New-look defense pays off for surging Rebels

Shawn Marion never had so much fun.

Playing defense, that is.

The 6-foot-7 JC sensation came to UNLV with a well-earned reputation for being an offensive force. Ditto Kevin Simmons and Brian Keefe, who had transferred two years ago from UC Irvine. And while none of the trio will earn a fancy nickname like "The Glove" for their defensive prowess, they are contributing to a renewed effort by the Rebels to keep the opposition in check.

There's a reason UNLV is off to a fast start in its final season in the WAC and it's called team defense.

An explosive Tulsa team found out first-hand Saturday that when UNLV is getting strong play out of its man-to-man defense, points aren't as easy to come by. The Golden Hurricane shot just 36 percent for the game despite getting the ball inside to low-post threats Michael Ruffin and Brandon Kurtz. The difference was when Ruffin and Kurtz got the ball, they were challenged by more than one UNLV player.

And that's what made UNLV's 73-55 win so impressive.

It's one thing to shut down Columbia. It's quite another to keep Ruffin and Eric Coley in single digits and limit Kurtz to just 11 points.

For a squad that was being branded as a "zone" team for its reliance on a 2-3 matchup, the Rebels have rediscovered their man-to-man defense.

"I love this," Marion said. "Especially when you can get rewarded."

The reward is a season-best six-game winning streak, a 3-0 start in the WAC Mountain Division, a 10-6 overall mark and some momentum heading into this week's two-game Texas road swing through the Metroplex at Southern Methodist Thursday in Dallas and Texas Christian Saturday in Fort Worth.

"I think the key is five guys concentrating on working together," Keefe said of the renewed effort to stop people. "We've been focusing on being strong in our halfcourt defense. We're playing hard."

Forward Donovan Stewart said: "Everyone's accepting their role. We're really focusing on the half-court."

Tulsa coach Bill Self couldn't help but notice as his team, which normally shoots 42 percent from the floor and averages 76 points a game, was held in check.

"I think any time a team shoots as poorly as we did, defense would have something to do with it," he said. "They do a good job of pressuring the ball and their defense will cause 10-12 turnovers a game just from that."

UNLV coach Bill Bayno said it all starts in practice.

"They're picking up the intensity," he said of the workouts. "We've had some great practices the past few weeks."

Keefe, who hit a clutch 3-pointer early in the second half after Tulsa had cut a 15-point deficit to six, said after losing four in a row in December, the team was at a crossroads.

"When you lose four tough games like we did, you can go either way," he said. "We decided to put a stop to it.

"We've got a great group of guys who really like each other and we knew we were a better team than our record showed. But if we were going to show it, we had to get better defensively."

Before, UNLV's defense was thought to be sophomore Greedy Daniels picking the pockets of opposing guards. Daniels is still a thief, but now he's getting help.

Center Kaspars Kambala is no longer a one-dimensional player. He is putting his newly found footwork skills learned at Pete Newell's Big Man's Camp this summer to use. Simmons is holding his ground in the paint and giving weak-side help. And Marion still is the team leader in blocked shots. He had three more Saturday to give him 34 for the season.

And don't forget the effort Bayno gets from backup center Issiah Epps. He uses his big 6-10 body effectively to clog the middle and is one of UNLV's most active on-the-ball defenders.

"We knew we had to pick up the defense if we were going to turn it around," Simmons said. "The younger guys knew what we did last year, so it wasn't a surprise.

"I think we just had to get everyone on the same page. You can't rely just on one guy to stop the other team. You've got to get help and you've got to help the helper."

Bayno's glad to see the unselfish play paying dividends. Through the streak, UNLV has limited its opponents to an average of just 60 points, while forcing an average of 15 turnovers.

"This is the most together we've been," he said. "We've got great chemistry going right now."

Hoop du jour While Marion did a great job in holding Coley to nine points, he didn't forget his offensive responsibilities. Marion finished with a game-high 18 points. ... Kambala atoned for a bonehead technical foul late in the first half (he slammed the ball in frustration after failing to covert a shot inside that led to a 9-0 Tulsa run), wound up with 15 points and eight rebounds. ... Simmons, who had been shooting in the low 30-percent range during the current UNLV win streak, had an excellent shooting night, going 4 for 5 and finishing with 12 points. ... The crowd of 12,551 exceeded the 12,519 announced at the MGM Grand Garden for the Mike Tyson-Frans Botha heavyweight fight. ... For the first time all season, Tulsa has dropped two straight as the team's opening WAC road trip was an 0-2 disaster. Tulsa is 14-5 overall, 2-2 in the Mountain Division. " I think we might be a little tired right now," Self said after the game. "We're going to take a couple of days off and see if we can get our legs back." Tu

lsa doesn't play again until Saturday at Rice, which beat Air Force 71-69 to gain a split on the same road trip as the Golden Hurricane and is 3-1 in the WAC Mountain.

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