Rebels see room for improvement late in season

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017 | 2 a.m.

The Rebels still have a long way to go in their rebuilding efforts, but for two games last week it felt like they were tantalizingly close.

First there was a last-second loss at Wyoming in which UNLV battled back from an early 20-point deficit, only for Jovan Mooring’s potential game-winning jumper to bounce off the rim. That was followed by a painfully tight defeat at San Jose State in which the Rebels missed 15 of their 23 layup attempts. San Jose State won, 76-72.

At the beginning of the year, when UNLV was expected to field a ragtag group of misfits short on talent, a 10-12 record at this point in the season would have been considered an overachievement. But given the way the team has gelled — and how close they’ve come in recent games — dropping such winnable contests has become a source of frustration.

Now, the Rebels enter the home stretch of Year One under Marvin Menzies. Just nine games remain on the schedule, starting with tonight’s home matchup against New Mexico, and Menzies doesn’t think his team is done improving.

Speaking to the media before Tuesday’s practice, Menzies said teams can still make strides late in the season, especially when it’s a squad comprising mostly young players, such as the Rebels.

“It depends on the team and it depends on the fiber of the team,” Menzies said. “How long has the team been together? How long have they been playing together? If we had seven seniors, I’d say not much [room for improvement]. But with the dynamics of this team and the youthfulness of this team, I think there’s still some room for growth.”

How much more can the coaching staff wring out of this roster over the final nine games?

There have been obvious examples of individual development and improvement this season. Mooring is Exhibit A, having made the transition from juco gunner to one of the MWC’s best point guards over the first 20 games of the season. Dwayne Morgan looked like a brand new player and a difference maker until his season-ending injury. Jalen Poyser took a big step forward until his recent shooting slump cost him his starting spot, but even in that dark cloud is the silver lining of freshman guard Zion Morgan and his clamp-down defense in the backcourt.

Team success has been more elusive, as illustrated by the anguishing back-to-back losses last week, but Menzies said the Rebels have maintained a good attitude throughout the season-long learning process, and he plans on keeping it that way over the final stretch.

“Just keeping them together,” Menzies said. “Keeping them positive, making sure they don’t do the things that teams that end up going left on you do, which is point fingers and start blaming people. They haven’t done that as of yet. It’s a good group of kids, so we’re hoping they can just keep fighting. They play hard, they’re just not playing smart at times. We’ve got to get through those humps, but I still feel like we’re in a position to be competitive going forward as long as we shore up some things.”

Menzies wants his team to continue trending upward, but he also wants to see results now. If UNLV can beat New Mexico tonight — the Rebels won the first meeting on Jan. 10 at The Pit — it would represent the first season sweep of UNM since 2010-11 and provide another concrete example that UNLV is on the right track.

Lobos star forward Tim Williams will likely miss the game due to a stress reaction in his foot, and his 17.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per game will be difficult to replace. If the Rebels can keep high-scoring Elijah Brown (18.5 points per game) in check, UNLV could have a momentum-building victory heading into the final month of the season.

“You always want to be playing your best basketball at the end of the year, but we’re not preaching that,” Menzies said. “We’re preaching we need to do the things necessary to go out and get a win, and that’s [tonight]. We’ve got to play really good basketball against a good team.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.