Rice could give Rebels challenge

Steve Carp

Thursday, Jan. 14, 1999 | 10:22 a.m.

You can lament UNLV's 1998-99 basketball schedule all you want. But amid the cries of it being a sham and totally bogus, some good may have come from it.

The Rebels struggled through a four-game losing streak in December, falling to Top-25 teams UCLA, Cincinnati and Oklahoma State along with Arizona State.

Then they took advantage of the post-Christmas breather to bounce back against the likes of Columbia, Southern Utah and Cal Poly.

The Rebels regained some confidence, both individually and collectively. By winning those games, and parlaying the momentum into a convincing 91-58 win over Air Force in last Saturday's WAC opener, Bill Bayno's ballclub has things going in the right direction heading into tonight's conference game with Rice at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The players aren't too concerned about the quality of the wins. All they know is it beats losing. And they're starting to believe in themselves and their coach.

"It's getting better every day," senior co-captain Brian Keefe said of the team's disposition and level of play. "I think we needed those games. We had been through a tough stretch and we're entering another tough stretch. We needed to get our confidence back.

"I thought we played well in those three games (UCLA, Cincinnati and Oklahoma State). We just didn't play well for 40 minutes. I think what that taught us was to be successful, you have to play the entire game. Now, we're enjoying that challenge."

Sophomore Donovan Stewart, who has played well during the win streak, said nobody is bickering about minutes, shots or what their role should be.

"We're being more unselfish," he said. "When we don't just go to one guy and we spread it around, we have more success."

Stewart, who started for Shawn Marion against Air Force after Marion was late to the pregame shootaround and was benched by Bayno, will be back in his role of spelling Marion tonight against Rice. No problem, he says.

"I have a better understanding now of what coach wants me to do," he said of his role. "I think I'm more relaxed because I know I'm going to play."

Freshman guard Desmond Herod also is starting to see more minutes after spending nearly a month in hibernation at the end of the bench.

He had a strong 13-point effort against Air Force and Bayno appears to have enough confidence in Herod that he figures to get him minutes every night.

"It's game to game," Bayno said of using Herod to regularly spell Keefe at the off-guard spot. "But Des is starting to earn it with the way he is practicing and he has a better understanding of what we're trying to do.

"The bottom line is Des is going to play and Brian's going to play."

For Herod, that's fine.

"Everything's going well right now," Herod said. "I feel comfortable like I did in high school. Mentally, I'm prepared because I know I'm going to play."

That chemistry will be tested tonight. This isn't the Rice team of a year ago that struggled all season and finished 6-22. The Owls, along with San Jose State, are probably the WAC's most improved team. At 11-3 overall (2-0 WAC), Willis Wilson's team also is playing with newfound confidence and has some momentum of its own with a three-game win streak working.

As far as a letdown taking place, co-captain Kevin Simmons said it won't happen.

"I'm talking to the guys and making sure they continue to play together and that their heads are in it," Simmons said. "We're not going to go backwards."