Spoonhour hoping practice lessons pay off on Saturday

Steve Addy

Friday, Dec. 14, 2001 | 10:50 a.m.

WHAT: UNLV (3-3) at Loyola Marymount (5-3)

WHEN: Saturday, 7:05 p.m.

WHERE: Gersten Pavilion

TV: KFBT Gold 33/Cable 6

RADIO: KBAD 920-AM

The Rebels left nothing to chance during a full week of practice for Saturday's game at Loyola Marymount.

The assistant coaches put together the scouting report and broke down film. The players received a game plan, and time was devoted to simulating the Lions' sets. All are standard facets of game preparation.

But those tasks seemed largely immaterial this week, because UNLV's overriding emphasis was on one thing -- the man in the mirror.

In the midst of a backslide that has left them 3-3, the Rebels spent most of the week trying to tidy their own house. Instead of gearing toward a specific opponent, coach Charlie Spoonhour focused more on eliminating the errors that have confounded UNLV.

Specifically, he's talking about rampant turnovers and fouls. The Rebels are averaging 19 per game in each category, and the trend has tracked upward on the road. In the three road losses, opponents have shot 82 free throws to the Rebels' 41, outscoring them 57-27.

Throughout the week, players found themselves running laps for throwing one-handed passes -- Spoonhour hates those -- and grabbing on defense. The coach doesn't wear a whistle, but he would yell "Stop," point to the offending player and have him run a down-and-back.

It made for choppy practices, but Spoonhour was trying to make the lessons sink in.

"I'm hoping if we work on this stuff enough, we'll stop making silly mistakes," he said. "I think the guys are trying. There's nothing wrong with their (effort). But we've got to play a lot smarter. We can't make it so hard for ourselves."

Fouls might be the area of greatest concern at Loyola Marymount. The Lions are shooting 80.7 percent from the free throw line, 20 percent higher than UNLV, so if the Rebels continue to hack away, it will probably cost them.

Lions point guard Eurskine Robinson is 30-of-30 at the foul line, backup guard Kent Dennis 18-of-20 and center Greg Lakey 17-of-20.

"They can all shoot free throws," Spoonhour said. "If we foul them, that's going to be bad.

"We have fouled way too much. We try to steal the ball too much. You can get one every now and then, but you're not going to just take it away from guys."

Rebels guard Vince Booker said the fouling woes stem from being out of position on defense.

"When we have a breakdown, instead of giving up an easy basket, we're swallowing a foul," he said. "But we have to do a better job of getting a head start on defense. We have to cut in front of guys, instead of them cutting around us and making us play catch-up.

"Especially on the road, a referee will honor that more than if you're beaten to the spot."

Loyola Marymount is 5-3 with three straight wins, its most impressive victory coming Dec. 2 at Texas A&M (80-78). Freshman power forward Andy Osborn leads the Lions in scoring (12.4) and rebounding (6.3).

"I don't think there's any one area where they look weak," Spoonhour said.