Blog: Rebels open Mountain West play with 69-66 home loss to Fresno State

Fresno State 69, UNLV 66

Game over

Fresno State's Torren Jones scored the go-ahead points on an offensive rebound and helped the Bulldogs complete the upset victory to put UNLV in an 0-1 hole to start Mountain West play. The Rebels committed 21 turnovers, which led to 31 Bulldog points.

Marvelle Harris scored a game-high 22 points while Jones finished with 18. Five Rebels scored in double figures, but the team shot 33 percent from the field and was only able to mount a comeback at the free-throw line, where they shot 26-of-35.

But UNLV didn't go to the free-throw line over the final couple of minutes, and on the critical play Pat McCaw drove to the lane and kicked it out to an open Jerome Seagears instead of trying to draw the 30th Fresno State foul of the game. Seagears was open but missed his fifth 3-pointer attempt of the game.

UNLV won the rebounding battle by 12, which should have been a huge advantage, but that was negated by the 21 turnovers and UNLV's poor shooting (6-of-22 in the second half).

Check lasvegassun.com later tonight for a full report from the Rebels' loss.

UNLV 61, Fresno State 60

3:59 remaining in the second half

Jalen Poyser buried a 3 from the wing to give UNLV its first lead in a long time, and since seven Bulldogs have four fouls the Rebels are going to get every chance to win this one at the free throw line.

The Rebels are 26-of-35 at the line so far, and they'll easily attempt more than 40 by the time this one is done. If they take care of business there, they should be able to survive. If not, well, then it's likely 0-1.

Fresno State 57, UNLV 51

7:40 remaining in the second half

UNLV has 16 turnovers, off of which Fresno State has scored 26 points, and the Rebels are trying to remain close enough to make a final run to avoid an 0-1 start in league play.

The Rebels have thus far turned in another disappointing second-half effort that was off from the start, when they started with back-to-back turnovers. But Fresno State's Marvelle Harris is on the bench with four fouls and UNLV isn't out of anything yet if they can stop giving away so many possessions.

Fresno State 41, UNLV 40

15:49 remaining in the second half

Marvelle Harris has already doubled his scoring output and Fresno State has stormed past UNLV to turn a six-point deficit into a one-point lead in short order.

UNLV started the second half with two straight turnovers and it hasn't gotten a ton better since then. Pat McCaw has looked out of it and overall there hasn't been much from UNLV's backcourt beyond Ike Nwamu's scoring.

UNLV 33, Fresno State 27

Halftime

The Rebels went on a 10-0 run late in the first half and they go into the break leading Fresno State 33-28 after a mostly ugly 20 minutes that saw both teams shoot under 40 percent.

Stephen Zimmerman Jr. and Ike Nwamu are leading UNLV with eight points each while Paul Watson scored 11 of the Bulldogs' first 15 points before Marvelle Harris, who is battling the flu, picked up some of the scoring load with eight points. The teams are a combined 6-of-21 beyond the arc, although the Rebels have been solid at the free-throw line (8-of-10).

UNLV is winning the rebounding battle 22-18 and while seven turnovers isn't ideal it's not terrible, either. Basically, the Rebels have done a better job overcoming the slow start, and the Bulldogs actually had a point taken away at halftime when a Harris 3-pointer was ruled a 2.

The Rebels absolutely can't attempt this many 3-pointers (14) again in the second half, and I'm confident they won't. Generally when they take too many attempts in the first half (and don't make an outrageous amount of them) they re-focus on the paint in the second half, even if it's not always been effective. Zimmerman has already played 15 minutes, which is a good sign for his health and Pat McCaw is the only Rebel in any kind of real foul trouble, so if UNLV stays aggressive on defense they should be able to survive this.

Tonight we will start to see whether UNLV figured something out in its nonconference closer against South Dakota or if it was an aberration, because the Rebels (9-4) will be challenged right out of the gate against Fresno State (9-4). The game tips off at 8 p.m. and will air on ESPNU.

The Rebels hit 18 3-pointers in their last victory, which tends to make everything go a little smoother, but from the start they were more aggressive defensively with the full-court press. That’s what coach Dave Rice said they’re going to do moving forward, and that should be a concern for the rest of the league because the Rebels are at their best when they’re using their depth all over the court.

“One thing coming out of the Arizona week was we felt like we needed to uptempo the game a little bit more, try to force more turnovers,” Rice said. “… I do think you’ll see more pressing and trapping than maybe you saw the last few weeks of the season. I thought South Dakota was a good example of that.”

Freshman Stephen Zimmerman Jr. practiced with the Rebels on Monday for the first time since he left the Arizona game because of a thigh injury that caused some swelling in his knee. He’s going to play tonight but he won’t start, so it’s unclear how many minutes he’ll get.

That could be huge because Fresno State is a very good offensive rebounding team and UNLV needs as much depth in the frontcourt as it can since foul trouble has been an issue lately. If Zimmerman again can’t play close to starters minutes and Ben Carter and/or Dwayne Morgan pick up some early fouls, the Rebels could be in trouble.

Prediction: This is one that’s going to make the Rebels sweat, and if they don’t take care of the little things this could end up as a loss. UNLV 72, Fresno State 69

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