Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Ray Brewer:

Instant Analysis: 1-5 start in Mountain West play a new low for Rebels

Rashad Vaughn

L.E. Baskow

UNLV guard Rashad Vaughn gets off a jump shot over New Mexico center Obij Aget during their game at the Thomas & Mack Center on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015.

Times have sure changed on UNLV basketball game days at home. Remember when the Thomas & Mack Center was an impossible place for an opponent to grab a win?

Not anymore, right New Mexico?

The Lobos won again at the Mack, handing UNLV a 71-69 defeat tonight in dropping the Rebels’ record to 10-9 overall. One game over .500. Unreal.

The Rebels are a work in progress and fans aren’t motivated to come watch a struggling team. And the ones who do attend don’t have much to cheer about.

Of course, fan support isn’t the problem. The Rebels just aren’t that good and they can’t win the close game. Looks like this season is headed for where last one’s ended — watching postseason basketball from home.

Here are some more observations from the game:

What the game means: Even the most negative UNLV basketball fan would not have predicted a 1-5 start to Mountain West play. Even worse, it’s tough to find an area where the Rebels are getting better. Simply put, a team with high expectations entering the season is nothing better than a middle-of-the-road squad in a midmajor league. Growing pains were expected with a young roster, but dropping six of the last seven games is unacceptable. And the one win came against San Jose State, who is arguably the worst team in Mountain West history. Bad teams find multiple ways to lose. One day, a lack of energy is the blame. The other, it’s no player depth. Tonight, UNLV had no answers in defending New Mexico’s Hugh Greenwood, who made 6 of 9 on 3-pointers to score a game-high 22 points. Is it me or has Greenwood owned the Rebels the past four years? The good news — yes, good news — is it can’t get much worse. With a few exceptions, they aren’t getting blown out. They are a bucket or two, or defensive stop or two, away. But when you struggle, it’s tough to buck the trend of losing.

Live and die with the 3-pointer: The Rebels made their 3-pointers and still couldn’t pull out a victory against a team they should have beat. By no means, is constantly settling for the outside shot a strategy moving forward. Of UNLV’s 24 first-half shots, 16 were from behind the 3-point line. For the game, they went 9 of 25. New Mexico played a zone defense for most of the night and UNLV players resisted attacking the basket or running any type of structured offense. When Rebel players got to the rim, it was easy basket after easy basket. More often than not, especially after a few 3-pointers fell, they opted for heaving up shots from the outside. In the most telling stat of the night, New Mexico somehow outscored UNLV 40-16 on the inside. Attacking the zone has been one of the Rebels' downfalls — this year and in past seasons — and will continue to be an area of concern. Don’t expect the 3s to fall every night. It reminded me of a game from the Lon Kruger coaching era with players lined up on the 3-point line.

Trying to break the full court press: It’s on film. After UNLV struggled last Saturday at San Diego State in attacking the full court press, the Rebels set themselves up to face the press the rest of the season. New Mexico surely got the hint, pressuring UNLV at times to force turnovers that led to easy baskets. Cody Doolin and Pat McCaw both had moments of indecision when bringing the ball up the court, which is a formula for disaster. The best way to stop facing the press is to consistently beat it. And here’s one suggestion: The Rebels should try the press themselves. Force the pace to allow the UNLV athletes to thrive. Of course, the press also leads to fouls, and UNLV’s thin bench can’t accommodate more foul trouble.

Foul trouble equals big trouble: UNLV entered tonight ranked third nationally with 7.2 blocks per game, but had a season-low one block. Shot-blocking machine Goodluck Okonoboh was out with injury, and post players Chris Wood and Dwayne Morgan battled foul trouble all night, to give the Rebels virtually no defensive presence on the inside. Wood was hesitant to challenge shots in fear of being called for a foul and Morgan is a work in progress defensively (to put it nicely). With a thin roster and players prone to fouling, learning how to defend while in foul trouble needs to be addressed. Somehow, players need a balance of being aggressive and managing the foul situation. Regardless, the blocked shots are a must in UNLV’s formula for winning.

Up next: At this stage of the season, when winning the Mountain West tournament is the only way to make the NCAAs, it’s all about peaking down the stretch. That process needs to start against a Utah State squad UNLV should easily handle. The Aggies’ Jalen Moore is one of the league’s most underrated scorers and will give the Rebels fits. But Utah State ranks 226th nationally in scoring and won’t be much of a threat. At least, you’d like to think they won’t be a threat. UNR wasn’t supposed to be much of a challenge, either.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

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