Spoon plans to share minutes tonight

Steve Addy

Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2001 | 11:04 a.m.

Rebels coach Charlie Spoonhour plans to expand his rotation to at least 10 players tonight.

In that case, UNLV will have Nicholls State's whole roster outnumbered.

In their second game of the season, the Rebels will host a severely outmanned team from Thibodaux, La. Four of Nicholls State's 12 players are academically ineligible until at least Dec. 15, so the Colonels have brought only eight players to Las Vegas.

That's the same number Spoonhour used in Saturday's 74-69 victory over Wisconsin, but he intends to go deeper into his bench tonight. Guard Ernest Turner and forward Lou Amundson, both freshmen, will likely make their college debuts.

Spoonhour had wanted to get them into the Wisconsin game, but never found the right opportunity. He saw no need to tinker with his rotation in the first half, when UNLV pulled ahead by as much as 14, and didn't think it wise to thrust freshmen into a close game in the second half.

"It was kind of a Catch-22, and it's not fair to them either way," Spoonhour said Monday. "You want to get them out there, because they deserve it based on how they've played in preseason and in practice, but you worry about throwing them into a tough situation.

"Hopefully we'll see (Turner and Amundson), and I would like to expand Lafonte (Johnson's) role as well."

Turner was glued to the bench opening night as starting two-guard Vince Booker played 36 minutes, and designated gunner Lou Kelly came in for 27 minutes.

"It's no big deal. I know I'll get my chance, and I'll be ready," Turner said.

There should be plenty of minutes to go around tonight. On paper, the first meeting between the schools might be the Rebels' easiest game all season.

Not only is Nicholls State down to eight players, but none finished in the Colonels' top five in scoring last season when the club went 14-14 and placed second in the Southland Conference. Their top returning scorers, guards Earnest Porter (8.3 ppg) and Sean Hughley (6.4), are ineligible.

In an opening 95-59 loss Saturday at Mississippi State, Colonels freshman guard Larry Jones scored 19, but no one else had more than nine.

But Spoonhour isn't chalking up an automatic win just because Nicholls State is shorthanded.

"My first year at Saint Louis (1992), I was in exactly the same position. We had eight scholarship players," Spoonhour said. "I've been a guaranteed (win) for somebody else many times, but we won our share. With eight guys, we went to UCLA and led them at halftime."