Off of brief hiatus, UNLV hopes to maintain recent consistency in finale at Utah

By Ryan Greene

Friday, March 4, 2011 | 2:15 a.m.

In the last two weeks, the pieces have shuffled so much in the upper half of the Mountain West Conference standings that, at times, it's been hard to keep up with.

But UNLV, for a change, has been the one consistent team in that group, with everything shifting around it as the regular season enters its final weekend.

San Diego State lost an emotional home game to BYU. BYU suspended standout sophomore forward Brandon Davies for an honor code violation and, the next day, got thumped at home for a second time this season by New Mexico. Colorado State, once in contention with UNLV for the No. 3 seed in the MWC tournament, dropped three in a row at the worst possible time.

The Rebels (22-7 overall, 10-5 Mountain West), meanwhile, have won four in a row for the first time in league play this season, and now try to head into next week's league tourney as strong as possible. They'll travel to face Utah (13-16, 6-9) on Saturday in a 1 p.m. regular season finale.

It's the first time in a while that UNLV is entering into the final regular season tilt knowing that its NCAA tournament spot is all but locked in.

"I think it just goes to show how hard-working and how fortunate we are," sophomore forward Quintrell Thomas said of the team surviving its mid-season swoon. "We've seen that things can turn around in an instant, just like that, so we don't want to hang our hats on anything."

Thomas said that he thought the break UNLV got in the schedule after its 90-77 drubbing of Wyoming last Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center was mostly a good thing, but could come with some pitfalls.

Yes, the rest did the Rebels' bodies some good as they gear up for the season's final push. But with the extra time off, there's the risk of losing the consistent momentum they had built up, most notably from back-to-back road wins at Colorado State and New Mexico.

"We fine-tuned some stuff in practice," sophomore guard Anthony Marshall said. "It's pretty good right now. We feel like we're playing some pretty good basketball, and right now is a better time to be playing well than any other time."

Now the Rebels have to avoid a slip-up of their own.

The 67-54 victory they posted over Utah at the Mack on Feb. 2 came in the midst of their team-wide shooting slump. It was one of a handful of MWC victories UNLV had to earn the hard way: scoring tougher buckets inside, applying defensive pressure and holding its own on the glass.

That night, UNLV was just 24-of-65 (36.9 percent) from the floor and 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range.

The two biggest difference-makers were Thomas and redshirt freshman forward Carlos Lopez. Thomas scrapped his way to 15 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, while Lopez picked up extra minutes with junior Brice Massamba falling ill, finishing with 14 points and nine boards.

Thomas will likely play a major role in the rematch, as one thing Utah does have going for it is its size, highlighted by 7-foot-3 center David Foster. UNLV had a tough time attacking him in the first two meetings last season, but in two contests against Utah since then, the reigning Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year hasn't been much of a problem for the Rebels.

Collectively, Utah is simply playing better ball as it enters this match-up, too.

The loss to UNLV was the second leg of a five-game losing streak for the Utes. Now, they've won three of their last four, including an impressive victory at New Mexico two weeks ago and home triumphs over Wyoming and TCU.

Whether UNLV succeeds might come down to how UNLV can perform against Utah's Josh Watkins — a stocky 6-foot point guard whose been much more in control of late. In the loss in Las Vegas, Watkins was just 4-of-11 from the floor, had only two assists and four turnovers.

If Utah can somehow knock off UNLV, it could possibly mean the two would meet for a third time in Thursday's MWC tournament quarterfinals. A Rebels victory means that UNLV likely gets Air Force, instead.

The Rebels are all but locked into the No. 3 seed, and instead of worrying about uncertainty ahead for a change, can instead focus solely on snapping a 3-game losing streak at the Huntsman Center.

In the previous two trips there — both coming late in the conference season — UNLV went in fighting for its position on the NCAA tournament bubble, played tight and left with ill-timed losses.

Now, the lack of added pressure might aide the Rebels in keeping their current wave of momentum going.

"We've looked at each of them as one-game seasons, and we have to look at this the same way," Marshall said of the let few games. "Last year, I remember us being in the game (in Salt Lake City), having a chance towards the end (before losing). We have to eliminate a situation like that right from the beginning, play them tough from the get go."