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Live blog: Tyrell Green comes up clutch in Rebels’ win

2016 Rebels: UNLV vs Southern Illinois

Steve Marcus

UNLV’s Jovan Mooring (30) runs into Leo Vincent (5) as the Runnin’ Rebels take on the Southern Illinois Salukis at the Thomas & Mack Center Monday, Dec. 19, 2016.

Updated Monday, Dec. 19, 2016 | 8:41 p.m.

Tyrell Green bailed out the Rebels time and again over the course of 39 minutes, so it was only fitting that the senior forward came through again and hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with a minute remaining to give UNLV a 68-61 win over Southern Illinois.

Green finished with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, and he came up clutch with the shot clock winding down and the game tied, 61-61. Jovan Mooring drove to the middle of the floor and hooked a pass back to Green on the left wing, and he buried his fourth triple of the night (4-of-5 3FGs). Mooring came up with a strip-and-score on Southern Illinois' next possession to push the lead to 66-61 with 39 seconds remaining, and Mooring hit a couple free throws in the closing seconds to cap the scoring.

UNLV improves to 7-5 with the win. Next up is No. 3 Kansas, who will visit the Thomas & Mack Center on Thursday in the Rebels' non-conference finale.

UNLV clinging to late 61-57 lead

Cheickna Dembele, go-to guy?

Not exactly, but the big freshman converted back-to-back layups to help UNLV regain the lead, and a Kris Clyburn putback has the Rebels up 61-57 with 3:37 to play.

Southern Illinois has struggled defending UNLV's pick-and-roll game, allowing Jovan Mooring to hit Dembele for wide-open finishes twice in a row. Now, can the Rebels' defense close it out?

Jalen Poyser ties game with eight minutes to play

UNLV, Southern Illinois tied 48-48

Jalen Poyser's pull-up 3-pointer has tied the game at 55-55 with 7:21 to play, and it looks like we're in for a back-and-forth finish.

A 9-2 run by Southern Illinois gave the Salukis their first lead of the second half, and they stretched it to 55-50 with 8:37 remaining. UNLV committed three turnovers during the four-minute stretch, but a pair of Kris Clyburn free throws and Poyser's 3-pointer have squared things up.

Poyser now has 10 points, his first foray into double figures in the last three games.

Southern Illinois is already in the bonus, so UNLV will be shooting free throws the rest of the way. That could make things easier for the Rebels who have tied a season high with 21 turnovers.

Tyrell Green is doing his best to make up for UNLV's turnover issues. The senior forward is on fire tonight, as he's already got 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting, but the Rebels' carelessness with the ball has allowed Southern Illinois to climb back into a dead heat at 48-48 with 11:46 to play.

UNLV has committed turnovers on 18 of its 48 possessions, and Southern Illinois has capitalized by scoring 18 points off the Rebels' miscues. The Rebels are going to have to clean up their sloppiness over the final 12 minutes, unless Green plans on turning into a full-fledged superhero down the stretch.

Hot-shooting Tyrell Green has Rebels up at halftime

Jalen Poyser and Tyrell Green ended the half on a high note for the Rebels, as the Canadian duo executed a perfect pick-and-pop to free up Green for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send UNLV into the locker room with a 35-28 halftime lead over Southern Illinois.

Green is playing like a monster for the third straight game, as he's got 15 points and four rebounds at the break. Freshmen Zion Morgan and Troy Baxter have also provided sparks off the bench, combining for 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting. As a team, UNLV is shooting 56.5 percent from the field (13-of-23) and would be leading by a lot more if it weren't for 12 turnovers. Some of the giveaways have been ugly, leading directly to easy points for Southern Illinois.

The Salukis have been relying on those extra possessions to stay in the game, scoring 11 points off turnovers. Leo Vincent is leading Southern Illinois with eight points, while Mike Rodriguez has six points, two assists and two steals.

If UNLV can limit turnovers to a more manageable number, the Rebels should be able to continue stretching the lead.

UNLV up 37-30 over Southern Utah

UNLV has a 37-30 advantage with 3:32 remaining in the first half, but the lead really should be at least double digits. Turnovers continue to plague the Rebels (10 already), including a stretch where they gave the ball away on three consecutive possessions, with two of them leading directly to easy breakaway layups for Southern Illinois.

Aside from the carelessness, the Rebels have actually turned in a pretty good first half. They're shooting 59.9 percent (11-of-19) and getting contributions from some unlikely sources, including freshman point guard Zion Morgan (five points).

Southern Illinois is shooting better than expected (4-of-8 from 3-point range), but that should level off as the game continues. UNLV looks to be in good position as we head toward halftime.

Rebels take early lead over Southern Illinois

UNLV's offensive struggles appear to have carried over from the second half of the Oregon loss. Through the first eight minutes, the Rebels have five turnovers and just four made field goals (4-of-9), though that's been enough to build an 11-9 lead over Southern Illinois.

Kris Clyburn has been active early, tallying two points, two rebounds, a steal and an assist. The sophomore swing man pulled down a defensive rebound and threw a nice pass down the court to a streaking Troy Baxter for a layup to give UNLV the lead heading into the under-12 timeout.

Quick turnaround for Rebels against Southern Illinois

If I had told you sometime over the summer that UNLV would finish the nonconference portion of the schedule with a record above .500, would you have believed it? Sure, it's not setting the bar very high, but considering the state of the program at the time, I think most fans would have jumped at the prospect of carrying a winning record into Mountain West play.

That's why tonight's home tilt against Southern Illinois is such a swing game for UNLV. With a victory, the Rebels will improve to 7-5 with one nonleague game remaining: Thursday's home date with No. 3 Kansas. Lose to Southern Illinois and that Kansas game hangs like a guillotine. Win and the Rebels will be playing with house money Thursday.

So what's it going to take to beat Southern Illinois? Discipline, first and foremost. The Rebels took care of the ball for 20 minutes in Saturday's loss at Oregon (four first-half turnovers), then committed 11 turnovers in the second half as Oregon turned a close game into a laugher. Southern Illinois isn't as athletic as Oregon, and the Salukis are softer defensively, but they play a slow, methodical style (KenPom.com ranks them 320th in adjusted tempo) and force opponents to execute. Marvin Menzies will have to preach patience and ball movement throughout the game, especially during cold stretches.

Senior point guard Mike Rodriguez runs the show for the Salukis. He sports a team-high usage rate of 19.3 percent, according to Synergy Sports data, and he's equally dangerous as a scorer (team-best 13.9 points per game) and distributor (5.3 assists). Rodriguez does have one weakness that he shares with most of his teammates, and that's an inability to hit from long range. Southern Illinois has made just 32.3 percent of its 3-point shots this season (272nd in the nation), and only two rotation players are connecting above 30 percent: Armon Fletcher (40.7 percent) and Sean Lloyd (31.3 percent). Look for UNLV to pack the middle and focus on securing defensive rebounds.

The Rebels are likely to be without injured forwards Christian Jones and Dwayne Morgan again. Neither played against Oregon on Saturday, and there was no status update after the game. Considering the short turnaround, it would be a surprise to see either suit up.

Offensively, the burden will fall on senior forward Tyrell Green and sophomore guard Jalen Poyser. Green and Poyser have been riding opposite trajectories recently — Green is averaging 19.5 points on 53.8 percent shooting over the past two games, while Poyser is averaging 4.5 points on 20.0 percent shooting — but UNLV will need contributions from both against Southern Illinois.

Mike's prediction: UNLV 69, Southern Illinois 67. In a slow, defensive game, the Rebels come up with a key stop at the end to earn a gut-check victory.

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