Game day: UNLV finishes off San Jose State, 68-50

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Published Saturday, March 2, 2024 | 2 a.m.

Updated Saturday, March 2, 2024 | 9:09 p.m.

They didn't make it easy on themselves, but UNLV was able to pull away for a relatively comfortable 68-50 win over San Jose State.

D.J. Thomas scored 10 points in the second half to keep the Spartans at bay. The freshman finished with 18 and three assists, while Luis Rodriguez posted 15 points and nine rebounds. Keylan Boone went for five points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.

Defensively, UNLV held San Jose State to 32.1% from the field and 4-of-21 from 3-point range.

It's UNLV's ninth win in the last 10 games, improving the team's overall record to 18-10. The Scarlet and Gray are now 11-5 in Mountain West play, which clinches a top-five finish in the standings and a first-round bye in the conference tournament.

We could get a preview of UNLV's tourney opponent on Tuesday, when San Diego State visits the Thomas & Mack Center.

UNLV leads San Jose State, 46-35

Turnovers continue to plague UNLV, and with 11:21 remaining the Scarlet and Gray hold a 46-35 lead over San Jose State.

D.J. Thomas continues to cook, with 15 points and three assists on 5-of-11 shooting, but it's been a frustrating night at the offensive end from a team perspective. UNLV should be running away with this game, except they have committed 15 giveaways on 48 possessions.

UNLV pushed its lead as high as 20 points after a Brooklyn Hicks corner 3 with 13 minutes remaining, but San Jose State has countered with a 9-0 run to stay within striking distance.

Just a few minutes of solid, turnover-free basketball would probably allow UNLV to pull away, but we just haven't seen them do it tonight. Of course, they struggled in the first meeting against San Jose State before closing with straight made field goals, so maybe that's the formula tonight.

D.J. Thomas heats up, UNLV leads San Jose State at half

It took a while to get going, but since the Scarlet and Gray started putting the ball in the basket late in the half, they were able to open a 33-18 lead over San Jose State heading into the break. 

UNLV scored on four straight possessions to open some breathing room. D.J. Thomas went 4-of-4 from the free throw line on consecutive possessions, then Luis Rodriguez threw down a putback dunk. After a defensive stop, Jackie Johnson drove for a layup to make it 30-16 with two minutes remaining.

Thomas then drove into traffic and rolled in a floater to push UNLV's lead to 33-18 with 38 seconds on the clock.

Four players have done the majority of the scoring for UNLV; Thomas, Johnson, Rodriguez and Kalib Boone all have eight points apiece, with backup big man Isaiah Cottrell chipping in the other lone point. The Scarlet and Gray are just 11-of-27 from the field, but once they stopped committing turnovers (nine in the half), the offense was able to get into more of a rhythm.

At the other end, San Jose State has no chance against the UNLV defense. The Spartans are just 5-of-25 from the field and 2-of-12 from 3-point range. A handful of those misses didn't even hit rim.

Barring some kind of unforseen turnaround in the second half, UNLV should be able to close this one out with one more solid run.

UNLV defense stifling San Jose State

UNLV is struggling offensively so far, but the good news for Kevin Kruger's crew is that San Jose State is having an even more difficult time putting the ball in the basket. With 7:24 left in teh first half, UNLV has an 18-13 lead.

The Scarlet and Gray are 6-of-19 from the field with nine ugly turnovers. San Jose State is 4-of-17.

Jackie Johnson has provided some punch off the bench, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers to give him a game-high six points in four minutes.

If UNLV can cut down on the turnovers and start running offense, they should be able to handle this Spartans team rather easily, but we may have to wait until after the half to see them settle down.

UNLV basketball takes early lead over San Jose State

Luis Rodriguez just pulled off a nice spin move in the paint and finished with his left hand to give UNLV a 4-2 lead over San Jose State with 15:51 left in the first half.

Aside from Rodriguez's highlight drive, there haven't been many quality shots to go around. Kalib Boone started things off with a two-handed dunk on UNLV's first possession, courtesy of a nice feed from D.j. Thomas, but UNLV has missed its other three attempts while committing four early turnovers.

The Scarlet and Gray got some good news before tipoff, as Boise State defeated New Mexico, 89-79. The New Mexico loss paves the way for UNLV to clinch a top-five finish in the Mountain West standings with a win tonight; that would come with a first-round bye in the conference tournament, which would mean Kevin Kruger's squad would only have to win three tourney games in order to qualify for the big dance.

All UNLV has to do now is take care of business against San Jose State.

UNLV basketball looks for season sweep of San Jose State

UNLV continues its late-season push for the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, when Kevin Kruger’s squad hosts San Jose State (7 p.m., CBS Sports Network). A win would allow the Scarlet and Gray to keep pace at the top of the Mountain West standings heading into the final week of the season, so these 40 minutes are going to be big.

Three keys to watch:

Hard hat time

Kruger spent a significant portion of his media time after Friday’s practice extolling how hard San Jose State plays, and he’s got a point.

The Spartans jumped out to an early double-digit lead in the first meeting between these teams on Jan. 27, and a lot of that was built via sheer sweat equity. The Scarlet and Gray still trailed by 10 midway through the second half before bailing themselves out by making 14 straight field-goal attempts to close the game. Without that unprecedented streak, the outcome might have been different.

Kruger doesn’t think his team can count on making 14 in a row again, so he wants them to counter San Jose State’s maximum effort from the very beginning.

“It’s going to be a 40-minute fight,” Kruger said. “In terms of effort and guys that play as hard as they possibly can, [Alvaro] Cardenas and [Myron] Amey are going to be maybe 1-2 in my opinion in the conference. We’ve got a lot of guys that play hard, but those guys really leave it on the floor.”

Boone brings it

Senior center Kalib Boone was dominant in Tuesday’s overtime win at Wyoming, tallying 24 points and 12 rebounds while making 8-of-10 from the field. When he’s cooking in the low post like that, it makes UNLV very difficult to defend.

San Jose State did a good job on him the first time around, though, limiting him to nine points and four turnovers in 19 minutes. At that point in the season, opponents were just beginning to send aggressive double-teams at Boone, and it took some time to adjust; now that he’s seen those types of coverages, UNLV needs him to produce consistently.

Standings watch

UNLV heads into Saturday’s game tied for fourth in the Mountain West standings with UNR, as both teams sport identical 10-5 records.

UNLV needs two wins to clinch a top-5 finish, and therefore a bye in the first round of the MWC tournament. Beating San Jose State is a must, because the Scarlet and Gray close with San Diego State and UNR next week. Splitting those games won’t be easy, let alone winning both, so best to take care of the Spartans at home.

Who: UNLV (17-10, 10-5 MWC) vs. San Jose State (9-20, 2-14 MWC)

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

Where: Thomas & Mack Center

TV: CBS Sports Network

Radio: 1100 AM, 100.9 FM

UNLV leaders

Scoring

D.J. Thomas: 12.9 points

Rebounds

Luis Rodriguez: 6.6 rebounds

Assists

D.J. Thomas: 5.4 assists

San Jose State leaders

Scoring

Myron Amey: 15.9 points

Rebounds

Myron Amey: 4.9 rebounds

Assists

Alvaro Cardenas: 5.4 assists

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.