Rebels eager to step up their game in tonight’s season opener

By Jesse Granger

Friday, Nov. 11, 2016 | 2 a.m.

The Runnin’ Rebels have taken the court at the Thomas & Mack Center twice in the past week, but tonight is different.

Tonight it counts.

And for 12 of the 15 players on UNLV’s roster, it’s the first time they will put on the scarlet and gray for a regular-season game.

UNLV hosts South Alabama tonight in the season lid-lifter, with tipoff at 7 p.m.

It’s Marvin Menzies’ debut as head coach, and the first time he’s sat on the bench at UNLV since 2005, when he was an assistant to Lon Kruger.

“Having had the opportunity to sit in this arena before as an assistant coach ... I feel like I’m kind of coming back home, so it’s more of a feel good than it is a nervousness,” Menzies said.

The Rebels showed improvement in each of their two exhibitions and will need to take another step as they face their first Division I opponent this year in South Alabama from the Sun Belt Conference.

“You have to take it up to a whole new level,” senior guard Uche Ofoegbu said. “Even though people might think we have time because we are a young team, we don’t. For me and (Christian Jones) this is our last year, so we have to be sharp from the jump.”

The Jaguars finished eighth in the Sun Belt last year with a 14-19 record but return four of their top five scorers, including Ken Williams, who averaged 15.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists as a junior.

“I’m sure they’ll be ready to get after it because they’re experienced,” Menzies said. “They are going to be excited to try to come in here and knock off a brand name, so we have to be ready for that.”

One of the biggest focuses for the Rebels in preparing for this game was protecting the glass and giving up fewer offensive rebounds.

“It’s a big emphasis for us,” Menzies said. “We didn’t do a good job in our second exhibition game of making contact. We were going to the rim and we were pursuing but we weren’t doing a good job with the fundamentals.”

UNLV surrendered 23 offensive boards to New Mexico Highlands, resulting in 20 second-chance points.

“The coaching staff has been pressing us all week,” said senior forward Tyrell Green. “We’ve been doing a lot of drills with the main emphasis on boxing out and rebounding.”

The Rebels will be without big men Dwayne Morgan and Cheickna Dembele, who Menzies said still won’t be ready to go.

“It’s up to the guards to get some rebounds for us,” Ofoegbu said. “It helps our big men and takes pressure off them. It’s a collective effort.”

Tonight’s contest is the first of a six-game home stand to start the year for UNLV. With games against smaller conference opponents, it is important for the Rebels to pile up some wins before they get to the meat of the nonconference schedule in December.

“I think all of these games are, I don’t want to say confidence boosters, but they definitely get us prepared for the games in December against big time teams like Duke, Oregon and Kansas,” Jones said.

Menzies said he expects to have the same starting five as the two exhibitions — Ofoegbu, Jones, Green, Jalen Poyser and Kris Clyburn.

The Rebels have more film to watch on South Alabama than they did the two exhibition opponents, but other than that the coaching staff has tried to keep the preparation the same.

Still, the players still know this game will be different.

“I feel like we have taken the same approach but we’ve heightened our senses,” Ofoegbu said. “This is really go time and this is where it counts toward our record.”