Rebels receive a foxy invite

There's going to be more national television exposure for the UNLV basketball team this winter as the Rebels will square off against Arizona State Dec. 5 in Phoenix as part of a made-for-TV doubleheader on Fox.

The second game will have Arizona meeting Wyoming as the WAC and the Pacific 10 Conference go head-to-head in front of the nation. The Saturday doubleheader will be played at America West Arena and UNLV will receive a $50,000 guarantee to participate.

ASU and Fox are expected to make an official announcement today.

"It's a great game for us," UNLV coach Bill Bayno said Tuesday. "It's national TV against a quality Pac-10 team."

UNLV is also looking at three appearances during its final WAC season on ESPN. The tentative schedule, which still has to be approved by the WAC Council and ESPN, has the Rebels meeting Texas Christian Sunday afternoon, Jan. 24 in Fort Worth; at Tulsa Monday, Feb. 15 on ESPN2; and Southern Methodist at the Thomas & Mack Center Monday, Feb. 22.

The Rebels will have additional TV exposure against Kansas Nov. 27 (Hall of Fame Tipoff Classic); at UCLA Dec. 12; and Cincinnati Dec. 19 in the Las Vegas Shootout at the Thomas & Mack. The Dec. 22 game with Oklahoma State and the yet-to-be-determined date with Georgetown will also be televised.

UNLV officials only recently got involved with the game, though athletic director Charles Cavagnaro said last year that he hoped the Rebels would eventually be part of the Fox twinbill. The doubleheader, originally billed as the Desert Classic, has been played in Phoenix for several years and features the two Arizona schools.

"This just came about the last two weeks," associate athletic director Jerry Koloskie said. "It was a situation where they contacted us. They said they were looking for a marquee opponent and with Arizona State hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament they're required to host a game there, so they're going to play the doubleheader with us and Arizona State and Arizona and Wyoming."

Bayno said: "This just fell into our lap. Barry Rohrssen (UNLV's director of basketball operations) talked to Mark Brand (ASU assistant AD) and it just went from there. Jerry Koloskie did a great job tying it all together."

Bayno said the Sun Devils, despite losing half of their six-man rotation from last year, will still be a tough opponent for the Rebels.

"They lost some people from last year, but (center Mike) Batiste is back and they're a quality team," he said. "It's the kind of game we need to play."

This will mark only the second meeting ever between the Rebels and the Sun Devils. In 1975, UNLV was defeated by ASU 84-81 in the NCAA West Regional in Portland. Ironically, Arizona State was a member of the WAC that year and went 25-4, losing to eventual national champion UCLA in the regional finals.

The Sun Devils, who were picked for last place prior to last season, shocked everyone by finishing a surprising 18-14 under then-interim coach Don Newman. Despite an 8-10 Pac-10 record, ASU was selected to play in the NIT after losing its regular-season finale to Southern Cal. The loss probably cost the Sun Devils an NCAA bid. ASU was defeated by Hawaii in the first round of the NIT.

In April, ASU hired Mississippi's Rob Evans to replace Newman.

With the UNLV-ASU game set, it means either moving the Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo game, which had originally been scheduled for Dec. 5, to another date or postponing the game for a year or dropping it altogether. If the game can't be dropped, UNLV will be forced to drop one of the other games on its 27-game schedule.

Bayno said no decision has been made on the contest with the Mustangs.

"We're trying to work something out," he said.

Koloskie said: "It's something we simply couldn't pass up. But we definitely have more work to do (on the schedule)."

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