LIVE BLOG: Scrimmage caps first hoops FirstLook

By Ryan Greene

Friday, Oct. 17, 2008 | 11:36 p.m.

10:37 p.m.

The squads mixed and matched a little bit as they came out of 'halftime' and played five more minutes on the Thomas & Mack floor. The Red squad ultimately pulled away, 37-28, and the stats were a tad skewed because of some guys changing it up, but here were some performances of note ...

-Chace Stanback and Oscar Bellfield each tallied 10 points. Bellfield did so with a pair of threes to highlight the showing in the first 'half'. Stanback, however, keyed a Red squad comeback from a 15-8 deficit in the second period, and then continued to display his all-around versatility in the final five minutes. He skied for rebounds which had some fans gasping. Too bad he'll be on the bench until a year from now. He'd be fun to watch right off the bat.

-Brice Massamba continued to look solid after the quick breather, with the highlight of his six-point showing coming in the form of a turnaround baseline jumper which put the Red squad up 29-25 late in the game. He and Bellfield looked more comfortable than any of the freshmen.

-Of the seniors, Mareceo Rutledge (six points) and René Rougeau (12) made the biggest offensive impacts. Wink Adams scored two points from the stripe and was 0-for-4 from the field. But, no reason to panic. 1) You've seen what the guy can do over the past three years and 2) Bellfield assessed the team's speed during the scrimmage at 60 to 70 percent.

-Darris Santee looks physically like a safe bet to be starting in the middle come Nov. 15. Beas Hamga still looks to have a ways to go, while Santee rebounds like a true vet.

Take Bellfield's estimate as gospel, since you don't really learn too much from these scrimmages. But it's nice to see a flash of what these guys are capable of, and speculating, of course, is always fun.

It was a great start for what UNLV is trying to do with this event. We'll estimate that 4,000 fans came out to see the show. Stay tuned to lasvegassun.com/rebels for full coverage from Friday night's happenings at the Mack.

9:59 p.m.

Through ten minutes of loose scrimmage, we've now had a good look at who at this point is considered a starter and who's left to claw for that title.

Four of the five were pretty predictable - Wink Adams, Joe Darger, René Rougeau and Tre'von Willis. Darris Santee, a juco transfer originally from Houston, ran with the ones at the five spot. The White squad, comprised of second-teamers, led the Reds (starters) after five minutes, 10-8. Behind Chace Stanback, the Red team came back to claim a 21-18 'halftime' lead. Some notes ...

-Rougeau led the Red squad in the first period with four points, while Mareceo Rutledge hit a late three to accompany an earlier and-one, leading the White team with six.

-Some Rebel fans may be leaving the Mack tonight wishing Chace Stanback was eligible this year. He skied for a pair of rebounds, showed some nice handles and scored six points as the Red reserves erased a 15-8 deficit.

-The crowd was ready to get going as Oscar Bellfield had a prime opportunity on a two-on-one break to feed Deshawn Mitchell for an oop. The timing was just a bit off, and Mitchell pushed the ball against the front iron. That's the kind of stuff that develops over time, though.

-Mitchell finally got to throw one down on a feed from Bellfield in transition. But the highlight for the White team in the first 'half', without question, as been the man who made that play happen. Bellfield scored 10 points, looked perfectly comfortable and stroked a pair of three-pointers. Of course, don't expect him to pass up Tre'von Willis based on tonight. But he's looking like a very capable backup based on his skill set.

-Santee rebounded like a man, pulling down a pair of impressive boards in between teammates. He didn't have to do much offensively. Meanwhile, Beas Hamga had a tough go at it in the early ongoing. He earned a travel call while applying a pivot move down low.

-Scott Hoffman drilled a nice three. Gotta love the walk-ons.

-Brice Massamba, all 240 pounds of him, looks like a banger in the middle. He appears comfortable in throwing his weight around. His free throw touch might need a bit of work, but physically, the freshman from Sweden can certainly hold his own.

Be back with some more once the scrimmage is completed.

9:46 p.m.

The Rebels took the floor just a few minutes ago in preparation for not only scrimmaging, but also to receive their 2008 Mountain West Tournament Championship rings.

Sidney Green and some fellow former Rebs did the honors as the team lined up down in a line by class at one end of the floor. The body count? 18. Not sure when was the last time UNLV fans have been able to see a preseason roster with that many warm bodies. Of course, that includes the injured Matt Shaw and transfers Chace Stanback (UCLA) and Derrick Jasper (Kentucky).

Rebels play-by-play man Jon Sander did the honors in doing the introductions (so I guess Kenny's night is done?), and got the fans going when introducing René Rougeau as the 'should-have-been-Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year' and Joe Darger as a guy now able to play his natural position.

Following the intros came some layup lines, highlighted, of course, by a dunkfest. Highlighting that segment, without question, was freshman Deshawn Mitchell, who drew 'oohs' and 'aahs' with each thunderous throwdown. Now the question becomes whether he can do anything else.

We get a preview of that with the upcoming scrimmage. Stay tuned for some highlights and numbers.

9:26 p.m.

We're on the verge of getting the first look at the squad itself as the players are in the tunnel waiting to take the floor.

Leading up to that, Kenny Mayne's made a solid videoboard presence as the absentee emcee.

While giving an intro to UNLV football coach Mike Sanford, he made sure to plug former Rebel teammate/quarterback Sam King as the man to see for all of your insurance needs in the Green Valley area. Then, while giving the cheerleaders and dancers a welcome, he told a tale of a broken heart with his older sister's cheerleader friend from when he was a mere five-year-old boy.

Sounds like Kenny Mayne. Good stuff as always.

Pre-show - 9:03 p.m.

We're about five minutes away, and I'd guesstimate that there are 4,000 fans in attendance. Not too bad for a first shot at this thing.

As a final taste before we get going, I had a chance to catch up with Justin Hawkins, who is one of three UNLV 2009 commits in the building tonight. The 6-foot-2 guard from Woodland Hills, Calif., flew out this afternoon with his mother and brother and is here until Sunday morning. Here's what he had to say ...

Ryan Greene: You come out here, already committed, what's on your list of things to do this weekend?

Justin Hawkins: List of things? I wanted to practice with the team, but that's against the rules, so I pretty much just watch and do wahtever they do. A day in the life of a UNLV basketball player. I've just gotta like watch them right now, take it all in. Me and my boy Anthony (Marshall), we've been walking around, we were in the gym about 7:30, 7:45, just sitting down, just thinking about how crazy it's gonna be with all these people just filing in, screaming names, chanting out 'U-N-L-V', wanting them to win another title. It's just crazy.

RG: So this basically just confirms that you made the right choice?

JH: Oh, exactly. Just flying in, I was like, I'm flying from L.A. to Vegas, and it wasn't like I was going out of town. It feels like a second home. It just feels so natural.

RG: They say that this is something that's a staple of a big-time program. In your eyes, what is having an event like this say for a program?

JH: You can have an event like this with nobody coming out, but you can just see with all these people coming in, they're anxious. There's a buzz in the air. I want to see what we're working with this year. I want to see if we're going to go undefeated in the league, win another title and go deep into the tournament. You can just tell the people are waiting for it, the players are waiting for it, the coaches are anxious. It's just crazy. I just want to play!

RG: How hard is it going to be to leave Las Vegas this weekend?

RG: Oh, it's going to be hard, but I know it's going to be better for me. When I get back to town and just share my experiences with my team, and share where my college is going, I've just got to bring that experience back to my team since we're so young.

Kenny Mayne just got things kicked off via video. The show's about to start. Stay tuned.

Pre-show - 8:48 p.m.

Aaaaand FirstLook 2008 is (sort of) off and running.

The doors at the Thomas & Mack Center cracked open about 10 minutes ago and roughly 1,500-2,000 folks are already in the lower bowl. As for pre-show entertainment until things get officially up and running in 45 minutes? Last year's Mountain West Tournament title game between UNLV and BYU is showing. Surely, the red-clad masses will erupt when about another 14:00 of game clock runs out in that one.

On the way in, I had a chance to stop and chit-chat with two of UNLV's 2009 commits - Mojave High's Anthony Marshall and Woodland Hills, Calif., product Justin Hawkins.

The two were relaxing courtside with their eyes fixed up on the new center-hung video/scoreboard. Hawkins glanced up in awe, pointing out that its clarity puts his T.V. at home to shame.

Even more vivid may be the videoboard outside at the intersection in front of the Mack. It was my first time seeing it at night, and boy that thing about blinded me ... about as detectable as the Luxor. I'd love to see how visible it is from an incoming plane ... or outer space.

The recruits are slowly dribbling in. Findlay's Carlos Lopez - UNLV's third '09 commit - just sat down behind us at center court. His friends know him as Yao, and have called him that since the fifth grade. If you happen to pass by a floppy-haired 7-footer tonight in a hoody, now you know what's up. We gave an update earlier today on just who will be in attendance, and all of them are here with plenty of time to spare.

The video equipment looks nice, and it could be a pretty special night here on the UNLV campus. Lon Kruger talks a lot about the process of building a program. At 7:46 tonight, Kruger spoke on the ESPNU Midnight Madness Special and discussed just that.

For the fans, this is a benchmark moment - having a true 'Midnight Madness'-type of event to kick things off. The real practice took place this morning, and tonight's a chance to cut loose and have a good time for these guys.

I'm sure they'll do just that.

Be back throughout the night.