Columnist Dean Juipe: UNLV fans delighted by Kambala

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 1997 | 11:35 a.m.

LIKE ALL newcomers to the UNLV basketball team, Kaspars Kambala had his life and times reduced to a half page in this season's media guide while the returning players were accorded a full two pages apiece.

In retrospect, it was something of an inauspicious presentation, although appropriate perhaps in that the 6-foot-9, 250-pound freshman from the distant country of Latvia came to the Rebels with a distinct lack of fanfare. Before the team's legion of supporters could get a look at him and surmise not only his ability but his potential, he was just another rookie.

A curious rookie, however, given not only his background but his towering presence and very European appearance.

He was underpublicized and apparently underappreciated, left available for the Rebels to snag late in the summer.

People here didn't know what to expect.

But they do now.

And those expectations include just enough wishful thinking to envision the Rebels figuratively climbing aboard the big guy's broad shoulders for a pleasant ride back to collegiate basketball's upper echelon.

More forceful than outright intimidating, Kambala has been a key figure in UNLV's early season play, including Tuesday night's 62-50 victory over Nevada-Reno at the Thomas & Mack Center. His 16 points and 13 rebounds gives him eight "double-doubles" in the Rebels' first 11 games.

He has led the team in scoring five times and in rebounding seven while averaging 17 points and 11 boards. He's also surprisingly steady for a player getting his first taste of the collegiate game, having had only one game in which he failed to score in double figures and only two in which he didn't collect at least 10 rebounds.

How good can Big Kas become? It's a question UNLV fans are asking on an increasingly frequent basis.

He obviously has areas that need work and he's lacking a little polish. He's foul prone (averaging 3.5 per game) and he has yet to master the art of getting open, especially when the defense converges on him.

But he's only 19 and he's not nearly as awkward as the typical big, bashing behemoth that seemingly delights in disrupting the flow of a game.

Not that there was a whole lot of flow to disrupt Tuesday against Reno, even if Kambala was so inclined, particularly in an uneven first half that saw the Rebels lead despite hitting only seven field goals. Kambala made his mark at the free-throw line, sinking 10 of 11 in the first 20 minutes as the Wolf Pack continually prevented him from making put-back shots by hammering him anytime he raised the ball above his waist.

UNLV spent a good deal of time trying to run its offense through him, as much as its offense has a central figure while the team awaits the return of its real fulcrum, center Keon Clark. The results may have been mixed against the Wolf Pack as Kambala was limited to two field goals, but those on hand were once again vividly picturing Kambala steadily improving -- maybe even by leaps and bounds once Clark returns next week and picks up some of the low-post workload.

As tandems go, they could be a good one.