Rebels can’t stay close to Kansas, fall 71-53

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016 | 9:27 p.m.

UNLV lost to No. 3 Kansas, which was pretty much a foregone conclusion before the season began. The margin stayed around 20 points for most of the game, which was also expected.

What wasn’t a sure thing going into the game was how UNLV would respond to playing their third nationally-ranked team in two weeks. So the fact that the Rebels battled back from an early deficit and outscored Kansas in the second half is probably the biggest and most positive takeaway from the 71-53 loss.

UNLV also played better in each successive game — losing by 49 to Duke, by 20 at Oregon and then by 18 to Kansas — and coach Marvin Menzies seemed to be encouraged by the progress despite the overwhelming competition.

When asked what he could take away from Thursday’s loss, Menzies chose to look at the big picture.

“We’re doing the right things, teaching the right things and we’ve got the right kids in the program,” Menzies said. “So for where this program was and what we needed to do, we’re showing signs that we’ve achieved some of that. There’s still a lot of basketball left, so we haven’t proved it yet. I’m hopeful and optimistic that we’ll continue this progression.”

The Rebels doomed themselves to defeat by shooting just 29.2 percent in the first half. Senior forward Christian Jones returned from injury and made 3-of-5 from the field in the first half, but the rest of the team shot just 4-of-19 (21.1 percent).

“The first 10 minutes, we had really good looks,” Menzies said. “I didn’t think they were playing selfish. I thought a lot of them could have been potential assists. I thought they were off of an extra pass, but we just missed them. You don’t expect that when a team has been shooting it as well as we have from the perimeter.”

That slow start allowed Kansas and superstar freshman Josh Jackson to run out to a 42-20 halftime lead. Jackson tallied 14 of his game-high 21 points in the first 20 minutes, including several spectacular finishes that will show up on his highlight reel during the NBA draft telecast in June.

The game was effectively over at that point, but the next 20 minutes are what Menzies will point to in an effort to build his players’ confidence heading into Mountain West play next week. UNLV was more committed on defense in the second half, and the Rebels’ shots started falling at the other end. Twice they used big runs to cut the lead to 13 points, but Kansas was able to right the chip each time, whether it was Jackson stopping the bleeding with a loud blocked shot or Svi Mykhailiuk dropping in a well-timed 3-pointer.

Tyrell Green was once again UNLV’s top offensive performer, finishing with 12 hard-earned points on 5-of-9 shooting (2-of-5 on 3-pointers). Jalen Poyser and Kris Clyburn added 10 apiece, but combined to make just 6-of-20 from the field.

UNLV’s best effort came midway through the second half, when Clyburn and Green made consecutive layups to cut the deficit to 14. After a Mykhailiuk bucket, Clyburn buried a 3-pointer to make it 51-38 with 13:25 to play.

Mykhailiuk responded with a 3-pointer of his own on the next possession, and a Jackson dunk sparked a 6-0 Kansas spurt that put things out of reach for good.

Green said the increased energy on the defensive end helped spark the Rebels’ mini-comeback.

“We had to pick up our effort a little bit on the defensive end,” he said. “We were missing a lot of our shots in the first half, but we knew they were going to fall, so we just had to lead our offense with our defense. I felt like we had it for a little bit, and then it kind of got away from us at the end.”

For as much improvement as the Rebels have shown so far this season, it still added up to a loss on Thursday, dropping UNLV to 7-6 in non-conference play.

“Losing does not feel good,” Menzies said. “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you don’t play this game to play ‘em close.”

UNLV will take some time off as players head home for a short Christmas break, then resume preparation for the Mountain West season, which begins on Wednesday with a trip to Colorado State.

Even after taking an 18-point loss, Menzies seemed to be feeling good about the state of his team heading into Mountain West play.

“I love these kids, and I really think they’re going to surprise some people in conference,” Menzies said. “We just have to get better quickly now.”

Follow Mike on Twitter at Twitter.com/MikeGrimala