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UNLV playing Louisville at Freedom Hall on New Year’s Eve should be a great game.
I’ve always regarded Rick Pitino as a great coach, so that’s going to be two very good coaches going against each other. Between him and Lon Kruger, that’s almost 950 collegiate victories.
No doubt, it will be a fun one to watch.
When I was at UNLV, we played Louisville four times and we won three of them.
Twice we went to Freedom Hall, and that’s a crazy place. In January 1990, we beat them 97-85. Two seasons earlier, though, they whipped us, 92-74.
They never beat us in Vegas, though. We beat them 99-96 in 1977 and 91-81 in 1990.
That game in January 1990, we had them down 20 points in the second half. We dominated them. I don’t know, I put the scrubs in and they screwed up in the end. We might have had them by 25, but they cut it to 12.
I gave the kids all kinds of hell.
Then we went to Utah State and blasted them, 126-83.
Louisville’s a heck of a town and Rick is a helluva coach. I consider him one of the best five coaches.
His team was highly rated. A lot of people thought they had a shot at winning it all, but they haven’t played well. I saw them lost to Minnesota two weekends ago, and they also lost to Western Kentucky.
The Cardinals were supposed to be a real dominant team. It’s a great time for UNLV to play them.
When the Rebels lost those two games at home, to California and Cincinnati, it took them out of the national picture.
Beating Arizona helped them a lot, but not as much as it used to. The Wildcats weren’t ranked.
But if the Rebels beat Louisville, they’ll be in the national picture again.
Someone inquired about that 1987 game at Oklahoma, and I remember it clearly. We played our hearts out.
That game came right down to it. Right before halftime, Gary Graham hit a shot that should have been a 3-point shot. They gave us two. TV, everything, showed it was a 3-pointer.
They beat us by one, 89-88.
A few years later, at an alumni game, Billy Tubbs comes out and says, “We’ll give UNLV that one point.” Billy always turned the heater up in his place. He was always running. He knew he was going to wear ’em down.
We were in good shape, too. We weren’t really worried about that. We tied the game up and Oklahoma had the ball. I thought for sure Billy would call a timeout.
I watned to change, go from our regular defense to a trap. And he never called timeout. I was amazed. Then they hit a bucket that put them two up. I don’t remember who hit it.
We came down the court and got the ball to Armon Gilliam. He had a good shot, right at the free-throw line. That’s really one of his best shots, but it hit the rim.
Jarvis Basnight had a tip, but he tried to tip dunk it. If he would have just guided the ball into the bucket, we would have won. We lost in the last second.
Then a snowstorm hit. We were the last plane out. People on our booster plane didn’t get out. They were snowed in for three days.
That was our only loss that season, before the NCAA tournament. We were 33-1 going into the NCAAs, then we won four and lost to Indiana in a national semifinal in New Orleans.
Someone even reminded me about Brent Musburger.
After Graham hit that shot before the half, officials tried to watch a television replay but Musburger waved them off, shooed them away, said there was nothing to see. And they walked away.
Brent has apologized to me many times. He’s a great, great guy. I also was surprised that the referee who called that a two-point shot instead of a three was from our conference.
That’s the breaks sometimes.
Have a Happy New Year everyone, and I’ll soon get to those former Rebels who could have played for me, why it was difficult for anyone to follow me and my Piero’s recommendations.
This articles from Tark are really great Rob and Ryan, thanks for getting them to us.
I remember that Oklahoma game well. The referee was Norm Borucki. He was always a thorn in the side for the Rebels but that one took the cake. It was a clear three pointer before the buzzer. I stared hating Barucki, Musberger and Billy Packer that day.
Figures... Musberger and Packer called the only other Rebel loss that season too.
I thought the Rebs were going to be jinxed for life whenever that tandem called a game, but I was wrong as they called the National Championship game of 1990.
Ask Tark about the 1987 Elite Eight game against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Still ranks as one of the best Rebel victories ever in my mind. Then again, it didn't matter how much the '87 team was down in the second half, they always had extra gas in the tank to make a strong surge.
Joe, thanks and you got it. The '87 game vs. Iowa is on the docket. This is all about what you folks would like to hear Tark talk about. Appreciate the interest.
Great articles from Tark, I am interested if possible for Tark to cover some of his memorable games playing at the PCAA and Big West. Playing at the small gyms like Irvine, Fullerton and Long Beach versus the big arena's. Also when did it start and what does he think about the fireworks show before each home game. I believe Mo Scurry commited to the Rebels because of that scene. Thanks,
Great, thanks ro ... look for that soon.
Whoever thinks the Louisville game is less important than conference play is smoking crack.
Tark is right, we need this win to off-set the weak home losses to Cincy and Cal.
Other than BYU (which might well be ranked by the time we play them), this will be our ONLY game against a nationally ranked opponent this regular season.
I don't see this game as a must win .. it is just an opportunity for some of the Rebel players who haven't had national exposure to show their potential... Wink isn't going to play, or won't be 100% if he does and Brice is still a developing player who needs time to be the force he will become in the future.
This shouldn't be the only game with national exposer for UNLV as we still have March Madness to look forward to.
Right Lenny, I agree with you. The losses to Cincy and Cal at home put much more stock into this one. A ranked foe. On the road. NY's Eve exposure on ESPN2. Playing Wink at less than 100 percent will be an iffy proposition. Not sure I'd want to jeopardize the immediate or long-range future for a game the Rebels are capable of winning without him. This is the type of game that Tre can go for 20.
That 86-87 team was something special. If they would have won that Oklahoma game they would have entered the NCAA tournament undefeated.
Only hot shooting by Steve Alford (New Mexico's) coach prevented them from reaching the finals. That team was special.
PG Mark Wade
SG Freddy Banks
SF Gerald Paddio
PF Armon Gilliam
C Jarvis Basnight
Bench
PF/SF Eldridge Hudson
SG/PG Gary Graham
Graham and Hudson were both Seniors who played a lot of minutes off the bench. Both could play multiple positions and gave the team a big boost off the bench. Just a great, great team.
thanks coach for talking about that game and musburger. i guess it's time for me to move on. :-) the next mosted hated memory -- duke.
Hey Tark, Butler and Scurry weren't in the game because they did not join the team until the 88-89 season. The games between UNLV and Oklahoma were great.
Oh yeah, this UL game really isn't important...it only would mean the difference between an 8-9 seed and a 4-5 come tourney time, that's all.
Sheesh!
Go Rebels.
I've never been a fan of Slick Rick Pitino. Maybe it was what he did to Red Auerbach. Pitino is a great salesman and gets no mud on him. He should sell cars - more like him could bail out the Big 3.
As for Mushburger, he lulls me to sleep with his generic, blowin'-in-the-wind calls
I was at the OU-UNLV game. It's the only college game I ever went to. OU scored more points, they won. Don't look back at the losses unless you are willing to look back at the wins with an equally critical eye.
Thanks Coach and Rob for answering my questions about the Oklahoma game. Great stuff.
No problem kidjersey, keep 'em comin'.
gray, yep, this one is definitely important in relation to those two home losses. It would be major atonement.
carpre and others, that error in the story was my bad. Tark meant that Butler and Scurry weren't there yet. A word or two just got tweaked a little in the transcription, if that makes sense.
Happy New Year all...
hey Rob, at work right now, any word on Wink's status for the game?
Great series of blogs. I am here laughing hysterically at Tark getting mad at the "Scrubs" who blew the lead in the Louisville game in 90. I know I called the third string that but I didn't know coach did as well.
Hilarious
No doubt sunset, coach don't pull no punches, does he? That's the beauty of him.
jerry, as you well know by now (it's long after the game), Wink ain't playing. Others might have believed he had a chance to play, but he didn't. Game time, shmame time. They weren't going to jeopardize conference games. We wrote three days ago that he'd be doubtful. Anything else was a smokescreen.