UNLV devours overmatched Chicago State

Steve Carp

Thursday, Dec. 18, 1997 | 12:36 p.m.

You've heard UNLV coach Bill Bayno talking about fool's gold when it comes to shooting 3-pointers.

Well, welcome to the ultimate fool's gold game.

The Ratball Holiday Classic, featuring revamped UNLV and hapless Chicago State, lived up to its billing Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center as the Rebels steamrolled CSU 86-49. It was butt-ugly basketball at its best as the 0-10 Cougars provided little more than scrimmage fodder for a UNLV team that got a boost in the confidence department but little else.

Bayno doesn't normally open practices to the public, but Wednesday he allowed everyone, including the media, to watch. And 14,141 took advantage of the opportunity.

It'll be different Saturday when No. 25 Syracuse hits town for the Las Vegas Shootout, marking a return to the real basketball season for the 4-3 Rebels. That game figures to be a war.

"It's hard to get into a game like this," Bayno said. "We treated it like it was practice."

How bad was it? Kaspars Kambala had his double-double at halftime.

It was so bad, Tyrell Jamerson, who last played less than a minute against Kansas on Nov. 21, was in the game in the first half.

It was so bad, the Rebels could brick away at the foul line and not even be fazed. The Rebels wound up shooting 47 percent from the line in the first half.

It was so bad, UNLV was up 20 with less than six minutes to go in the first half and led 42-26 at intermission.

Frankly, anything less would have been disappointing as UNLV totally outclassed Chicago State, which plays in the low-level Division I Mid-Continent Conference. The Cougars actually led briefly at 8-7 before UNLV put together a couple of decent runs to squash any remote hopes of an upset.

A 13-2 spurt made it 20-10 and a 16-4 outburst had UNLV up 38-18.

Wednesday was a chance to break in the newest Rebels, Brian Keefe and Issiah Epps, and both wound up logging ample time in their debuts. Keefe had 12 points in 30 minutes, while Epps had six points and six rebounds in 20.

But it was more of a chance to work on things the team has been rehearsing in practice. In that sense, the game helped the Rebels. They were able to work against a couple of zone defenses and it gave Bayno a chance to experiment with several lineups.

UNLV nearly shot better from long distance than it did from the foul line. The Rebels opened the second half with four straight threes -- two from Mark Dickel and one from Tyrone Nesby and Donovan Stewart -- to go up 54-26. It was the catalyst for an extended 24-7 run that had UNLV up by 33.

The Rebels wound up hitting 10 of 20 from 3-point land while shooting just 55 percent from the charity stripe. But it didn't matter as Chicago State turned the ball over 22 times, shot 38 percent from the floor, made 1 of 7 three-pointers and offered little resistance defensively.

It was the first time since Feb. 1, when Wyoming scored just 47 points, that the Rebels held a team to fewer than 50. And had it not been for Jermaine "Squirt" Hicks' 19, Chicago State might not have broken 40.

But that effort was offset by Dickel, the sophomore point guard who had a career-high 20 points and shot the ball better than at any time during his UNLV tenure. Dickel was 6-of-7 from the floor and made 5 of 6 three-point tries. His previous high was 13 vs. San Jose State on Jan. 2.

"We came in with the idea of trying to get better as a team and we were able to work on some things to help us get ready for Syracuse Saturday," Bayno said.

Kambala, who had career highs with 24 points and 16 rebounds, said the toughest part was maintaining concentration.

"But it was a chance to work on a lot of different things, so I think we got something out of it," he said.

Greedy Daniels, who had eight assists, said it was fun, to a point.

"You've almost got to treat it like it's an extension of practice," he said. "But the fun part was having Brian and Issiah on the floor. I think they're going to fit in well."