Rebels’ Diggs can’t explain 49-point outburst

Steve Addy

Monday, March 5, 2001 | 9:59 a.m.

A rundown of Trevor Diggs' 49-point game against Wyoming on Saturday:

FIRST HALF

14:06 -- 1 of 3 free throws.

13:00 -- 2-pointer from the top.

11:10 -- 1 of 2 free throws.

10:22 -- Fast-break layup.

8:33 -- Driving layup.

7:14 -- 3-pointer from the top.

5:35 -- 2 of 2 free throws.

4:11 -- 3-pointer from right wing.

1:24 -- 1 of 2 free throws.

SECOND HALF

18:56 -- Fast-break layup.

14:46 -- 3-pointer from left wing.

13:20 -- Layup after spin move.

10:57 -- Left baseline 15-footer.

10:29 -- 3-pointer from right wing.

9:39 -- 3-pointer from 25 feet.

9:20 -- Scoop layup, 1 free throw.

8:58 -- 2 of 2 free throws.

8:19 -- 5-foot bank shot.

5:38 -- 2 of 2 free throws.

2:04 -- 1 of 2 free throws.

1:31 -- 3-pointer from left wing.

:06 -- 2 of 2 free throws.

:01 -- 2 of 2 free throws.

TOTALS

Minutes -- 36.

Field goals -- 14-of-21.

3-pointers -- 6-of-8.

Free throws -- 15-of-20.

Points -- 49.

It didn't begin like a 49-point game for Trevor Diggs.

The first thing he did Saturday night was volunteer to come off the bench against Wyoming so that fellow senior Chris Popoola could get the only start of his Rebels career.

After sitting out the first four minutes, Diggs quickly went to the free throw line after being fouled on a 3-pointer.

First shot -- clank.

Second shot -- brick.

Diggs backed off the line, shaking his head, wondering if his last game for UNLV was going to be as exasperating and unsatisfying as the rest of his senior season.

But when Diggs made the third free throw, he could not have imagined how amazing the next 34 minutes would be.

Piling up points on a variety of NBA-range 3-pointers and off-balance shots around the lane, Diggs finished with 49, the second-most in UNLV history, as the Rebels went out with a 106-102 victory over Wyoming.

By making 14-of-21 field goals (6-of-8 3-pointers) and 15-of-20 free throws, Diggs became the highest-scoring Division I player this season against a Division I opponent. Ronnie McCollum from Centanary, whose 29.1 average leads Division I, scored 44 against Northwestern State on Feb. 21 for the previous high.

Oliver Morton from Chattanooga scored 50 on Jan. 24, but it was against Pikeville College, an NAIA school.

Diggs' output is the most by a college player at the Thomas & Mack Center, breaking the mark of 48 by Oklahoma's Stacey King in 1988. The only higher-scoring game in UNLV history is 55 by Elburt Miller against Portland on Feb. 12, 1967.

Diggs scored 17 methodical points in the first half, then caught fire midway through the second, scoring 15 in a span of 2:38. It included two 3-point baskets and a three-point play. His four free throws in the final six seconds kept Wyoming at bay, costing the Cowboys the outright MWC title.

Afterward, having emerged from the crush of well-wishers, which included former coach Bill Bayno, Diggs had no special explanation for topping his previous UNLV scoring high by 15 points.

"It was like any other night -- you know I'm going to keep shooting," said Diggs, who ended his Rebels career with a 14.6 average in 60 games. "Sometimes shots go in, and sometimes they don't."

Fellow senior Danny Brotherson said, "Trev was phenomenal. I've never played with anybody who's been that hot before -- the things he did, the shots he was hitting. It made it a good night."

Two NBA scouts were in attendance, and Bayno said he hopes Diggs' effort will get him invited to a few predraft camps.

"I've been working to get him into the Portsmouth (Va.) camp," Bayno said.

"This might do it."

Wyoming was as clueless to explain Diggs' explosion as Diggs himself. He had averaged 14.8 points in four prior games against the Cowboys.

"Diggs is a senior, he wanted to play hard and he wanted to win," coach Steve McClain said. "He made everything he threw up. We ran into a guy who simply couldn't miss."

Forward Marcus Bailey said, "He was just unconscious. No other way to describe it. He was throwing up shots all over the place and they were going in. There was nothing you could do."