Rain from Spain douses UNLV in 57-46 loss to San Diego State

By Rob Miech

Sunday, March 8, 2009 | 1:13 a.m.

SAN DIEGO – With the postseason around the next bend, UNLV’s roller-coaster basketball season hit a steep downturn Saturday night in a 57-46 loss to San Diego State at the Cox Arena.

It represented only the second time in the Rebels’ history that they scored so few points in consecutive games.

In 1958-59, UNLV’s first season, it tallied only 46 in back-to-back losses to Dixie Junior College and Southern Utah State.

Wednesday night, the Rebels were able to beat Air Force, 46-43, despite myriad woes that have plagued them all season.

Losing five of its past nine games will hardly endear UNLV (21-9, 9-7 in the Mountain West Conference) to an NCAA tournament selection committee that scrutinizes such inconsistency for at-large consideration.

“That’s a tough way to go in,” said Rebels sophomore shooter Kendall Wallace. “But it’s motivation. It all comes down to this. It’s a whole new season. We’ll start over Thursday, and we have to be ready to give it our all and leave it on the floor.”

The erratic campaign has also produced UNLV’s first home losses on consecutive days in nearly 28 years and the program’s first back-to-back overtime defeats.

But fifth-year coach Lon Kruger’s message to his players late Saturday night was that the new season starts Thursday in the conference tournament.

Fifth-seeded UNLV (21-9, 9-7) will play fourth-seeded SDSU (21-8, 11-5) in a quarterfinal game at 2:30 p.m. inside the Thomas & Mack Center.

“Coach said we have to keep our heads up and just get ready,” said Rebels senior swingman Rene Rougeau, “really come at these guys hard next time.”

UNLV has won the automatic NCAA berth that comes with winning the league tournament each of the past two seasons, and it showed it was worthy by winning three games in the NCAAs.

“It’s a new look,” Kruger said. “Everyone comes in with an equal opportunity. We have to learn from what we’ve done the last two times we’ve played these guys and try to make some progress.”

The last time the teams played, the Rebels went into a Feb. 3 game at the Mack sporting a 17-4 record. Fans were relishing an imminent spot in the national rankings.

But the Aztecs spoiled all that with a 68-66 victory in overtime. Then the Rebels lost another one in overtime, in New Mexico, and the mediocre finish to the regular season was underway.

Kyle Spain, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound forward from Newark, Calif., belted the Rebels with eight points, including a pair of 3-point shots, in the five-minute extra session that first game.

Saturday, several of his fans waved yellow-and-red flags of the country that matches his surname in the rabid student section along the baseline closest to the UNLV bench.

And Spain responded, connecting on 3-pointers on consecutive possessions that gave SDSU a commanding 45-35 lead with 6 minutes, 24 seconds remaining.

Three seconds later, Kruger called for a timeout and Spain negotiated a joyful pirouette back to his bench with the crowd of 11,553 applauding his marksmanship.

“It had been a frustrating game for me,” Spain said. “I was off. Those ‘threes’ gave me energy and momentum to finish the game out.”

Matt Thomas, a guard who was one of six seniors who were celebrated before the game on SDSU’s Senior Night, had hit a 3-pointer to ignite the Aztecs’ game-deciding 9-1 run.

“That broke the game apart,” Spain said. “Fortunately, we kept it and won the game.”

Spain led SDSU with 16 points, and senior forward and Las Vegas native Lorrenzo Wade chipped in with 15.

UNLV sophomore guard Tre’Von Willis, who seemed to be the only Rebel not hesitant to shoot in stretches, had a team-high 16 points.

Rougeau scored 12 points, led UNLV with 8 rebounds and tied a career high with 6 blocks. He nodded when asked if it’s getting old being asked the same questions about the poor rebounding and shooting that has plagued the Rebels this season.

“Yeah,” he said. “But all that’s in the past. Now all we can do is just get ready for Thursday. Coach has us on the right track, working on boxing out and hustle drills. The effort was there tonight. We just have to put it all together now.”

The taut defense that UNLV hit SDSU with, that provided 12 steals for the Rebels and forced 20 turnovers by the Aztecs, was negated by SDSU’s persistence on the boards.

SDSU came down with more rebounds under its own glass (16-14) than UNLV, which helped the Aztecs own a commanding 39-20 edge over the Rebels.

UNLV hit only 33.3 percent of its shots, the fourth time in its past five games it shot worse than 36 percent from the field.

Senior guard Wink Adams endured a five-game stretch this season in which he went 0-for-19 from beyond the 3-point line, and he went a combined 0-for-7 from the field in consecutive games.

Saturday night, when he was 1-for-9, continued his rough season.

“We’ve always had trouble scoring consistently throughout the year,” Kruger said, “especially on the road, (where) it’s even more magnified. You can’t continue to ask the defense to fight and fight and fight.

“I thought our defense really fought like crazy. It’s just too much to ask when you’re not scoring on the other end and you’re giving them second opportunities on their end.”

The Rebels bolted for home, on what was likely a quiet five-hour trek on a chartered bus up I-15, right after the game. They’ll take Sunday off and begin preparations Monday, at Valley High, for the conference tournament.

“At this point in the year, you don’t change anything,” Kruger said. “You have to keep plugging. We’ve got to try to gain some confidence shooting the basketball.”

Before getting on the white bus for the haul home, Wallace paused.

“That’s the great thing about college basketball,” he said. “The regular season doesn’t really matter. When it comes to the tournament, every team still has a chance. That’s the great thing of college basketball.”