Columnist Dean Juipe: UNLV looks to rescue its season

Dean Juipe

Friday, Feb. 4, 2000 | 10:55 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@vegas.com or 259-4084.

Utah has had better basketball teams than the one that will play here Saturday.

But, of course, so has UNLV.

Yet neither of those facts lessens the importance of their game at the Thomas & Mack Center, where the season's largest crowd will see a contest that at the very least will determine whether the Rebels have even a remote shot of qualifying for the postseason NCAA Tournament.

Maybe you've seen the Utes on television this season. They're typical Utah-ish: tall and with an array of effective outside shooters who also have a knack for defense. They move the ball well, and, having mastered the fundamentals, inevitably locate the open man.

But with point guard Andre Miller gone (to the NBA) they're not the equal of last season's 28-5 team that also went undefeated in league play. Nor are they the equal of Utah's 1997-98 squad that finished 30-4, nor the ones with Keith Van Horn that immediately preceded it.

Nonetheless, at 6-0 and 17-3 they're the class of the Mountain West Conference and a team UNLV is going to have to beat at least once to turn some heads on the NCAA Tournament's selection committee.

Who knows if the unpredictable Rebels are up to the task?

While it was only four games ago that they were almost stunningly strong during a win at New Mexico, they have since taken a step back. A 109-98 loss at Wyoming on Monday was worse than the final score indicated and it has led to this perplexing question: Which game was an aberration, the one at New Mexico or the one at Wyoming?

The answer won't be available until Saturday night.

The Rebels, 4-2 in the Mountain West and 13-5 overall, have challenged their fans' patience to some extent this season. Expectations have yet to be met.

Not to be an apologist for them, but consider the diminishing role of Lou Kelly in respect to the what-might-have-been conundrum. While Kelly was introduced as a potential savior with a wonderful outside touch, his eligibility problems put him on the back burner until earlier this year and now his injured foot has reduced his impact yet again.

He has gone from would-be star to forgotten bystander and the Rebels, who badly need a long-range shooter with Trevor Diggs in a slump, continue to look shorthanded without him.

Diggs, of course, hasn't compensated for Kelly's loss and has had to live with a series of unflattering newspaper articles and commentaries that repetitively state the obvious. He's 12 for his last 54 from the field, and although that makes him a liability in many respects it's far too early for head coach Bill Bayno to give up on him.

Diggs will either shoot his way out of it as all pure shooters do, or he'll succumb to the mental pressure and force Bayno to put him on the bench. But if Diggs sits, who plays in his place? While a case can be made for increasing the minutes of reserves Chris Richardson and Sylvester Dotson, neither can match Diggs when it comes to scoring potential.

One thing about it, Diggs and his teammates will have had four days to lock in their sights at the T&M and should be ready to play.

The stakes are high, so there are no excuses. If UNLV wants to make good on its NCAA aspirations it has to find a way to win.