UNLV pushes past CAL W76-75

It was a wild game up in Berkley, the fans were into it, and the commentators were into it – if you were watching I’m sure you were into it as well. The game was a tight one, with UNLV controlling the lead for a good majority of the game, then losing that lead in the final minutes and regaining the lead, and win by Quintrell Thomas capitalizing on an airball by Anthony Marshall.

The California Golden Bears were not the chumps we dominated last year at the Thomas and Mack. They were a competitive team who played neck and neck with the Rebels until we finished them off. The Runnin’ Rebels played very good defense against them, and freshman Anthony Bennett showed off on a regular basis during the game, dunking and showing a nice midrange game. The bulk of the scoring was taken up in this game by several players, Anthony Bennett (25 pts, 13 rebs), Bryce Dejean-Jones (22pts) and Anthony Marshall (13 pts, 4 assts, 2 stls).

Obviously, fortunate and unfortunate things happened to two players other than these stat grabbers. Mike Moser, five minutes into the game, dived for a loose ball and a Cal player landed right on his right arm, bending his elbow in a very unnatural way. Medical examination has concluded that the elbow was not fractured, but dislocated. Mike was in a tremendous amount of pain proximate to the time of injury. Preliminary indications are that he may be out 3-6 weeks, hopefully its shorter than longer, and hopefully his hip flexor issue is worked out by then as well. In the fortunate category, Quintrell Thomas was in the game largely due to Mike Mosers’ being on the bench, and perhaps also because Bryce Dejean-Jones fouled out. Quintrell made the game winning shot on a putback. Great moment for Quintrell and the Rebels to win that way on the road.

One thing that was obvious to the eye, was that the Rebels, as a team, seemed to want this victory much more than Cal did. They maybe had 1-2 players of a similar mindset willing to win by any means necessary. That doesn’t translate into the stats, but its as plain as day. Nice win against one of the better teams in the Pac-12. Certainly doesn’t make up for the home loss against Oregon, but Oregon is now on the verge of being in the top-25 (first team out). Today’s rankings have UNLV #20/17 (AP/Coaches), unfortunately see-sawed with MWC foes New Mexico (17/20) and behind San Diego State (18/15)

The next contest will be against D-III Laverne back in town, but in the Orleans. It should be a nice break and should get some of the bench players more minutes. Then, all indications are that Khem Birch will join the team for the road game at UTEP (Dec 17), with his first home game at the Mack on December 19^th (Northern Iowa).  

College Basketball

College Basketball

College Basketball

UNLV beats CAL 85-68

The golden bear falls, Cal is embarrassed by UNLV. When Coach Montgomery and Coach Kruger scheduled this mathup last year, its likely that both figured the Rebels would be ‘pretty good’ this year, and so would Cal. The trouble for Cal, is that this year the Rebels are not only pretty good, but outstanding in nearly every aspect of the game. So, playing UNLV at home has got to be a nerve racking experience for any opponent.

The Rebels had a fantastic start where they got multiple players involved offensively early, and shot a high percentage. Stanback, Marshall, Moser, and Lopez all got points early. The Cal Bears didn’t start off that bad either, but UNLV scored at a much better rate moving through the half. UNLV went on a nice run with about 12 minutes left in the half and created a 7 point cushion. Another nice run came with less than 6 minutes to close the half, where the Rebels pushed the lead to 18 points. That 18 points came by back to back three pointers (Stanback and Moser) and a couple of layups (Marshall and Thomas). In a really cool move to end the first half, with 3 seconds remaining Chace Stanback had a 3 pointer.

In the first half, the Rebels shot a blistering 54% from the field, and 45% from three point range. Equally as important, they only turned the ball over five times. Cal on the other hand, performed like bear cubs rather than bears. They only had 26 points as compared to the Rebels 46 points and shot 32% from the field. Chalk that up to Rebels defense, or bad Bears shooting. Oscar Bellfield was a man on a mission, he had 9 assists at the half .

The second half was about keeping the 20 point lead the Rebels had earned in the first half. On that objective, the Rebels did a great job as well. The lead ballooned to as many as 25 points in the mid-second half, to as few as 14 later. The give-back of points can only be attributed to two things 1) Cal is a good team and they were bound to make some shots, and 2) the Rebels with a sizable lead took the foot off the pedal a bit on defense. The Rebels closed the effort out solidly, finishing with an 17 point win over the Cal Bears.

Based upon Cal’s record and performance, this pre-season poll darling is not the best team in California, but may be the best in the PAC-12. The best team in California is likely the San Diego State Aztecs, a team we’ll likely face 3 times this season (twice and then likely in the MWC championships).

One of the greatest keys to the Rebels success this afternoon, were the 22 assists dished out in large part by Oscar Bellfield (11), as well as major contributors Hawkins, Marshall, Wallace, and Massamba. Mike Moser, Chace Stanback, and Oscar Bellfield all finished in double figures (points wise) but the big scorer was Anthony Marshall with 22 points on 9 of 16 shooting. This game featured quite a few dunks, a lot by Marshall but also some nice ones by Moser, an ally oop by Massamba (from Bellfield) and Lopez.

The Rebel Reign MVPs were Anthony Marshall (for scoring) and Oscar Bellfield (for distributing the ball).

Sights and sounds:

Confession: This was only the second game I’ve attended this season (unfortunately) but I saw some really great things. The energy and turnout was really special, while I don’t know the official figure it seemed as if there were probably 16,000 people in attendance – nearly all of them UNLV fans wearing Rebel Red. The UNLV band did a really nice job, has improved, and has learned two new modern tunes – great job guys! Also, maybe at my suggestion (likely not) the AV people hyped up the student section with some techno high BPM music, rather than the sleepy / campy stuff of last year – didn’t notice anything in the previous game I attended, so good job AV people. In a funny side note, I am 95% sure the T&M announced called Kendall Wallace – Kendall Marshall. I hope someone else heard that too.

Added Bonus: Announced during the game is the added bonus, the Hawaii game which will be played at 5pm on New Year’s Eve will now be televised on Chanel 8.

Great Job Rebels! This should maintain or elevate the Rebels in the rankings!


Video Recap (VIA CBS Sports)