Columnist Dean Juipe: Perfect win lets Rebels fans revel

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2000 | 11:03 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.

Certain games jump off a basketball team's schedule, and in UNLV's case those games this season are with Georgetown, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Cincinnati, New Mexico and Utah.

As every one of the Rebels' periodically disheartened fans knows, the early results in those high-profile games were far from satisfactory. UNLV defeated Georgetown but lost by 24 points to Carolina, by 14 to OSU and by 40 to what may very well be the country's best team, Cincinnati.

Add in a cliffhanger of a loss to Brigham Young to open the Mountain West Conference season and the Rebels -- and especially head coach Bill Bayno -- found themselves on the receiving end of considerable heat from several directions, not the least of which was from a surprisingly vocal group of malcontents with no connection to the media.

Today, however, for many of those critics, all is forgiven.

Playing with an enthusiasm and vigor that hasn't always been present this season, the Rebels turned in a great game at a very opportune time in handing New Mexico an 85-73 defeat Monday night in Albuquerque.

The win was crucial in many respects, especially in terms of the big picture. With the Mountain West playing its debut season without an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament, it can be reasonably assumed that no more than two of the league's eight teams will be rewarded with an invitation to the 64-team event.

UNLV, a distant No. 73 in this week's RPI listings, needs to do no worse than finish second in conference play and winning a game at The Pit is never an easy assignment -- even when the Lobos are down a bit, which appears to be the case this year.

If you stayed up late and watched the nationally televised game you already know Kaspars Kambala was as unstoppable underneath as any UNLV big man has been since ... oh, who knows, given the fact the program's last vaunted big man -- Elmore Spencer -- was more bust than boom and the Rebels never have been known for explosive centers.

NBA scouts now have Kambala on their radar screens, and if he can continue to do the things he did against New Mexico -- which is get in position for a pass on offense, demand the ball off the defensive glass and stay out of foul trouble -- his stock will continue to skyrocket.

His 32 points and 18 rebounds were delivered with a Chamberlain-like authority.

Kas, shaved head and all, was one leapin' Latvian as the Rebels improved to 2-1 in the league and 11-4 overall.

Credit, too, Mark Dickel for the best game of his four-year UNLV career. He was too fast for the Lobos, and when the opposition doesn't have anyone to slow the Rebels down it keeps them out of the half-court game that occasionally stifles their productivity. Dickel pushed the ball, hit Kambala regularly with looping passes down low, and had his line-drive outside jumper whisking through the twine with a sweet accuracy that gave the Rebels a legitimate inside-outside attack.

This was the UNLV team its fans have been (impatiently) waiting to see, and that's with acclaimed newcomer Lou Kelly barely on the court and not yet a factor.

It was the game that established how good the Rebels could be.

It's also the game they'll now try to duplicate every time out.