UNLV’s Rebellion student section up for national award

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Friday, Jan. 25, 2013 | 1:45 p.m.

The UNLV basketball team has just one loss at the friendly confines of the Thomas & Mack Center in coach Dave Rice’s two-year tenure with the program.

A significant reason for the success is the home court advantage created by the Rebellion student-cheering section — everything from cheering on their feet the entire game to holding up those giant-sized cutouts of players and prominent Las Vegas figures to create an awesome game-day atmosphere.

The Rebellion has been nominated for the Naismith Student Section of the Year, an online competition where fans vote for the best student section in college basketball.

UNLV officials are urging Rebel fans to vote for the Rebellion by visiting facebook.com/ilovecollegehoops.

“The Rebellion’s creativity in recent seasons has been trend-setting on a national level,” D.J. Allen, senior associate athletics director of communications at UNLV, said in a statement.

Members of the Rebellion occupy about 2,500 of the 9,000 seats on the lower level of the Mack, underneath the basket closest to the UNLV bench. Often with their faces painted, they passionately cheer from start to finish in hopes of giving UNLV an edge.

Your vote will dictate how they stack up against other student groups at other universities.

In addition to two rounds of public voting, the winning school will be determined by the Naismith Awards Board of Selectors, which will review criteria such as the student section’s name and attendance, as well as photos, video, and a write-up submitted by the nominating school, according to UNLV.

The winning school will receive $10,000 to be used in its general scholarship fund. Kansas won last year in the event’s inaugural year.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21.