Rebels want another shot on national stage against Oregon

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016 | 2 a.m.

UNLV’s first attempt at punching up at a marquee opponent didn’t go exactly as planned. Last weekend’s 49-point loss to Duke in front of a sellout crowd at T-Mobile Arena was a humiliating experience for the Rebels (6-4), and some players (cough, Jalen Poyser, cough) appear to have permanently affixed scowls to their game faces since the early minutes of the beating.

The effects of the defeat clearly lingered into the first half of Wednesday’s home game against Incarnate Word, but the Rebels seemed to get most of it out of their system as they stretched their lead to 20-plus points in the final minutes.

That win helped cleanse the palette, and according to the players, the Duke game is now a distant memory and they are looking forward to another chance to compete on the national stage. If they are telling the truth, consider them lucky, because they won’t have to wait long for that opportunity.

The Rebels are in Portland to take on No. 22 Oregon today in a neutral-court game that will be televised on ESPN2, and while they are 16-point underdogs, the team-wide belief is that they’ll perform better than they did against Duke.

“We know we’re better than what we showed [against Duke],” senior forward Tyrell Green said. “There were a lot of things happening [surrounding the game], but I feel like now, with that behind us, we know what to expect. We’re going to be on the road now, so it’s just a different mindset. I feel like we’re going to be ready this time.”

Oregon isn’t ranked as highly as No. 5 Duke, but the 9-2 Ducks are just as dangerous. Dana Altman’s squad is full of rangy athletes who hound the ball on defense (17th nationally in opponents’ field goal percentage at 37.2 percent) and protect the rim (No. 1 with 8.7 blocks per game). UNLV struggled to create open shots against Duke’s defense, so Saturday’s matchup will present a major test on that end of the floor.

Senior forward Chris Boucher is averaging 14.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game and will be a headache for the undersized Rebels, who will once again be thin in the front court with sophomore Dwayne Morgan and senior Christian Jones expected to miss the game due to shoulder and ankle injuries, respectively.

Freshman forward Cheickna Dembele is in line to get his second consecutive start in the middle, and UNLV will need another strong showing out of him after he posted 13 points and seven rebounds against Incarnate Word. Freshman Troy Baxter will also be called upon to fortify the front line after he played well (10 points, eight rebounds, two blocks) on Wednesday.

Poyser will also play a big part in UNLV’s game plan. He’s likely to be matched up against either sophomore guard Tyler Dorsey (13.5 points per game) or senior guard Dylan Ennis (11.0 points), both of whom are capable of scoring in bunches. Poyser tallied a season-low five points against Incarnate Word and will need to be assertive on both ends of the floor if the Rebels are to stay competitive with Oregon for longer than they did against Duke.

More than the final score, that pursuit of incremental progress is what UNLV coach Marvin Menzies preached after Wednesday’s victory. He wants to see the Rebels play better against Oregon, then play better at home against Southern Illinois (Dec. 19), and then play even better against No. 3 Kansas (Dec. 22).

It’s a brutal stretch, but in the end Menzies believes some value will come of it. And he wants it to start against Oregon.

“[The schedule] is good for us,” Menzies said. “It’s 100 percent good for us. We have goals that we set as a team, and in order to reach those goals you’ve got to play these types of games. You’ve got to perform better than we did [against Duke] and learn from them. I didn’t make this schedule, but we’re going to embrace it and look to all the positives that come as a result of it.”

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