Rebels, pushed around in home loss to Pacific, must search for answers

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 | 10:04 p.m.

The Runnin' Rebels are lacking something, and T.J. Otzelberger seems to know it.

After UNLV was thoroughly outhustled and out-toughed in a 74-66 home loss to Pacific on Wednesday, Otzelberger called into question his team's willingness to do the little things it takes to win.

"I'm searching for answers," Otzelberger said. "We'll find them really early in practice tomorrow. We're going to spend a lot of time taking charges, diving for loose balls, blocking out, guarding the dribble ... If you're not doing those things, you're not going to be successful. [Pacific] came onto our court and played harder, tougher, more physical and more aggressive."

The loss itself was ugly enough — UNLV shot 6-of-22 from 3-point range, committed 15 turnovers and allowed Pacific to snag 15 offensive rebounds — but it was all the more damning in that the Rebels could see it coming in the days leading up to the game but were still unable to get their act together.

On Tuesday, Otzelberger warned that Pacific was the kind of team that would try to "grind you down," and that's exactly what happened. The Tigers played carefully and deliberately on offense, and it paid off with a late 13-4 run that put UNLV away.

And then there's the question of how seriously the Rebels took Pacific to begin with. Junior Donnie Tillman and sophomore Bryce Hamilton violated team rules during the 10-day break since UNLV's last game and were punished by being removed from the starting lineup on Wednesday. That forced Otzelberger to start senior Nick Blair and sophomore Marvin Coleman in their places.

Blair and Coleman acquitted themselves well (Blair, especially, as he hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points) but to put it plainly, both players were walk-ons last year. On a team that lacks depth, benching Tillman and Hamilton for even a few minutes could have been the difference against a team like Pacific.

Blair, who is regarded as a team leader, admitted it put the rest of the team in a bad spot.

"It is what it is, next guy up, but you can't have stuff like that happen," Blair said. "Distractions like that are not necessary. We got it situated. We talked to them and everything. They understand they can't do that again."

Amauri Hardy led UNLV with 19 points on 5-of-11 shooting, but the junior guard also committed a team-high four turnovers (tied with Mbacke Diong).

Guard Justin Moore came up big for Pacific, as he scored a game-high 22 points and knocked down several back-breaking 3-pointers late in the shot clock.

UNLV is now 4-8 on the season. With the losses piling up and fans already looking ahead to next year, when impact transfers like David Jenkins and Moses Wood will become eligible, the 2019-20 season is in danger of turning into a lost campaign.

Otzelberger doesn't want that to happen.

"I'm not going to hide behind depth or lack of bodies or whatever," he said. "We've got who we've got. I think it's probably more than anything a will to win. It's not fatigue, it's not any of those other things. If you really want to win, then when the game gets hard you do winning things like dive for loose balls, get rebounds and guard your man and value every possession. We've got to be better at wanting to win when the game gets hard."

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