Can UNLV solve its season-long problem with slow starts?

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019 | 2 a.m.

When was the last time UNLV basketball got off to a good start in a game?

You’d have to go back three weeks to the Rebels’ 94-56 dismantling of San Jose State to find the most recent occurrence. UNLV jumped out to a 10-4 lead in that contest and built a 21-6 advantage before cruising the rest of the way.

Aside from that game, there haven’t been a whole lot of hot starts this year. In the four games since SJSU, the Rebels have trailed by scores of 9-3, 18-8, 18-8 and 19-7, respectively.

It has become such a source of consternation for Marvin Menzies that after the Rebels’ defeat at Utah State on Saturday (in which they fell behind 8-2 after the first 2:37), the coach hung the loss on his team’s inability to play well in the early going.

“When you lose a game the way we lost this game, which was in the first half, you’ve got to start to figure out, ‘OK, why are we not starting games the way we should?’” Menzies said. “So we’ve got to evaluate that.”

UNLV’s season-long issue with slow starts isn’t for a lack of trying on Menzies’ part. He has mixed up his starting lineup on several occasions, chasing that elusive formula for getting out to an early lead. Nothing has worked.

Menzies originally rolled out Noah Robotham, Kris Clyburn, Joel Ntambwe, Shakur Juiston and Mbacke Diong as the starters for the first eight games, but that group performed poorly together. In 65 minutes of court time over those eight games, that five-man combination got outscored by the opposition, 118-93. That works out to a plus/minus rating of -15.4 per 40 minutes.

When Juiston suffered a season-ending knee injury, Menzies slid freshman Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua into Juiston’s spot for four games. In those contests, the starting lineup was outscored in all four games, running up a staggeringly bad plus/minus of -43.0 per 40 minutes (62-33 in 27 minutes).

Menzies made another major shift to begin conference play, and this time it was by choice, not due to injury. Citing the five-man lineup numbers, he sat Diong and inserted guard Amauri Hardy, giving the Rebels a smaller look to open games. It seemed like a smart move at the time — to that point in the season, those five had played 36:40 together and outscored opponents, 92-70 — but the instant Menzies made them the starters, they stopped performing.

In 60 minutes together over the next six games, the Robotham/Hardy/Clyburn/Ntambwe/Tchamwa Tchatchoua lineup kept their head above water, but barely. They outscored opponents, 122-114, but the plus/minus rating of +5.3 per 40 minutes was a far cry from their mark of +24.0 before becoming the starters.

After watching that iteration of the starting lineup get outscored, 12-9, at home against New Mexico, Menzies changed it up again. He moved Tchamwa Tchatchoua to the bench and elevated hot-shooting walk-on Nick Blair, making the Rebels even smaller.

Again, it seemed like the right move at the time. To that point, the five-man lineup with Blair at center had played 27 minutes together and outscored opponents, 53-44. In the three games since making the change, however, they have played 15:05 together and gotten pummeled by opponents by a score of 42-19.

After only playing his starters for 2:37 against Utah State (they were outscored, 8-2), Menzies appears set to tweak his lineup once again. With Diong back from injury, Menzies hinted that the big man is “healthy enough to probably get back into the starting lineup.”

Subbing out Blair for Diong seems like the logical move after Blair’s lack of size was exposed at Utah State. The lineup of Robotham, Hardy, Clyburn, Ntambwe and Diong wasn’t great at USU — they were outscored, 22-13 — but before that they posted a plus/minus of +8.0 per 40 minutes in Mountain West play.

If Menzies goes with that lineup at Boise State on Wednesday and finds himself trailing, 14-4, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s been puzzled by his team’s inability to start strong. And with just nine games left in the regular season, Menzies will keep searching until he finds the right combination or until the Rebels run out of time.

“You can’t start a game down 20, 22 points on the road against a quality team and expect to win the game,” Menzies said after the Utah State loss. “I was glad once again that they didn’t fold and showed some gumption, but that’s getting to be an old story. I need to get these young fellas to throw their best punch in the first four minutes.”

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