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StumblePublished Monday, Dec. 22, 2008 | 9:54 a.m.
Updated Monday, Dec. 22, 2008 | 9:57 a.m.
Sun archives
- Dec. 19 -- Beating Arizona, Part I
Didn’t I tell you that there can’t be any more fun than beating Arizona? It’s the most fun you could have. I was very impressed with the way UNLV played Saturday.
You know what amazes me? I’ve been watching the Rebels very carefully and they do a great job with post defense.
Jordan Hill, the center for Arizona, is a great player. He’s a first-round draft pick. But they did a great job on him. He got some points and rebounds, for sure, but he did not have an outstanding game.
And you just have to love Wink Adams. Even when he’s not shooting, like I’ve said, he’s still helping you by playing great ball defense, attacking the basket, getting to the free-throw line.
He’s a streak shooter, and he busted open boy. He made a big difference.
I think the way Lon Kruger has handled Wink has been great. He never gets on his back. He keeps encouraging him to keep shooting and he breaks out, he just breaks out.
When he’s not shooting well, he’s still helping you. He’s a helluva player.
I watched that game on TV and I thought the Rebels played well. The more I watch them play, the more I’m impressed with Rene Rougeau. He blocks shots, gets steals and he can guard anybody on the floor.
He sticks to guards or centers. He reminds me so much of Stacey Augmon in so many aspects. He’s a big-time player.
It’s too bad they have only one home game like that. We had seven or eight of them every season.
Have I told you how much I like beating Arizona?
The year after we won the national championship, the NCAA sends us to Tucson for the first two rounds of the tournament.
We played Montana State first and crushed them by 34 points. Then we had to play Georgetown.
Somehow, they had put us in Arizona’s locker room for the Georgetown game. More on that in a bit.
Our rivalry with Arizona was so big, when we played Georgetown, their coach John Thompson said it was the only time he could remember when Georgetown played on the road and had a great standing ovation.
Arizona fans hated us so much, they were all cheering for Georgetown.
At that time, Georgetown was hated around the country. I’m not going to get into that. They were not popular. Every place they went they were the villains, John told me.
So inside the Arizona locker room they had a basketball, a half ball. It was outside the entrance. It meant something to them. I don’t know why.
But all of our players autographed their ball. That really pissed Arizona off. I don’t know why it was special. I didn’t know the players did it.
Everywhere in Tucson, all the Vegas boosters said they were never treated like that. In restaurants, people were on their case. Arizona hated us because we beat them so much.
We didn’t hate Arizona. The rivalry got so big, but I had a lot of respect for Lute Olson because of the fact that he played a tough non-league schedule. A lot of teams played patsies, but Lute always played tough teams.
We met when I was at Long Beach State and he was at Long Beach City. We were very close. Then I went to Vegas and he went to Arizona and we became rivals.
We were the two best teams in the west every year. UCLA was way down. They weren’t anywhere near UNLV or Arizona.
They also had Matt Othick, one of my all-time favorites. It was my fault he went there and not UNLV.
Greg Anthony was redshirting, and Matt was all set to come. One of the writers asked me about Greg. I was real excited about Greg because of his defense.
I said, Greg will be a great, great point guard for us. Matt thought Greg would be a “two” guard, so Matt went to Arizona because of that comment.
I wish we had Matt. We would have won that second championship, no doubt in my mind.
That’s one of my biggest regrets in all my career. I love Matt. He and Greg and Anderson Hunt would have given us one of the best backcourts in the history of college basketball. A cinch.
We would have alternated those three guards and ran so much.
We played them, at our place, the season we won the national championship. Greg broke his jaw on a Wednesday night against Fresno State. I was devastated. It was a big blow.
I didn’t think Greg would be able to play New Mexico State that Saturday.
The next day in practice, Greg was at the doctor’s office. I thought he’d be out three weeks or a month. Greg comes walking in the gym and starts shooting!
I said, What are you doin’? You can’t play! No, he said, I’m going to play coach.
The doctor comes in and says he can play, but only in short periods. They’ll wire his jaw. They said the doctor would be there at the bench. They’ll cut the wires and he’ll go in.
He ends up playing 30 minutes! I’d never seen anything like that. We beat New Mexico State good.
Three days later, we beat Arizona by eight at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Lute canceled our series. Said he didn’t want to play Vegas anymore because Anderson Hunt had cursed at them when a loose ball was going out of bounds.
Anderson dove for the ball through the Arizona bench. Lute said Anderson cursed at them right there.
I said, Can you imagine a guy flying through the air to save a ball and still finding time to curse at the other bench? That was all b.s. They just didn’t want to play us anymore.
I’m not sure if I’ve told you this, but it is a lot of fun beating Arizona.
It sure was a lot of fun on Saturday!!
Some arrogant Arizona fan was making comments about our program as he made the long walk (up out of the building). I told him to keep walking while he still had his legs.
The walk of shame, Lenny, is always the longest one! :-)
Worst beating the state of Arizona has taken since the last presidential election ... ;)
I love beating Arizona.....One of the best feelings in the world.
great win, loved every second of that game. i do however like beating byu and even reno more then arizona. but i wasnt in vegas in the anderson hunt days. anyways, coach what is the best dish at peiros, i'm going to take my lady there for an old school dining experience. :)
I remember Othic, played high school ball against him and Soares who later played at UNR. They were awesome, Othic could hit from anywhere, and Soares was a very good point guard. I agree with you coach, if Othic would have stayed home, that backcourt would have been unstopable. I hope Arizona will continue scheduling games with the Rebels. Love your stories coach!
Keep writing coach. I watched your Long Beach teams in California. There was electric excitement in the air when you played. Watched one game in Las Vegas years ago also. Same thing.
Thanks for all the years of dedication to the game. When I was in my teens I played baseball in Pasadena at Victory Park and Brookside in a League with Myron Tarkanian, and you would drop by the games. That was a long time ago.
I am living in the Las Vegas area now.
Best Regards, Bob Jack
unlvrun, I'll ask coach about the Piero's menu. The best single dish. You got it. Look for it end of this week or next week. Thx
The second PG theory is new to me, but definitely one that has been around a long time. Many Rebel faithful believe if Dedan Thomas was able to play on the 90-91 squad it would've alleviated the problem of Anthony fouling out in the semifinal game versus Duke. No offense to Evric Gray, but maybe that's also what Coach Tark was referring to with Othick.
In addition, Coach was spot-on mentioning the comparison of "Young Ice" to the original "Ice".
I, too, will be waiting to hear what the best dish is at Piero's!
I am looking forward to the Piero's answer, too. Their halibut, I think, is outstanding. Better bring a fat wallet to that place, though.
I remember waiting in line all night for student tickets for the 3-game pack that included Arizona and New Mexico State in 1990. Agreed - beating Arizona is always great.
BTW the Osso Buco at Piero's is top notch.
Coach, I love reading your stories and thoughts, you are truly a great, inspirational man. I remember quite a bit of bad blood with Arizona back in the day and how after the Othic fiasco, the nickname "Midnight Lute" really took off.
A fun factoid. My daughter flew down to Arizona to see her mother for Christmas. I fly her into Tucson and she happened to fly out on the Southwest flight that the Arizona team was flying home on. My wife and daughter collected autographs from the team and then, when they were boarding, we hit them with the "Go REBELS" cheer.
Never cared for Osso Buco, JD. Just a personal taste deal, which will skew The Great Piero's Debate, no doubt. I think the halibut is my favorite. The drama and suspense is bulding about Tark's opinion. Might not be til next week, but we'll try to get it out there soon.
Remember, too, his Sirius radio show starts the first Friday of the new year.
happy holiday all