Final: Marshall misses potential tying bucket and Oregon pulls off 83-79 upset

By Taylor Bern

Friday, Nov. 23, 2012 | 5 p.m.

Anthony Marshall’s layup attempt in the final seconds rimmed out and No. 18 UNLV suffered its first loss of the season, 83-79 to Oregon on Friday night at the Thomas & Mack Center. The Rebels play again Saturday at 5 p.m. against Iowa State while the Ducks play in the Global Sports Classic against No. 22 Cincinnati at 7:30.

Damyean Dotson carried Oregon down the stretch, hitting the decisive basket and making free throws to put the margin at four with 6.3 seconds to play. He finished with 19 points.

UNLV’s Katin Reinhardt looked like the freshman he is in the first half, missing all five of his shots. He came alive late, though, and finished with 18 points. Anthony Bennett had a double-dobule with 22 points and 10 rebounds and Justin Hawkins contributed 12 points and five rebounds. Hawkins’ three-point attempt with the game tied and 40 seconds left rimmed out, setting up Dotson’s drive and finish against Reinhardt.

Reinhardt was out on the floor for his offense but he was a liability on defense. Checks lasvegassun.com later tonight for a full report from tonight’s game.

Halftime: UNLV struggles to battle Oregon's pressure, trails 40-37

No. 18 UNLV has had an equal amount of trouble with Oregon’s full-court pressure and occasional zone defense, stumbling to a 40-37 deficit at halftime Friday night in the Thomas & Mack Center.

UNLV freshman Anthony Bennett has 12 points and five rebounds and guards Anthony Marshall and Bryce Dejean-Jones scored seven points each. Findlay Prep grad Dominic Artis, a freshman, is leading Oregon with nine points.

The key stretch came at about the 14-minute mark, when Oregon started pressing full-court and mostly using a zone defense. The Rebels committed 11 first-half turnovers, most of them against the press. Even when they broke it they had a hard time solving Oregon’s zone. UNLV is 4-for-17 from 3 and is shooting just 34 percent overall.

Oregon has scored 15 points off turnovers and the Ducks lead rebounds 25-21. They aren’t shooting the 3 well, either, going just 2-for-10, but their big men and guards are doing a good job of getting to the rim.

UNLV freshman Katin Reinhardt and Savon Goodman have struggled a lot. Reinhardt is 0-for-5 while Goodman has two turnovers in just more than a minute.

Pregame blog: Oregon presents a difficult matchup for No. 18 UNLV

There are still plenty of pushovers left on UNLV’s schedule, the type that helped the 18th-ranked Rebels get out to a 2-0 start this year. However, that’s not what UNLV will find in Friday night’s opponent, Oregon, whom the Rebels play at the Thomas & Mack Center at 6 on CBS Sports Network.

The Ducks weren’t picked to do much in the Pac-12 this season, but that was before Rice transfer Arsalan Kazemi was declared eligible last week. He alone doesn’t make Oregon a conference title contender, but what he does provide is another big body to a team that already had a lot of them.

Oregon may be a little overlooked because they don’t have a transcendent player — the closest thing is probably senior forward E.J. Singler, the younger brother of Kyle, a Final Four MVP at Duke. He’s the leader and when he’s going, the Ducks look awfully good. But they have the depth, not only in the front court but also with a slew of talented guards feeding the bigs and making plays of their own.

That group starts with freshman point guard Dominic Artis, who won a national championship last season at Henderson’s Findlay Prep. He already looks like a capable collegiate player, averaging 10 points in 25 minutes per game. He’s prone to turnovers though, and UNLV will have as much insight into his game as possible with former teammate Anthony Bennett on the Rebels’ roster.

UNLV definitely has more talent than Oregon. However, the Ducks will make them use that skill effectively much more than did their previous two opponents.

THE OTHER SIDE

Oregon projected lineup

G — Dominic Artis, 6-1, Fr, 10 ppg, 1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio

G — Johnathan Loyd, 5-8, Jr, 3.3 ppg, 11 assists, 4 steals

G — Damyean Dotson, 6-5, Fr, 10.8 ppg, 5 rpg, 51 FG%

F — E.J. Singler, 6-6, Sr, 12.8 ppg, 5 rpg, 3.3 apg

F — Tony Woods, 6-11, Sr, 12 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.3 bpg

Sixth man — F, Arsalan Kazemi, 6-7, Sr, 3.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 3.5 spg

Best name: Arsalan Kazemi

Extra storyline: Oregon’s Ben Carter, a Gorman grad, chose the Ducks over the Rebels while UNLV’s Anthony Bennett did the opposite. They should match up at some point in tonight’s game.

Useless Wikipedia factoid: The movie “National Lampoon’s Animal House” was filmed on the University of Oregon campus.

Kenpom line: UNLV -12

Vegas line: UNLV -12

Bern’s take: On a neutral court I think this one could almost be a toss-up. Neither team has played anyone of note and all of their games have been at home, so there’s not exactly a lot to learn from their combined 6-0 start. It’s more about preseason expectations, which favor UNLV. That plus the home-court advantage should be more than enough today, but don’t be surprised if the Ducks keep it within a couple of possessions down the stretch. UNLV 80, Oregon 65.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.