Starting out with
what worked and won the game for the Rebels
Anthony Bennett, the future NBA lottery pick and UNLV’s
fantastic freshman, was the rock in this game. Not only did he score the ball
with authority, he was consistent in a game where consistency was lacking. His
18 points, 7 of which came as the first points in the game, kept the Rebels competitive
in the absence of Mike Moser or any other scoring presence. He would have been
more potent had he not been in early foul trouble in the first half, but
nonetheless – he was brilliant. Making full use of his appearance on ESPNU, he
began the game with an authoritative dunk, and ended it with another –
posterizing the Pilot’s defender.
Justin Hawkins few in like the J-Hawk that he is, and saved this one. Playing behind from the jump, he turned the tide mid-way through the second half by putting up a barrage of three point baskets. In addition, he had some fantastic steals.
Quintrell Thomas is becoming a more reliable offensive
weapon. He had 9 points and 7 rebounds (6 offensive) in 28 minutes of play.
Anthony Marshall filled out the stat sheet as well, and was
the Rebels second leading scorer with 16 points. He was more reliable as well,
only one turnover for the point guard and 4 assists.
The Ref’s had a large hand in the victory, citing the Pilots
for many fouls and putting them in the bonus 5-6 minutes into the second half.
The Rebels fine free throw shooting, although less precise than in the Thomas and
Mack, was sufficient to carry the day.
Now for the bulletin
board material (motivation to get better)
28-22 at the half?
– And we weren't even the “28”. The Rebels anemic first half shooting came
because they abandoned what worked so well in the first half of the Hawaii game
– inside/outside basketball. There was plenty of runnin’ in this game, but it
mostly came up short on the issue of points production. In the end, it’s a lot
of energy expended, and inefficient basketball. Granted, teams will have poor
shooting days, and hopefully (as was the case last night) those woes will
disappear at some point during the game, but the Rebels have the talent
advantage, and need to have the confidence to take and make shots that will then
make more risky shots go in (if they need to be taken at all). The old phrase,
work smarter, not harder, comes to mind.
Other players largely
absent in the production department – besides Anthony Bennett, Justin
Hawkins (second half), Anthony Marshall, and Quintrell Thomas there was very
little production. If players continue to lack the ability to put points on the
board, it makes it harder on the reliable scorers such as Anthony Bennett and
Anthony Marshall. Teams may double those players when the get the ball, forcing
the Rebels to come up with offense elsewhere. The Hawaii game featured a lot of
nice backdoor cuts and layups/dunks with Savon Goodman – why not do that. Katin
Reinhardt was breaking ankles out there with sick cross-overs, why not dribble
penetrate to the basket, take a shot or kick to a forward for a finish?
Reinhardt has proven himself a very effective catch and shoot three-point
artist, why doesn't someone get him going by doing that? Any Bryce Dejean-Jones
--- can someone tell me when they reclassified him as a small forward? Before
the season started he was a shooting guard, now he’s rotating with the bigs,
does this make any sense?
Why isn’t Lopez-Sosa
playing inside? Too often Carlos Lopez-Sosa was playing on the perimeter
offensively throwing screens beyond the three point line, and defensively not
near the basket. Last night, because he wasn’t matched up often enough, two of
the Pilot’s taller players, Thomas Van Der Mars (6’11”) and Riley Barker (6’10”)
scored with little difficulty over Quintrell Thomas (6’8”) and Anthony Bennett
(6’9”). The two were a combined 8-12 from the field. Carlos Lopez-Sosa only had
1 foul in 21 minutes – which means he wasn’t working hard enough on defense. So
to recap, we didn’t necessarily have a roster mismatch situation, but we
created one by not having Carlos Lopez-Sosa defend those guys by the basket. I
love CLS as a player, but I am not thrilled whatsoever with his shrinking role
and confidence playing the 4/5.
We got outrebounded
by Portland?! For a team that was top ten rebounding team, we certainly
didn’t show it last night. Portland had 43 rebs, UNLV, 39. Again, perhaps
having CLS inside would give us more rebounds. Portland is a scappy team, but
seriously…. They average 33 rebounds a game (240th in the nation).
Talent should be tempered with fundamentals, and if the fundamentals are equal,
then talent should win the day.
How injured was Mike
Moser? A lot was made that this game would be a homecoming for Portland
native Mike Moser. The former Oregon’s Mr. Basketball was kept out of the game
as a collaborative decision between coaching and medical staff. The contingent
he promised of supporters showed up, and audible “Rebels” chants were heard
when the Rebels finally did good things. BUT, if he was so injured that he couldn't play even a few minutes – why was he was jumping around on the sideline in
street clothes? Seeing a supposedly injured player doing that leads me to two
conclusions 1) not really that injured, 2) should use his head and not jump
around to prevent further injury. That’s all I’m saying.
Will need to fine
tune the machine to have a chance against Cal – California is supposed to have
a good team this year; this likely will not be the demolition we watched at the
Thomas and Mack last year. They've only lost one game to Wisconsin, and shoot
and rebound the ball at a high percentage (top 50 in both categories). Provided
Mike Moser is a go (maybe this is why they held him out, so he can be more
healthy for this game), we will still have difficulties with them because they
are a solid team and we’re playing on their court. The Rebels need to go back
to what worked against Hawaii in the first half – it wasn't luck that had us
playing like that, it was smart basketball and working to our strengths.
