look.

While no player on either team was living in 1991 when Duke shocked UNLV, they appear to be aware of the history. If the game is important to the fan base, then it automatically stands out to players.

“For a lot of locals, they are saying this is a game you have to win. If you win any game, it has to be this one,” UNLV senior guard Uche Ofoegbu said in October. “We are going to give it all we’ve got to give something special to the people of Las Vegas.”

That’s what makes Saturday so beneficial for first-year coach Marvin Menzies’ UNLV program, win or lose.

Home games have featured sparse crowds, but a sellout is expected Saturday to give the Rebels a chance to impress their supporters. Play hard and fans may start coming back. Show flashes of good play and fans will have a positive feeling about the team. Somehow win and everyone storms the court while the band plays, “Viva Las Vegas.”

This is the type of Saturday afternoon players come to UNLV to be part of — big-time atmosphere, game on the storied Las Vegas Strip and a chance to be part of history. Marketing slogans for the team are consistent in the message that the Rebels are playing for Las Vegas. Saturday that rings true, especially for supporters in their late-30s or 40s who grew up with those legendary nights at the Thomas & Mack Center.

It helped define our childhood. Saturday, we get a chance to go back in time. If only the Rebels could dress Nos. 4, 32, 50 and 12.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

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