Rebels pay the price for poor defense in road loss to rival UNR

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020 | 11:03 p.m.

Playing against one of the country’s most dangerous long-distance shooting teams in its own house, the Rebels made it a point of emphasis to chase UNR’s guards off the 3-point line. But that turned out to be easier said than done, because whenever UNR needed a bucket, Jalen Harris, Jazz Johnson or Lindsey Drew stepped into an open 3 to carry the Wolf Pack to an 86-72 victory on Wednesday.

The trio of Harris, Johnson and Drew combined to shoot 8-of-16 from beyond the arc and score 62 points to lead the Pack to their fifth straight win over UNLV.

After the game, UNLV guard Amauri Hardy distilled 40 minutes of basketball down to a simple failure to execute the defensive game plan.

“[We were] a step behind on defense,” Hardy said, “a step behind on coverages. We just came out flat.”

UNLV started slowly on offense, needing more than six minutes to score its first field goal. By that point, the Rebels already trailed 7-2 and were never quite able to catch up with a hot-shooting UNR squad that didn’t seem to miss when it mattered.

UNLV coach T.J. Otzelberger agreed with Hardy’s assessment of the defense.

“We were kind of playing from behind the majority of the night,” Otzelberger said. “I think we needed to be more aggressive on the close-outs with our hands and attacking those close-outs and taking those shots away. It was certainly a point of emphasis and something I know our guys have done before and that we need to do when we play against guards that can shoot the way Reno’s can.”

UNLV used offensive rebounding to offset its miserable shooting night (23-of-64, 35.9 percent), and a 21-6 advantage in points in the paint kept the Rebels close for 30 minutes or so. UNR took a 33-27 lead into the half, and UNLV closed to within 40-38 with 16:33 remaining in the second half. But anytime the Rebels threatened, either Harris, Drew or Johnson would shake free for an open look.

After Jonah Antonio canned a shot to pull UNLV within two points, Johnson immediately responded with a 3 of his own to extend UNR’s lead to 43-38.

When Mbacke Diong made a layup to trim the deficit to 46-40 a minute later, Harris hit a 3 to make it an 8-point game.

When Marvin Coleman drained a pair of free throws to get UNLV within 53-47 with 12 minutes to play, Harris hit two free throws of his own and then Johnson drilled a 3 to make it 58-47.

And on it went as UNR pulled away to improve to 12-8 on the season and 5-3 in Mountain West play. UNLV is 6-2 in the conference (11-10 overall) and still alone in second place.

Hardy carried UNLV offensively for most of the night, finishing with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Bryce Hamilton heated up in the second half and finished with 26 points on 10-of-23 from the field.

Coleman followed up his triple-double against San Jose State by posting five points, seven rebounds and four assists before fouling out in 34 minutes. He shot just 1-of-6 from the field and also committed four turnovers.

UNLV will head back home to host undefeated San Diego State on Sunday.

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