Rebels try to avoid letdown against SDSU

Steve Addy

Friday, Jan. 21, 2000 | 10:12 a.m.

The Rebels learned a lot about themselves in back-to-back road wins over Air Force and New Mexico. Now we'll see if the lessons took root or were just temporary revelations.

When San Diego State visits UNLV on Saturday night, it'll be a tailor-made opportunity for the Rebels to prove they are through playing up or down to their competition at home.

If playing a weak club on their own floor isn't enough incentive, the Rebels should require no more motivation than a glance at the Mountain West standings.

At 2-1 with two road wins, and with another two-game trip next week, UNLV can ill afford to revert to bad habits against the Aztecs, who fell to 0-2 in the MWC (5-10 overall) with an 81-77 triple-overtime loss to Air Force on Thursday.

SDSU's record shouldn't matter, anyway. The Rebels are coming off their most complete effort of the season in Monday's 85-73 win at New Mexico, and there is no logical reason they should not bump UNLV's all-time record against San Diego State to 18-4 overall and 10-1 at Thomas & Mack.

That is, as long as they follow the successful blueprint from their road sweep.

"On that trip, we learned that when our chemistry is good, we can play with anybody," Rebels coach Bill Bayno said. "We learned that if we're making shots, we can blow people out, and if we're not making shots, we can win games with our defense.

"Even though we rode (Kaspars Kambala) on offense, our chemistry was good. We shared the ball and made the extra pass."

Kambala said, "When we come together as a team, we can be really good. We definitely have to find a way to maintain this if we want to be a good team."

However, if Thursday's practice was an indication of how Bayno's players are approaching SDSU, the coach could be in for an uneasy weekend. After two days without an organized practice, the Rebels were sharp for the first hour, then grew sluggish and had Bayno pleading for intensity.

"We can't have a letdown," Bayno said.

"We're coming off two great road wins and everyone's told us how good we are. Unfortunately, it's human nature to have success and then relax. It's got to be our focus to have that same hungry attitude every single day."

Kambala, one of the few Rebels who had a decent practice, insisted he and his teammates aren't overlooking San Diego State. He said Thursday's sluggishness was natural after two days off at this point in the season.

"A lot of guys did weightlifting and extra work over the last couple of days and we came back tired," Kambala said. "It's hard when you've played at such intensity in the last two games. That drains a lot of energy. You can't expect to be totally sharp when you get back."

Senior point guard Mark Dickel is also guarding against a letdown.

"Every game is important, and we're not good enough to just (show up) and think we can win on our talent," he said. "Everybody is saying (SDSU) is having a down year, but they play us as tough as anyone. We've got to play them hard, too."

Under new coach Steve Fisher, who led Michigan to the 1989 NCAA title and two more Final Fours, the Aztecs have opened MWC play with two home defeats, 70-55 to Utah on Jan. 10 and Thursday's heartbreaker against Air Force. Now they begin a span of three road games in nine days, having lost all six meetings at the Thomas & Mack since 1979.

SDSU is led by 6-foot-6 sophomore forward Myron Epps, who averages 14.1 points and scored 27 in Thursday's loss. "He's relentless," Bayno said. Freshman point man Bradley Jackson (8.0 ppg) has been solid.

But the Aztecs, like many MWC teams, have no one who matches up physically with Kambala. Their starting center is Marcelo Correa (11.4 ppg), who is tall but thin (6-foot-10, 225 pounds).

"They're coming in with nothing to lose," Bayno allowed. "They're going to zone us and they are going to double-team (Kambala) in the post, so we'll have to deal with that."