UNLV dominates on defense in win over Air Force

UNLV got ambushed a few weeks ago when they traveled to Colorado Springs to take on a bad Air Force team; the Falcons scored 69 points on 64 possessions and handed Kevin Kruger’s squad its ugliest conference loss of the season.

After UNLV’s practice on Monday afternoon, Kruger seemed confident his team would have more success defending Air Force this time around.

How right he was.

UNLV completely strangled Air Force for 40 minutes on Tuesday, claiming a series split via a dominant 78-44 victory at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The key? According to Kruger, it was familiarity. After struggling with the intricacies of Air Force’s wonky, back-cutting attack, the players better understood how to slow it down in the rematch. 

With senior center Royce Hamm leading the way, UNLV held Air Force to 30.4% from the field, including a second half that saw the Falcons make just six field goals. Hamm said the nearly flawless defensive performance was a result of UNLV’s ability to learn from its mistakes.

“Last time we played them up there, the back cuts and the back doors hurt us a lot,” Hamm said. “Slipping the screens and stuff like that. For me, my job was to stay in the lane, kind of muck it up and let the guards chase them.”

Hamm scored 12 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked a shot in 24 minutes. Backup center David Muoka picked up where Hamm left off and finished with 12 points, five rebounds and three blocks in 19 minutes. With Hamm and Muoka tag-teaming the lane, Air Force managed just 10 points in the paint all game.

UNLV started slow on offense but used a late 15-2 run to build a 39-25 lead at halftime. At that point, Kruger knew UNLV could put the game away with a strong start to the second half.

The defense came through. Air Force went nearly five minutes without scoring to open the half, and it took six minutes for the Falcons to make their first field goal. During that time UNLV got a 3-pointer from senior point guard Jordan McCabe, consecutive driving buckets from senior guard Bryce Hamilton and a dunk by Hamm to extend the lead to 48-27 with 14:36 remaining.

Considering Air Force ended the game with just 44 points, the game had quite literally been decided.

“That was an emphasis we talked about at halftime, was getting out there and continuing the momentum,” Kruger said. “They did a really good job, didn’t give up any offensive rebounds during that stretch…Obviously the difference in the game was that first stretch in the second half.”

Hamilton once again led UNLV with 24 points in just 29 minutes. He connected on 9-of-15 from the field, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range. McCabe finished with 10 assists and zero turnovers.

While Hamilton has been the story for most of the season, for one night the Mountain West’s leading scorer took a back seat to UNLV’s team defense.

The Scarlet and Gray are now 15-10 on the year and 7-5 in league play. They’ll head on the road to face Boise State on Friday, and the team is beginning to believe they can play with the conference contenders if they get it done on defense.

“I think our defense is going to be our anchor,” Hamm said. “If we really lock in on defense end throughout the course of the season, going into the conference tournament it will really help us.”

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