UNLV Rebels guard Bryce Hamilton (13) is shown during an NCAA basketball game against the San Jose State Spartans at the Thomas & Mack Center Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022.
Monday, Jan. 24, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Related Content
The games keep coming for UNLV, one after the other, every other day. Next up during this compressed stretch of five contests in 11 days: a rematch today against San Diego State.
The Scarlet and Gray may not be traveling to SoCal at full strength. Starting guard Josh Baker has missed the last two games due to a concussion, starting wing Donovan Williams missed Saturday’s game due to an undisclosed injury and backup point guard Marvin Coleman has sat out the last two with a non-COVID-19 illness; head coach Kevin Kruger said he doesn’t know when to expect any of them to return.
That leaves a huge burden on the shoulders of Bryce Hamilton. And judging by his recent play, the senior guard just might be up to the task.
Hamilton erupted for 32 points in a loss at Air Force on Thursday, then followed that performance by scoring another 30 points on Saturday to lead UNLV to a 70-62 win over San Jose State. By sinking a pair of free throws in the final minute against San Jose State he became the first UNLV player to record back-to-back 30-point outings since Marcus Banks in January of 2003.
Hamilton credited playing within the framework of the offense for his scoring outbursts.
“I feel like as a team we’ve been moving the ball a little bit better and I’ve been finding the opportunity to just go and score,” he said. “Just taking what the defense gives me. Being patient on the offensive end, starting inside out, starting to attack the paint more and get my flow going.”
Of course, it’s no surprise that Hamilton put the ball in the basket at a high volume last week. At 19.6 points per game, he is leading UNLV in scoring for the third consecutive season (the last player to top the Scarlet and Gray in points for three straight years was Wink Adams from 2006-07 to 2008-09). What he’ll have to do against San Diego State is maintain his efficiency.
Before his 30-point spree, Hamilton went six straight games shooting below 50%. For the season he is shooting 42.7%, his lowest mark since his freshman year. He bumped up his accuracy against Air Force and San Jose State, converting an identical 10-of-19 from the field in both games.
UNLV will need Hamilton to take a lot of shots and make a lot of shots to have a chance against San Diego State, which boasts the No. 3 defense in the nation according to KenPom.com’s efficiency rankings. The Aztecs are 10-4 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain West, while UNLV is 11-8 and 3-3 in league play.
In the first meeting between the teams, a 62-55 win for San Diego State on Jan. 1, Hamilton was held to 15 points on 6-of-19 shooting. The Aztecs successfully cut off his penetration attempts, forcing him into 11 3-pointers (of which Hamilton made only three).
Still, UNLV had its chances and was within a single possession for most of the second half.
Hamilton said he and his teammates can draw on that first matchup as evidence that they are capable of beating a conference contender like SDSU.
“We could play with them,” Hamilton said. “We’re a pretty good team. We’ve just got to stay disciplined for 40 minutes.”
The discipline of which Hamilton speaks will be most evident on the defensive glass. UNLV got beat up under the basket in the first meeting, allowing the Aztecs to rack up 19 offensive rebounds on 33 missed shots. That led to 16 second-chance points in a game UNLV ultimately lost by seven points.
“They killed us on the rebounding the first time, so that’s going to be a big emphasis for us,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got to be able to block out and stop and give them one possession.”
Hamilton can help out in that regard. He played 37 minutes in the Jan. 1 meeting and only managed two defensive rebounds; he has averaged 5.6 rebounds in the five games since then, including 11 combined defensive rebounds in the last two contests.
Asking him to patrol the defensive glass and put up another 30 points against one of the best teams in the conference is a lot, but UNLV doesn’t have many other options. UNLV will need its best player to come up big.
