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 19th (Northern Iowa).
