Sloppy Rebels fall to SMU

Steve Carp

Friday, Jan. 22, 1999 | 10:28 a.m.

DALLAS -- Thirty-nine percent shooting from the field.

Four 3-point field goals made.

Eighteen turnovers.

Twenty offensive rebounds allowed.

Twenty-four personal fouls.

You don't need to do the math to figure out how UNLV's six-game winning streak abruptly ended in igloo-like Moody Coliseum Thursday. It's all laid out for you to peruse and the numbers that added up to the Rebels' 72-62 loss to previously winless-in-the-WAC Southern Methodist don't lie.

But what you can't attach a statistical value to is the lack of effort put forth by the Rebels. Or the way SMU outhustled UNLV from the opening tip. Or how much energy Bill Bayno's club had to expend just to avoid embarrassment.

The team that had been talking of running the table in the WAC Mountain Division fell off the table Thursday. And it needs to pick itself up, dust itself off and come ready to play Saturday against 21st-ranked Texas Christian or it will truly be embarrassed.

"We'll have to figure it out," a disappointed Bayno said in the aftermath of the team's first conference loss of the year that dropped UNLV to 3-1, 10-7 overall. "We overlooked them. We lost our focus. We didn't get it done.

"They have good athletes and good shooters. We weren't able to exploit them in the post and they killed us with their second-chance shots. We got in foul trouble and it affected our rhythm.

"We were playing catch-up with our intensity all game. We were just flat."

It was evident almost from the opening tip that the Rebels did not have their collective heads into this game.

UNLV fell behind 11-2 as SMU outworked the Rebels and dominated the boards. And even though UNLV eventually drew even at 13-13 and late in the game had its chances to pull even or go ahead, it was one of those nights.

No matter what the Rebels did, SMU, despite its 0-3 start in the WAC, would find a way to get its just reward.

"We really needed it," a relieved Mike Dement said of the victory that improved the Mustangs to 7-10 overall. "We know all about how tough it is to shoot on the road in the WAC. We've been through it. Fortunately, it helped us when UNLV went cold tonight.

"We were very patient on offense and I thought we made the extra pass better than we had in any other game we played this year."

But it wasn't just the cold shooting that did the Rebels in.

Sure, it didn't help that UNLV needed 30-plus minutes to register its first 3-pointer. Or that the red-hot Kaspars Kambala was more like Casper the Ghost, with just four shots and five points. But UNLV got hammered on the boards at both ends. And when SMU needed to make shots, either Jeryl Sasser, Willie Davis, Nigel Smith or Chad Elsey was there to do it.

Especially Sasser.

The talented 6-foot-6 sophomore went up and over anyone who tried to get in his way and finished with 26 points and 15 rebounds. On a night where UNLV played its worst game of the season, Sasser enjoyed arguably the best performance by a Rebel opponent since early December when Arizona State's Eddie House went for 39 big points.

Bayno tried four different Rebels to contain Sasser. Shawn Marion, who scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to keep UNLV in the game, started on him. Brian Keefe got a piece of him as did Greedy Daniels and Donovan Stewart.

It didn't matter.

Sasser got his by outworking everyone who stood in his path. Even a cut lip that required stitches at halftime didn't detain Sasser more than two minutes at the start of the second half.

It was a dangerous strategy, especially when UNLV pulled within 65-60 and 4:07 remained on the clock. But SMU managed to make enough shots to keep pace. And when the Mustangs couldn't close it out, the Rebels failed to capitalize.

Marion saw a wide-open 3-pointer rim out. Kevin Simmons couldn't finish a putback layup. Daniels got to the basket only to find the door closed and his shot never reached the rim.

"It seemed like the ball had a magnet," Marion said. "The ball would go in, then it would go out."

So SMU's ploy worked. And it means UNLV has to rally if it hopes to leave Texas with a split on this two-game road trip.

"We tried to play catch-up all night and it doesn't work," Keefe said. "I don't know what happened. They played harder. Maybe that's the answer."

As for getting back on track Saturday, Simmons said the formula is simple.

"We're going to have to have a great practice (today)," he said. "We've got to get the intensity back and find a way to come out of this with a split."