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

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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.

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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. 

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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Target on our backs: UNLV escapes with an overtime win in Boise, 77-72

So this is what it feels like being ranked highly for multiple consecutive weeks. Lower tier teams of the MWC are gunning for the Rebels, and our loss becomes their signature win. The Boise State fans wanted ever so badly to rush the court. DENIED. The Rebels can expect more teams to bring their “A” game in the future. This was a nerve racking victory, but we are certainly glad the Rebels got the W tonight.

The game started out extremely positive for the Rebels. UNLV broke open the game with a 12 – 0 run. The Rebels lost the offensive touch, and maybe relaxed a bit on defense. Boise St. then capitalized slowly and steadily up to the half. Right before halftime, Boise St. captured a lead at 27-26, but quickly gave it back on a Hawkins 3 pointer, pulling the Rebels ahead 29-27.

First half observations included extended play by Kendall Wallace, despite a heavy brace on his right knee and a slight limp. Boise St. was running a lot of drive and kick out plays, and something called the ‘dribble weave’ which is reminiscent of a Harlem Globetrotters drill. Quintrell Thomas got some early minutes, and showed a soft touch on some of the Rebels few inside points. In the limited time Reggie Smith was on the court, he had a nice 3 pointer. From early on, and throughout the game it was apparent Mike Moser was clearly ‘on’ tonight. Chace Stanback didn’t seem to be in the right position to capture rebounds, and didn’t have a ton of defensive energy. As mentioned about the scarcity of points in the paint, the Rebels were not coping well with the zone defense Boise St. played.

In the second half, any Rebel fan would expect that the Rebels would rectify their performance and blow out ‘lowly’ Boise St. WRONG. The Broncos had even more energy and intensity in the second half, perhaps emboldened by the fact that they were only down two with a shooting percentage  in the teens. The Rebels experienced a series of unfortunate events in the second half – bad free throw shooting, an ankle or achilles injury to Carlos Lopez, and Anthony Marshall fouling out on what was clearly not an offensive foul. To the Rebels credit, this game was saved by Mike Moser and Oscar Bellfield. Mike especially, put the team on his back and powered through to a monster performance. Ironically so, because in the Q&A (last article) it was pointed out that Mike really didn’t have to put the team on his back with the depth the Rebels have. Chace Stanback was really good from deep in the second half as well, and his 15 points were equally important to the victory.

This game was tight late – way too tight. With 1 minute left it was tied. The Rebels ran a play that never materized and lead to a steal by the Broncos. Fortunately, the Broncos couldn’t score the ball either with the remaining time, and the game went to overtime. While Boise St. had shown true emotion and grit throughout most of the game – so much so that even I believed they would win the game, you could see it on their faces when the game went to overtime – they weren’t prepared for this, or ran out of energy.

In the overtime, the only buckets of any consequence for Boise St. were free throws. On the contrary, the Rebels had a few good field goals – and that won the day. Big in overtime was Brice Massamba, Mike Moser, and Chace Stanback. The final in this one was 77-72 Rebels.

There will be a lot of teachable moments, and we certainly hope that Lopez isn’t badly injured nor Marshall too dinged up from all the floor time he got. The Rebels are now 2-0 in overtime games, which shows heart and determination. Taking away something good like that and putting it close to their hearts come tournament time should carry them well. While we hope for a blowout, a win is a win. Great job to the Rebels!

Reign men – Mike Moser – 18 points and 21 rebounds, he is the reason the Rebels won tonight.

Chace Stanback – 15 points, again stealthy, the silent killer. He played poorly in the first half but redeemed himself, a good change up.

Oscar Bellfield – Welcome back to the scorers table, Oscar was big for the Rebels with Marshall not firing on all cylinders, 13 points and 6 assists.