Big Dance Blog, Day 2: Rebels win, 71-58 (UPDATED)

By Ron Kantowski

Thursday, March 20, 2008 | 7 p.m.

Greetings from Omaha (again). They've unrolled the sidewalks and it's time to play some basketball, which is what we came for. That, and the frozen Omaha Steaks at the airport.

--- CBS' coverage of the tournament was less than five minutes old when both Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis, whoever he is, predicted that Kent State would beat the Rebels in a couple of hours. Let's hope Kellogg, who played at Ohio State, enjoys the NIT this year. Go Buckeyes. Beat those California Bears. I don't know where Davis went to school or I'd make a similar wisecrack here.

--- Portland State and Kansas have tipped off, and every time one of the Jayhawks makes a long basket or does something athletic, the big guys on the ... where's my media guide? ... Vikings have these goofy smiles on their faces like, "What are we doing here, playing these guys?" Kansas is on a 12-0 run and it's 36-18 and I'd bet good money that CBS has already switched away to some game in Denver or D.C. Or "The Young and Restless."

--- Remember those drab gray seats in the Qwest Center I mentioned yesterday? Well today, it's like they dumped a year's supply of Grecian Formula in the arena. You can't see any of the gray, because every seat has somebody wearing blue and red sitting in it. The first session is a sellout, thanks to Kansas fans, but I've never heard a crowd of 17,162 make as little noise as this one. It might be because the only way this game gets interesting is if Kansas starts a lineup consisting of the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman, Cowardly Lion, Dorothy and Toto in the second half.

--- The basketball Munchkins are headed back to Oregon. No. 1 seed Kansas 85, No. 16 seed Portland State 61. Bill Self, the Kansas coach, is doing a TV interview right front of me. He's smiling which means the CBS analyst who drew the short straw (Omaha) hasn't mentioned Bucknell.

--- The Rebels have just run onto the court. About 800 fans who made the trip from Las Vegas are standing and cheering. One of them is Larry Johnson, who is seated in the first seat in the first row behind the UNLV bench.

--- The game starts in less than 15 minutes -- or whenever CBS says it's OK -- and I am starting to feel butterflies. It really doesn't have anything to do with the game. It's because all the little bags of pretzels in the press room were gone by the time I arrived this morning.

--- Game on. Corey Bailey gets away with high-sticking one of the Golden Flashes.

Kent scores the first basket. Rebels score the next nine points. Wink Adams hits a long 3 and Kent's Jim Christian calls a timeout to settle the troops. UNLV, 9-2, with 15:51 to play in the first half. The Rebels couldn't have scripted a better start.

--- Rebels on top 16-6 at the 11:00 mark. UNLV is playing in spurts, Kent not at all. The Golden Flashes can't even get a good luck at the basket and I'm not sure it's due to the Rebels' defense.

--- Midway through the half, Kent is 3-for-13 from the field with eight turnovers. I'm not sure Air Force could beat these guys. But I know San Diego State can. UNLV, 18-6, at the under 8:00 timeout.

--- Now it's 3-for-16, 13 turnovers for Kent.

--- Rebels on top, 25-6. There's 4:42 to play in the first half and guys on press row are making bets on whether the Flashes will hit double figures today.

--- If TCU's Neal Dougherty were here -- or still coach -- he'd be calling "We got next."

--- Will Farrell just arrived wearing

his Flint Tropics uniform. He's asking Jim Christian to put him in.

--- I can't believe it, but Kent's down 31-10, and it is holding the ball for the last shot of the first half. It missed. Now there's a surprise. With that errant heave, the Golden Flashes, according to CBS, have just tied Villanova's record for fewest points in a half in an NCAA Tournament game, set in 1939. Remind me to ask Corey Bailey if he saw that game. It must have been a bad year in the MAC this year. These guys from Kent couldn't bust a bracket if it were made of glass and you put ball-peen hammers in their hands.

--- Confounding all on press row, Kent State DID come out for the second half.

--- UNLV, 45-20, at the first TV timeout. I wonder if those mental dwarfs who started that "Fire Lon Kruger" Web site a couple of years ago are enjoying the game.

--- The Rebels are now getting just about whatever shot they want. They are shooting 71 percent in the second half, and even the Kansas fans who have stayed around seem impressed. A little over 10 to play and the Rebels are rollin' on the (Missouri) river, 53-31.

--- To quote Tina Turner: Do, do, do, do, do. It's over. Rebels 71, Golden Flashes (in the pan) 58. Next up: Kansas.

--- Lon Kruger, on the big win: "I really felt good about the way our guys opened the ballgame. I thought defensively, real sharp, talking well, making aggressive switches and getting a lot of loose balls."

--- Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis, on their predictions: "Oops."

--- They said it:

--- Rebels coach Lon Kruger: "Back in October, November, there were a ton of questions about this team, about who was going to step forward, who was going to play what role, especially given the loss of five seniors from last year. Yet, this group, from day one, just lined up like they expected good things to happen."

--- Wink Adams: "I think all season, we've been kind of starting off slow. And tonight we just wanted to come out and kind of just start off petty fast on the defensive end and let it dictate to the offense."

--- Joe Darger: "My teammates did a great job of looking for me when I was open. I was able to knock those down."

--- Matt Shaw: "I think we played hard in the first half but we could have finished the second half out a little better. We had a few turnovers ourselves, but we forced a lot of them and that definitely impacted the game."

--- Kent State coach Jim Christian: "The first half of basketball was just so unlike how we played all year. We just came out, played with no confidence, just made silly mistake after silly mistake."

--- Kent State's Haminn Quintance: "No, I don't think nobody was scared."

--- Kent State's Al Fisher: "UNLV, they are a great team. When you're hitting turnaround jump shots and 3's from everywhere, it's hard to get squat."

--- I said it:

--- "Man, I sure wish Belmont would have hung on against Duke."