New Foes: A Preview of The New MWC Competition

Update - Midweek (likely Wednesday) an outstanding article will be posted by our very own Jason Taylor regarding player performance at the Desert Reign tournament and evaluations of returning players, as well as all the new guys who played. It's comprehensive, may release it in two parts (one this Wednesday eve, the next late Saturday). Come back then or follow on Twitter to find out when its published!

Football - love it, or count it as a sideshow to the glory of the Runnin' Rebels Basketball, it has changed the landscape of the MWC. Over the past few years solid and formidable opponents have left the Mountain West Conference. Remember the Utah Utes and BYU Cougars? Now we have -0- opponents from our neighbor state to the east. Reason - football money. The MWC brought in a few short lived competitors - The TCU Horned Frogs and Boise State Broncos, gone (TCU already gone, BSU gone next season). Then there's another usual suspect who has decided to leave - the SDSU Aztecs (next season).

Additions anyone? While other "stronger" conferences have decimated our league, there were some additions. In fact, we are only losing one this season, and gaining two - a net gain of one team (for now). The additions are Fresno State and Nevada. Let's learn a little about these new additions.


Fresno State - "The Bulldogs"

Fresno State should be familiar to many because they occasionally show up in the NCAA tournament, were kind of a cinderella back in the early 2000's, but most importantly - was the landing spot of Jerry Tarkanian after he was muscled out of UNLV (1995-2002).

Location: Fresno, CA (in a tie with Bakersfield for the armpit of California)
Venue: Save Mart Center
Capacity: 14,544
Former conference: West Coast Conference (WCC)
Head Coach: Rodney Terry
Historical series with Fresno State - UNLV leads 27-6

(Season)       (W-L)
2011-12 - 13-20
2010-11 - 14-18
2009-10 - 15-18

While known for basketball, they have seriously under-performed for quite some time. The Bulldogs seem to be excited about their recent recruiting class, and their coach is entering his second year with the team (sound familar?) Expectations for Fresno State will be minimal, they may do slightly better than bottom of the MWC, but not by much unless they line-up a cupcake non-conference schedule. More often than not - they have been the cupcake.

They return 3 of 5 starters and are quite excited about Fresno native Robert Upshaw, a 7 footer ranked #55 in the ESPN top 100 recruits (2012). They also feature Las Vegas native (Cimarron-Memorial graduate) Kevin Olekaibe, who starts for the Bulldogs. Incidently, the guy can score - he notched 43 points last sesaon vs. Seattle University in a home game. The other returning starters are Kevin Foster and Tyler Johnson.

It's hard to point to anything that the Bulldogs really do well - all of their offensive stats are ranked in the 200's among the 300 or so D-1 teams:

PPG - 65.8 / Asst PG / 11.3 Reb PG / 31.6  / FG Pct 40.9%

Defense statistics:
66.1 PPG allowed / 12.2 Asst PG allowed / 35.7 Reb PG allowed / 44.8% FG Pct allowed

So, with these kind of statistics, my knee jerk reaction is - it will feel like TCU never left, they were just replaced by Fresno State. Unless this 7 footer is named Shaquille O'Neil, we should be able to beat them both times we meet.


UNR "Nevada" - The Wolfpack

We know Nevada. We've known them for a very long time - they are our in-state rivals. Every year, we play a football game against them, and what's at stake is possession of the Fremont cannon. We have faced them in basketball every year for as long as I can remember. The bonus is now we'll face them twice a year, maybe three times if we end up playing them in the MWC tournament. Welcome to the reckoning, "Nevada"

(season)     (W-L)
2011-12 - 28-7
2010-11 - 13-19
2009-10 - 21-13


Location: Reno, NV (armpit of the United States)
Venue: Lawlor Events Center
Capacity: 11,536
Former conference: Western Athletic Conference (WAC)
Head Coach: David Carter
Historical series with UNR: UNLV leads 54-19

Despite UNLV easily beating UNR last year, they went onto a very respectable record: 28-7. That said, because of their weak conference and lack of quality wins including obviously not winning their conference tournament (lost to Louisiana Tech in the final) they ended up in the NIT and were beaten by Stanford in the quarterfinal. The Wolfpack is returning three starters: Deonte Burton, Malik Story and Jerry Evans Jr. but lost (to graduation) Olek Czyz and Dario Hunt. This is the type of team which will actually get to prove whether they can substantiate their record because they actually have to play difficult matchups. Kind of like if you made Utah State play in our conference. Likely outcome - they will not repete last season's success (duh). They would probably not repeat last seasons record even if still playing in the WAC due to the losses of Czyz and Hunt.


Here are their 2011-12 averages:
Offense:
PPG: 70.3 / Asst PG 12.9 / Reb PG 37.1 / FG Pct PG 45%

Defense:
PPG allowed 65.1 / Ass PG allowed 13.8 / Reb PG allowed /33.1 . FG Pct PG allowed 41.3%

The Wolfpack's most impressive statistic was rebounding (45th in the nation), but the team high rebounds statistic seesawed between Czyz and Hunt 90% of the time -- so they're taking a hit there. Unless they unleash some secret weapon, we should be able to beat them both times we meet.

Conclusion

Geographically speaking, we've added some semi-close but crappy locations to play basketball at. But, we've finally rounded up our in-state rival. Only time will tell if either school can provide real competition to the Runnin' Rebels, or at least help our RPI. Welcome to the big leagues Bulldogs and Wolfpack.

Home sweet home: 74-63 victory over Wyoming

Several storylines:

Rebels look to avenge in game against Wyoming

Graduating  4 seniors cap off impressive run with final home game

Rebels look to stay perfect at home, go for 17 straight home wins

Rebels seek to end season on high note with a win

Another chance for Moser to get back to being Moser

The one that meant the most was that the Runnin’ Rebels had more heart tonight than the Wyoming Cowboys, and gritted out a physical win.

The Rebels had great energy from the start, and outscored the Cowboys by double digits. The impetus for the early lead can be attributed to a nice early jumper by Kendall Wallace, a pair of shots by Mike Moser, and a bunch from Oscar Bellfield, and Justin Hawkins.

The team that most had called a ‘second half’ team for the majority of the season – had become a first half team in recent memory. With the Rebels blazing hot start, the true test of their mettle would be to see if they could weather a few Wyoming runs and maintain the lead – the Rebels prevailed in that aspect.

Only once did the game come dangerously close, and that was about 1 minute to go in the first half when the score was 33-32 Rebels on top. Some how some way the Rebels are a much better team in Las Vegas, and several key players need to be singled out for their accomplishments tonight.

Mike Moser – He was big early, and big late. Not so much in the middle, but nonetheless being big at any time during the game is a dramatic change for Mike given recent history, and getting hot again in a game near the end is a major accomplishment. For Moser’s part, he got back to his double-double ways, scoring 17 points and 12 rebounds. The key to Rebels victories this season can be attributed to Chace Stanback or Mike Moser getting hot. On the rare day they are both firing on all cylinders, we blow out opponents. Mike Moser had a lot of help from his friends, but it was his emotional drive that made this game our own. Some notable plays included a quick drive to the hoop where he was fouled, and not too long after a sweet reverse jam. He was actually perfect from the field (5-5) and 5-7 from the free throw line. Glad to see Mike Moser getting back in the swing of things just in the nick of time.

Kendall Wallace – Welcome back old man, as far as capitalizing on senior night and the start, few players who have struggled so mightily have recovered in such fashion. Kendall was making remarkable shots all night, off balance and contested three pointers as well as big free throws, as he’s the Rebels best option on the line. In the largest point total I can recall from him since he shocked the Lobos two seasons back in New Mexico, Wallace had 14 points and 1 steal in 13 minutes of basketball – phenomenal numbers. Wallace’s confidence in his ability to make big time shots bodes quite well for us moving forward into post-season basketball, hopefully all of the falling down he happened into doesn’t cause his knee to swell too much between now and Thursday. New knickname for Wallace – Substance over Style.

Brice Massamba – The he was literally and figuratively huge for the Rebels tonight. It’s a good night when his layups are rolling, it’s a better night when his freethows are rolling, and it’s the best night of all when he can hit a jumper. Mr. Trifecta arrived tonight, and also capitalized on senior night in grand fashion. Massamba had 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block. He also played a ton more than he has all season, 31 minutes. Part of  the reason why he had so much playing time was because Coach Rice decided to run Lopez in the power forward spot for a good part of the game. Emotionally, Brice was as important as anyone for the Rebels. The guy was 6 of 8 from the field and 3 of 4 from the free throw line, everyone give it up for Brice – he will be very much missed next year.

Oscar Bellfield – passed New Mexico’s Dariese Gary as the all time conference assists leader tonight. Big numbers from the senior helped as well, his offense came early but he helped in any way he could the rest of the game. 7 points, 9 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks – he did everything. One of his blocks was a signature ‘oh I know you don’t think you’re going to dunk the ball in transition’ block – the type he’s been pulling off for years. While Oscar had an up and down first half of the season, he has really made it clear that he’s the #1 option for point guard, and likely the best PG in the MWC.

Other players had really good games as well, Anthony Marshall continued his quest to get to the foul line, and crippled Wyoming’s roster in doing so. His 12 points were largely from the freethrow line. Justin Hawkins was 3-6 from the field, and had a really nice steal. I for one would like to see Hawkins getting a lot more minutes – hopefully as a starter next season.

Side notes: Where was Chace Stanback? It was his senior night as well, and he accounted for virtually none of the Rebels production tonight. After 15 minutes of attempted shots and turnovers, he finished with 0 points and remained on the bench for the rest of the game. So much for his senior night being a statement game. Hopefully Chace can be the 3 point threat he’s clearly capable of being, especially at home, and in the tournament. Not to speculate, but I found it highly unusual that when Coach Rice was subbing guys in an out at the end of the game so the seniors could get their ovations, Stanback was not included in the mix – to me it seemed like bad game or not, Stanback at least deserved that kind of  recognition.

Reign Men – Mike Moser, Brice Massamba, Oscar Bellfield, and Kendall Wallace. Fitting that three of the four were seniors. 

The incredible shrinking team: Rebels lose 66-59 to CSU

How to lose a basketball game -- flatline

The Rebels have been a lackluster road team in the conference schedule. Besides having to go to overtime twice to gain wins against lower tier teams, there was a loss to TCU where the Rebels coughed up an 18 point lead in the second half. This game was nearly as bad, giving up a 15 point half time lead and losing by 7 points.

It wasn’t all bad, early on the Rebels were a solid, fluid, scoring machine. Without Mike Moser in the lineup the Rebels clicked early and thoroughly dominated the Rams. In place of Moser (who was sitting as a disciplinary measure due to being late to study hall), Justin Hawkins was extremely active with his hands and created a bunch of turnovers. Chace Stanback’s 3 pointer was on target, as was Oscar Bellfield’s. Because of UNLV’s 7 first half three pointers, points off of turnovers, great defense, and CSU’s bad luck, the Rebels had a 41-26 lead. I thought, man we’re going to win this game, I’ve not seen the Rebels play this consistently in a while.

It appears that the basket that CSU started with and the Rebels finished with was cursed, as no team shot well on it. All it took for the Rams to come into the second half was average scoring – nothing superhuman. The Rebels scoring became non-existant. Players who had delivered for the Rebels, such as Chace Stanback and Oscar Bellfield hit far fewer shots. The Rebels, who only had 2 first half turnovers, gave away the ball at an embarrassing rate in the second half with 8 team turnovers. Leading the giveaway fest was Anthony Marshall, with 4 turnovers, but also Mike Moser with 2.

Not even a tourniquet could stop the points hemorrhaging that the Rebels allowed, and with 6:57 left in the game the Rams had tied it. Besides not shooting well and turning the ball over, the Rebels frequent misses were rarely rebounded for second chance points. Colorado State limited the Rebels to 5 second chance points, while overachieving with 13 in the second half. The Rebels were outrebounded in the second half 12-18. While Coach Rice has faith in his guys, the major rebounding guy is Mike Moser, and he failed produce in a way that makes you scratch your head. Two rebounds in 26 minutes of play, to go with only 5 points reignites the inquiry – did Mike Moser reinjure his wrist? Furthermore, it became apparent sometime when Moser was going 1-10 from the field that Hawkins would have been the better choice – especially for his defense and steals. Hawkins had 3 steals in the game.

In a season of many chances to capture and maintain the MWC regular season title, the Rebels have now blown too many to realistically get it. Too many teams have stormed the court at our expense. We play better as the hunters, not the hunted. And its hard to remember a time when both Chace Stanback and Mike Moser both played up to their abilities at the same time. Many say a successful post-season run is about getting hot at the right time – hopefully the Rebels are saving that right time for just down the road. In all likelihood Wyoming will be a tall order in our house as well, hopefully we can take care of business and prepare for our tournament – which is far later than it should be.

No Reign Men this game, it was too big of a disappointment. I will give props to Anthony Marshall not only for offense, but the two amazing blocks he had. Also to Mike Moser for his steal-behind the back pass. I’ve never seen anything like that, degree of difficulty has got to be through-the-roof. Although successful and awesome to watch, I hope I never see him attempt that again.

Have faith Rebel faithful, we are finally done with true road games and better times may be upon us. 

On the mountain top once again: UNLV defeats Air Force 68-58

 

A familiar theme has emerged the last two games – superhuman three point shooting from Chace Stanback, and mere mortal shooting but a ‘Mr. Everything Else’ performance from Mike Moser. Although this is a different recipe than what has worked this season, we’re winning games again and back on top.

UNLV  started the game with good energy – as good as a team could have given the slow pace Air Force tends to play at. Everyone knows the Falcons don’t score a ton of points, but hope to limit their opponents and score just enough to win – that’s how they beat SDSU recently. Link

Chace Stanback established himself early from deep, scoring the Rebels first points, and being a consistant factor throughout the game both outside and inside the three point line. On phenomenal 3 point shooting, the 6’8” forward drilled 5 of 7 three point attempts (71%). In addition to the total 21 points which just moved Stanback past Reggie Theus on the all time scoring list, he had 8 rebounds, 1 block and 3 steals. For a man who often times was incognito on the court even in great games, I couldn’t stop watching Stanback lift the Rebels to victory the right way – by building and maintaining a comfortable lead. The Reign Man of the game is Chace.

Mike Moser was still having issues scoring the basketball, but had a major hand in the win. Most incredible stat to go along with 7 points were 6 steals. Mike was the clear energy guy on the court, keeping the Rebels from being lulled to sleep by the flowless Falcons. Tempering his steals figure, were his turnovers (6). While I’ve heard nothing concrete on Moser injury-wise, a guy who isn’t scoring the ball like he’s capable, and is turning over the ball quite a bit could very well be suffering from a hand or wrist injury of some sort. Remember, Mike had an injury to his right wrist in early December, but has since recovered – so hopefully not a reaggravation of that.Link

One of the points of emphasis for the Rebels besides not playing down to the Falcons tempo, would have been defending the three. Air Force, percentage wise, is the most accurate three shooting team in the MWC. The Falcons were actually shooting the three ball well in the first half (5-11 45%) but then went ice cold in the second (1-8 12%). The Rebels, behind strong outings by Stanback and complemented by Bellfield and Hawkins finished at 47% from three (9 – 19).

Transition basketball for the Rebels was sloppy, but only noticeably on lob and in-the-paint attempts. Regularly, the ball was lost and recovered by an Air Force player with little effort. Having observed the Rebels over now 30 games of basketball, its become apparent that there is regression on transition dunks and layups. Surprisingly (because its not normal for teams), the Rebels’ best transition shot is the in rhythm assisted three because of people like Stanback, Hawkins, Bellfield, and Moser (when he’s on). Give the Rebels credit for being creative in transition, but unfortunately the turnovers are mounting and normally the Rebels are exposed when the ball quickly goes back the other way.

Frustration felt: Two Rebels were cited for technical fouls – Kendall Wallace and Brice Massamba. Wallace had a call go against him when he was steamrolled by an Air Force guard driving to the basket. Massamba got tripped by an Air Force center under the opponents basket, the trip which could have been inadvertent inspired him to get in the players face, as well as have words with the Air Force bench.

Conclusion: We beat an opponent everyone expected us to beat. In winning two in a row and New Mexico losing two in a row, we are now again tied at the top of the standings with the Lobos and SDSU. But, the Rebels are technically the top first place team because our overall record trumps both teams. Two tough games remain on the schedule, Colorado State who have demonstrated their lack of fear for the Thomas and Mack, and Wyoming who handed us defeat in Laramie. Chances are, the Rebels luck in having both SDSU and New Mexico falter will end, and both will win out the rest of their conference schedule. Colorado State is still looking for a resume boosting win, ideally away from home but they would relish beating  the Rebels either way. The Rebels will look to change their road fortune against Colorado State – should be must see TV. 

Confidence Builder – Rebels end losing streak, beat Boise St 75-58.

 BEATS 

This is the type of Rebels game the fan is accustomed and more comfortable seeing. The Rebels put their stamp on this one with great defensive pressure and accuracy from three. A lot of very good things occurred in this one that the team can build upon finishing out the conference schedule .

Active hands – Part of playing Runnin’ Rebels defense is looking to create turnovers and convert them into points. The best part of doing so is it counts as a stop because the opponent missed their opportunity to capitalize, and our team just scored. The Rebels outperformed Boise State in the steals department 10-4. The really cool thing about our 10 steals, was that it was evenly distributed – everyone was looking and successfully grabbing the ball. Three players had 2 steals apiece, Bellfield, Stanback, and Massamba. The following players had 1 apiece, Smith, Hawkins, Moser and Marshall. The Rebels did a great job of capitalizing on turnovers, with 13 points off turnovers.

Chace is back – Although there was talk from players like Anthony Marshall and Chace Stanback about not stepping up previously, playing through injury, and apologizing to the fans – that was just talk, we needed action. Chace Stanback had another effortless game with perimeter shots falling regularly. Stanback led all scorers with 19 points, he was 7 for 11 from the field with 4 of those from the three point line (4 of 6). When Stanback plays well and the Rebels play defense, we are unstoppable. Good to see his shot not altered by his knee troubles. Besides shooting, he really went all out. He had 7 rebounds, a steal and a block. Very solid performance by Chace, if he keeps this up we’re going places. I'll single out Chace for the Reign Man award, but the whole team gets it as well for shaking off the cobwebs and playing Runnin' Rebel basketball again. 

Defensive pressure – The Rebels were impressive with finally employing a full court press, even when comfortably ahead. Several times, especially in the first half, they pushed the Bronocs to the brink of running out the shot clock – not an easy feat with a lengthy 35 second clock. While its easy to see the result of the pressure with the numbers already mentioned, the Rebels forced BSU into 14 turnovers as well. Unfortunately, UNLV had 14 turnovers of our own, but still the effort was good. Fortunately, UNLV played defense in a way where lots of traps were employed, some successful charges were taken, and foul trouble never really became an issue. Teams really fear this kind of defensive pressure, and keeping teams afraid is a battle worth fighting for.

Massamba is fine – Surely Rebel nation was collectively holding their breath when Brice Massamba sprained his ankle against New Mexico. But, tonight Brice started and played very effective basketball, in fact 27 minutes worth. Great news for the Rebels to have Massamba at the ready to deliver. On a side note – who knew he had range? In the second half he popped out to 16 feet and shot a jumper, opponents got to hate that!

Runnin’ is back – besides the obvious defensive component, people want to see fastbreak points. UNLV simply dominated in that category outscoring 13 to 2 in fast break points in the first half, and then 8 to 0 in the second half. The point total could have been even higher, in a few of the plays the Rebels were a little too creative or unselfish with the ball, which ended up in missed shots and turnovers. Also complementing the Runnin’ was assists. Although not exclusively confined  to fastbreak points, the Rebels had a respectable 19 assists as a team. Leading all players in unselfishness was Anthony Marshall with 5 assists.

Moser’s more than a scorer – Mike Moser finished with 6 points. His shooting was still off and was 2-7 from the field. He was still a valuable piece on the court, besides being one of the more active forces stirring up trouble for the Broncos, he had 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. Also worth mentioning was he helped clean up a fastbreak layup by Anthony Marshall that went awry by trailing the play and dunking the putback. Despite the lack of copious points, Mike Moser was valuable in every other way.

Knockout punch – Throughout the game the announcing crew of CBS Sports keep ragging on the Rebels for not being able to step on teams throats, and finish them. When the Rebels finally achieved a 20 point lead, they shut up. In the end, the Rebels gave back very few of the points in the win margin, and those that did fall by the wayside happened in garbage time. At least now the Rebels realize that doing enough isn’t always an easily definable number (see 18 point lead ending up in a loss).

Nickname – I’m christening a new one for the Rebels. Based upon their penchant for shooting the long ball, how about “Threepublic”? (play on Rebpublic). I’m just saying even though it frustrates me to no end to see such an athletic team jacking up threes all the time, maybe you just have to embrace it, for better or for worse.

Elsewhere – In other news, a much more exciting game occurred on The Mtn when Wyoming came to San Diego and pushed them to overtime. The Aztecs fought back and halted their three game losing streak, winning at home 67-58.

Carnage at The Pit: UNLV blows first half lead, loses 65-45 to UNM

UNLV has become a version of last year’s Rebels, a team that fires at will from distance but makes far fewer than they take. Last year’s team was superior in one respect,  they played with tenacious defense no matter the opponent, except for the obvious disaster that occurred in the tournament. Clearly, we don’t deserve the #11 ranking, expect us to fall somewhere in the 18-25 range, SDSU as well.

Recaps of the game can be found in the following locations, LVRJ Las Vegas Sun and there is no need to relive the mess that occurred this morning. Looking forward, the Rebels have four very beatable opponents coming up prior to the MWC Tournament. Hopefully the Rebels can watch film of when they were playing great and figure out what the magic was, because everyone has figured out how to beat us right now.

The real disaster has been not having 1-2 key guys step up in the close ones. Throw the TCU loss out, the Rebels executed on offense, but couldn’t figure out how to contain the Horned Frogs.

Chase Stanback in this one was non-existent, 4 points, 4 rebounds and 3 fouls isn’t getting it done. He only had 1 field goal – this from the hero of the North Carolina win. If all Chase Stanback can be is a guy who every 5^th game (much more so in the non-conference schedule) can light it up from three, we are in trouble.

Mike Moser, who had 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists is still having shooting troubles. There was an interesting article done awhile back by Kenpom that showed the statistical anomaly that Moser is, a 6’8” guy who gets a ton of rebounds, but jacks up a lot of threes Link. The reason its an anomaly is because a guy of his rebounding prowess should be an inside presence, and have a good short to mid-range game. He certainly is athletic enough to have an inside game, so why not use it when the 3 isn’t falling?

Anthony Marshall, the player who during a two game stretch looked like superman, did have 18 points, but it was on 4-9 field goal shooting and 8-13 from the free throw line. He continues to have difficulty finishing layups that, all be they contested, could easily be dunked or further assured – we know he has the ability.

Justin Hawkins had as many points as Barry Cheaney, none. The only problem is Cheaney didn’t play, Hawkins did. As one of the four who can put up 20 points, his lack of potency against the Lobos sticks out because he’s normally the bench sparkplug who helps push UNLV over.

UNLV is still letting opposing players achieve career highs. Now, it wasn’t quite as bad when it was a seldom successful bench player who had the game of his life, but in the last two – Hank Thorns Jr. and Drew Gooden are known commodities. Clearly, Coach Rice’s plan to contain the most obvious threat isn’t working, and defensive theory needs to be revamped, because the offense is slumping. Did you know, prior to this last game UNLV’s defensive points allowed ranked  #173 in the NCAA (although #1 in the MWC) ?

Reign man – Anthony Marshall tried very hard in this one, and got a double double for his effort. 

Overtime finally bites us in the ass: UNLV blows big lead and loses to TCU 102-97

NCAA Basketball Stats

Anger, clear thinking, big picture, anger, clear thinking big picture. These are the emotions I am feeling right now over UNLVs major letdown this evening, giving away what should have been an easy victory over TCU. I am glad I only DVR’d the game (thanks for the early start MWC) and had some wine during this one.

Anger – The Rebels had an 18 point lead with 14:09 left in the second half. The Rebels were stroking the three ball very well, and although runs were a dominant feature in the game, they heavily favored UNLV. Multiple news articles made light of the fact that UNLV was a bad road team, and having beaten SDSU and rematching with lowly TCU was the perfect storm to capitalize on the road. The horror of seeing this year’s Rebel team look like last year’s, with going cold from three occurring more and more frequently . Suddenly, the #11 team is not only the ‘team to beat’ which gets opponents psyched up to play us, but now we are plausibly beatable (because Wyoming and TCU have done it). I hate that we are in this position.

Clear thinking, big picture – The Rebels will still be ranked after this loss, and may still be ranked if we lose in New Mexico. What’s at stake right now is purely seeding. Thankfully the Rebels have done enough to earn a spot in the tournament, and if we can string together 3 wins we are in the sweet 16, and 4 and we are in the elite 8. Some critical players actually played quite well for the Rebels tonight, Oscar Bellfield is still the same reliable player over the last few games, despite the outcome. Chace Stanback was stroking threes like nobody’s business, and shows some much needed aggression with a sweet turnaround jumper. Brice Massamba was still a beast. No matter how great people believe the Rebels are or should be, this is still a team that is running a new offense, with an entirely new coaching staff – there will be growing pains, and there will be upsets.

Why we lost the game:

Hank Thorns Jr. – We all hoped that lessons were learned from the two bad losses we had in the non-conference season, first to Whichita State, and then to Wisconsin. In both games, an opposing player – usually a non-star went absolutely nuts with their jump shot and UNLV did nothing to stop them from fireing away unimpeded. Hank Thorns Jr. had 32 points and had 8 three pointers. Clearly, the defensive assisgnment was mishandled by the Rebels for allowing him to play far better than he is on paper. New Mexico has plenty of guys who can go off, obviously the lesson was unlearned and this man single handedly pushed his team to victory. For a defensive team such as the Rebels with so many athletic players, we should do better.

Rebounding – Runnin’ Rebels basketball starts with defense, but rebounding is what sets up fast break transition basketball. Take a look at this chart, you’ll notice we completely dropped the ball (no pun intended) in the latter part of the game, coincdently right when TCU erased our lead and pushed us to overtime. Look hard at this.

NCAA Basketball Stats

Steals – Steals lead to turnovers, which lead to easy baskets. When the Rebels play Rebel basketball, key players make a lot of steals and we win the game. TCU was the one this game with their hand in the cookie jar. Again, look at the chart – watch how the steals coincide with the Rebels blowing their lead and TCU taking the victory.

College Basketball Stats

Field goals – UNLV shot better than TCU percentage wise. In the SDSU UNLV game this past Saturday, the Rebels shot much worse than the Aztecs. When you have a team shoot worse yet win the game, the only logical conclusion is that they wanted it more. They out hustled, and got second chance looks far more times than their opponent. Look at this graph. Had we wanted it more, we would have won the game.

NCAA Basketball

Runnin’ – I don’t know what to make of it, this is a game where TCU allowed the Rebels to run and play Rebel basketball for quite a long time, hence the 97 points by UNLV. This is the first loss by the Rebels where the opponent didn’t try to slow down the Runnin’ Rebel offense. Point wise, this was one of the better outings of the year. It’s a head scratcher, but without digging too deep we were successful on offense but lazy (or unlucky) on defense.

The clear message is that the Rebels may very well win  the elusive MWC championship because it is our home floor, but being a lousy road team is going to hurt come tournament time and could make us upset prone. If the Rebels win in New Mexico this weekend on national TV, then the bleeding will stop, but fundamental systematic changes need to be made, and I believe that begins with not relying on the lowest percentage shot in basketball to win your games for you – let the two 6’8” guys (Stanback and Moser) attack the rim or develop a short game, it’s the only way to avoid last years pitfalls. 

Good to be home: Rebels handle a capable Colorado State; 82-63

A few of the story lines coming into this game were the passing of former Coach Charlie Spoonhour, which the Rebels are now remembering with black bands on their jerseys; coming home after two tough overtime wins on the road; and playing a team who won the first meeting last year in the Thomas and Mack, as well as beat formidable San Diego State this past Saturday.
     

BEATS                

The Rebels were amped and ready to rock. Both teams got out to a good start, working early were Mike Moser with the first three of the game, then a nice pair of Bellfield jumpers, followed by a Moser dunk. The Rams held their own and the game was tied at 11-11. From that point forward, ‘runs’ were the story of the game. Colorado St went on the first unimpeded run pushing the lead to 19-12. Then it was the Rebels turn, with a Stanback three, Marshall layup, Smith three, and Massamba layup. The score was pushed back in our favor, 24-19. The run didn’t end there, Moser, Marshall, and Thomas pushed it out to 32-21. That margin would essentially prevail through the remainder of the half, and lead 48-37 at the break.

In the second half, it was only really close once. CSU began the half on an 11-0 run and pulled within two points of the Rebels. In a major correction of course, the Rebels then became the Runnin’ Rebels we know and love, and simply turned on the defense, reigned three’s, had tons of transition baskets, and dominated. The biggest lead of the half came late, at 21 points. Newcomer Barry Cheaney scored a nice jumper as the Rebels last points of the game. On a last second shot by the Rams, they finished it down by 19, final score 82-63.

Observations:

Carlos Lopez didn’t play, neither did Kendall Wallace. This put a lot more minutes out there for bench players Quintrell Thomas, Justin Hawkins, and Reggie Smith.

Rebels free throw shooting was terrible as usual, the team shot just 13-19 for 68%. These numbers have to improve to win close games against better opponents, otherwise we are essentially leaving points on the floor. The figure suprises me more given Dave Rice’s BYU teams were so good at free throw shooting.

Reggie Smtih was a lot more confident with his shooting, and attempted a very deep three pointer in rhythm that dropped in – hopefully more of that to be seen in the future.

The Rebels outrebounded CSU 39-28, which made a major difference in the game. Multiple Rebels were beasts on the boards, and the focused effort to rebound the ball was apparent from the jump. Sadly, Mike moser ended two rebounds short of another double double.

Balanced scoring was back – its been awhile since we’ve seen four players (nearly 5) in double digit scoring, Bellfield, Marshal, Moser, and Stanback all had the rock falling tonight.

The full court press made an appearance in this one a few times – a nice change of pace for a team that can clearly press opponents into mistakes.

Fancy is sometimes too much – twice in this game there were behind the back passes which looked awesome, but didn’t put points on the board on the ensuing play. Maybe best to put the showtime trickery back on the shelf. I’m positive Coach Rice will chew out Anthony Marshall for it.

Sharing means wins – the Rebels as the NCAA’s 4th best team in assists continued to share the ball effectively, with 24 assists (above the average of around 18). Besides the two instances of fancy passing, ball movement was largely without turnovers, and the open man was found quite often. Also, there was hardly an instance in the game where I thought ‘man, he shouldn’t have taken that shot’.

Final thoughts: The Rebels clearly won the game by a large margin, but it wasn’t an easy game. This would have been a closer contest if the Rebels weren’t reigning three pointers. UNLV tallied 9 three pointers, mostly from Moser and Bellfield. The better the Rebels are from three, the more teams will respect the Rebels on the perimeter and this will open up the lane for drives from Marshall, Hawkins, Smith, and Moser – as well as our bigs. On a night where the team missed Lopez and Wallace, everyone stepped up and brought effort and intensity to keep the Rebels undefeated at home. Beside fantastic shooting, UNLV’s defense and energy wore out CSU after their run early in the second half, and from then on it was UNLV’s game to lose. Tonight, the Rebels really did look like the #11 team in the nation.

Reign men: Mike Moser, Oscar Bellfield, Chace Stanback, and Anthony Marshall (in that order). This is a really special team that if they stick to the team concept and get everyone involved , they will be unstoppable.

Highlights

Overtime again, the Rebels now share 1st place in the MWC with a 65-63 victory over Air Force

The Falcons were supposed to be an easy and expected win, but the same was true of Boise St. For numerous reasons, the Rebels went to overtime and fortunately pulled out the road win, pushing the record to 20 wins, 3 losses, and tying with SDSU for 1^st place in the MWC. That title became available when the Aztecs lost in a major way to Colorado State today, 77-60. Back to our game.

                 BEATS

This contest started out fine, the Rebels traded buckets with the Falcons until the 16 minute mark, and then broke open a 10 point lead, (20-10). Rebels were able to maintain a lead, however dwindling, till five minutes remained in the half. Air Force then pulled ahead and ended the half winning 34-33.

From early on it was easy to see Mike Moser was still riding high from his performance in Boise this past Wednesday, and was ready to do what was necessary to win the game. Joining him early was Oscar Bellfield, he finished the half with 8 points, 5 assists on 3-4 shooting. Brice Massamba was having luck early in the paint, but foul trouble slowed and shook him a bit. Quintrell Thomas, who was the only other ‘big’ who saw action (Lopez dressed but did not play due to ankle) was not particularly effective in this contest, and saw limited minutes.

In the first half, and really throughout the game, many of the following problems hampered the Rebels.

Free throw shooting was embarrassing. They call it free, because it is easy – yet the Rebels had extremely poor luck at the line tonight. They shot only 20% from the stripe in the first half and ended at 50% 9-18. We certainly could have avoided overtime if we would just have hit some damn free throws. UGH!

Turnovers – The Rebels couldn’t control the ball, were making too many unnecessary passes, and making the Falcons look like defensive specialists – when they really aren’t. The Rebels had 9 first half turnovers, which is why even through the Rebels shot 56% from the field and the Falcons 44%, the Falcons were winning. Rebels had half as many turnovers in the second half, and actually forced some turnovers on the Falcons such that they finished with 17, and we with 15.

Lack of perimeter defense – Anyone who scouted Air Force would tell you they like to shoot the three. UNLV has the athletic advantage, and as one of the premier defensive teams in the league, we should have been able to play Air Force man-to-man and pressure them on the perimeter. For some reason that did not happen, and the Rebels, especially in the first half, sat in a zone and allowed the perimeter to fire away. Air Force took full advantage, and finished with 11 three pointers (42% from 3). Unacceptable, that was 33 points of their 63, more than half!

Throughout the second half Mike Moser was still determined and won us the ball game. When you look at his numbers, an impressive 27 points, 12 boards, 3 steals, and 2 assists. But beyond that, he was the emotional lynchpin that held it together out there. Today, the Rebels were not Runnin’, nor the second half team they’ve been typecast as. The lead bounced back and forth throughout the second, and there was good and bad. Since the bad has already been discussed, the good:

Justin Hawkins – he did some really great things not necessarily reflected in his 6 points and 6 rebounds. He had a really nice steal and circus style layup that fell in, plus the successful foul shot.

Anthony Marshall – was 3-4 from the free throw line, including a trip where he hit his head on the backboard. Its been a physical week for Marshall, hopefully the Mendenhall Center has a basement with bathtubs full of ice.

Mike Moser – took an elbow to the face via Taylor Broekhuis, and didn’t even get the foul call. He did get a bloody nose. Mike got revenge, on a beautiful one handed jam in overtime where the nose gauze fell out too. That would have to be the play of the game.

Oscar Bellfield – continued where he left off in the first half, finished with 15 points, and 7 assists. He was 3-6 from 3 point land, including a big one in overtime– good to see his confidence in his shot coming back.

The overtime period predictably favors the Rebels given their conditioning and experience in overtime games. It was not an easy overtime period, but the Rebels did enough to ensure the Falcons never led (tied once).

The most interesting thing about the end of overtime, was UNLV gave up several opportunities to pull away and make the contest unreachable for Air Force. The dreaded free throw problem reared its head again – Moser was at the line with the Rebs up 2, missed both of them and the ball landed (after a scrum) in Air Force hands with less than 35 seconds. What saved a potentially game tying Air Force second chance basket was Chace Stanback stealing the ball.

This wasn’t the way the Rebels wanted to win it, nor how the fans wanted to watch it. But, it was entertaining and it was still a win. Whether or not these back-to-back close ones makes people think UNLV is vunerable is debatable, but it brings validity to the statement that every conference game in the MWC is going to be tough. While dominance and blowouts makes you feel like you are and should be the top program In the nation, W’s versus L’s is the only real stat that puts your team there.

Reign man – Mike Moser is pushing his way up the list for Naismith player of the year. Thank you for winning us another game, hope the same magic is around come tournament time.

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