UNLV basketball was possible replacement to play Kentucky in Las Vegas

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021 | 2 a.m.

Faced with a six-day gap in the schedule after Wednesday’s home win over Omaha, UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said he and his team were content to have a week of practices in which they could focus on self-improvement.

Then Kentucky came calling.

Due to a series of cancelations due to COVID-19, Kentucky found itself in Las Vegas and in need of an opponent for today. The Wildcats had been scheduled to face Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic at T-Mobile Arena, but Ohio State was forced to pull out after multiple positive tests within the program.

UNLV was near the top of the list for potential replacements, and Kruger was ready to step in and take on Kentucky on short notice until North Carolina became available (due to their game against UCLA being canceled due to COVID-19 positives).

Now, after that flurry of behind-the-scenes activity, Kentucky is playing UNC in Las Vegas and UNLV is back on its extended break, as scheduled.

“We talked to some people that were running the event and they asked if we’d be interested in filling in if it came to that,” Kruger said. “And we were. We were interested, if it could work, but there were a lot of moving parts and it didn’t end up happening.”

UNLV already has 31 games scheduled for this season, the maximum allowed by the NCAA, so the school would have had to petition the NCAA to play the additional contest against Kentucky. The waiver likely would have been approved but discussions never got that far.

Kruger would have welcomed the chance to get his squad another game against a quality opponent. Kentucky is currently 7-2 and No. 21 in the KenPom ratings.

“To have the opportunity to play Kentucky in Vegas in the T-Mobile in the CBS Classic would have been something that we would have absolutely loved to do,” Kruger said.

Instead it’s back to normal at the Mendenhall Center, where UNLV practiced on Friday morning. With no specific opponent to gameplan for, Kruger and his assistants focused on individual instruction, with lots of time devoted to 1-on-1, 2-on-2 and 3-on-3 drills.

“Today was a lot more skill based,” Kruger said. “When you cut out that segment for getting ready for somebody, you’ve got a big void in the practice plan. So that allowed us to do some more skill development, a little more talking and teaching than maybe we would have if we had an opponent coming up tomorrow.”

UNLV has won three straight games and is 7-5 on the year. The scarlet and gray will attempt to make it four in a row when they host San Diego on Wednesday in the non-conference finale.

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