Darger ends UNLV career with more lessons learned

By Ryan Greene

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 | 2:10 a.m.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A guy who has stood like a man as the first out of the locker room and faced the music with pride following each of UNLV's 11 losses in this topsy-turvy season, Joe Darger had a tough reality to swallow Tuesday night at Kentucky's Memorial Coliseum.

Following the Rebels' season-ending 70-60 loss to the Wildcats in the opening round of the NIT, the senior forward plopped down at his locker and thought for a few minutes.

"Every year I've been here, you go out with a loss, then you have all summer to work on it," Darger said. "It's just when basketball season comes around again, I won't be out there. It's more of a shock in that sense, I think."

Darger -- along with fellow seniors Wink Adams, René Rougeau, Mo Rutledge and Rob Ketchum -- dressed up as Rebels for the final time.

He also got UNLV as close as he could to getting over the final hurdle that it struggled to traverse all season long -- especially in the final weeks.

As Kentucky bumped its 12-point halftime lead up to 20 early in the second half, causing a capacity crowd of 8,327 in the barn not used for a UK men's game since 1976 to grow louder, UNLV looked primed to fade into oblivion.

But a 19-2 run capped by Darger swishing a 3-pointer from the left wing forced Kentucky faithful to chew even closer to their cuticles and had the Rebels on the verge of completing an epic comeback.

However, as has been the case so many times before this season -- think at Utah, at New Mexico and against San Diego State at home, most notably -- the final gear couldn't be found.

A few blown opportunities, a few Kentucky free throws and that was that.

"They capitalized on those possessions and got their lead back up and then we started fouling, and it seems like that's kind of been the thing that's happened a lot this year," Darger said. "We've been right there, so close to turning the corner and winning those games, and we've had a lot of games this year where we either go to overtime and lose, be down by 2 and lose, down by 3 and lose, just seems like it's been right there and we haven't turned the corner like we have the past two years."

The Rebels talked about not turning the corner or getting over the proverbial hump several times this season, and the younger players will have an opportunity to figure it out over the next several months before next season -- and an infusion of talent from transfers Derrick Jasper and Chace Stanback and a deep recruiting class -- comes around.

Darger and his fellow seniors, however, hope to have a hardwood forum of any kind to capitalize on lessons learned from a 21-11 season that seemed overloaded with potential when the Rebels were 12-2 following a New Year's Eve win at Louisville.

"The biggest things I can take away from it are how important every possession is and how important free throws are," said Darger, whose team turned the ball over only 10 times on Tuesday but went 8-of-14 from the stripe. "I think we lost a lot of games due to free throws, and just not shooting the ball as well as the last couple of years. This year we've had a lot of close games, and if you look back on those close games, we probably didn't shoot free throws very well."

The Riverton, Utah, native also concluded his career doing the same thing that drew him worlds of respect a year ago in Lon Kruger's small-ball system: playing out of position.

He had the tough task of sticking a forearm in the back of Kentucky's standout big man, Patrick Patterson, when he got the ball with his back to the basket. Patterson matched up against Darger with at least 3 inches in height advantage and a solid 20 pounds on his side.

Patterson finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but very little came easy.

Yet another experience that Darger hopes helps him down the road.

Wherever that may take him.

"Hopefully I'll try to keep playing," said Darger, who averaged 9.3 points and 4.3 boards as a senior. "I'll stay in shape, keep working hard and see where it takes me."