Columnist Dean Juipe: Rebels ruin Utah’s Vegas vacation

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Out of school for the month and holing up in cities such as San Diego, Las Vegas and St. George for lengthy stretches of time, the men's basketball team from Utah is living every collegian's dream. It has a spring break that just won't quit.

But there's a price to pay for such serenity, and the Utes were hit with the toll Monday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.

They got complacent, and UNLV was appreciative.

In a game that unexpectedly swerved directions in the second half, the Rebels came away with a 72-64 victory that did more than elevate their record to 13-8. It arguably stamped UNLV as the logical team to beat when the Mountain West Conference tournament is played at the same site next month.

Parlaying the euphoria they felt after a last-second shot beat Brigham Young two days earlier, the Rebels upped their league record to 5-4 and erased Utah's sense of superiority. The Utes had won four straight over UNLV including a 20-point ambush last month and they got off to a flying 11-0 start in this late, late, late contest, but those numbers seem meaningless now.

The Rebels may not be the best team in the Mountain West but they'll have the home-court advantage when it counts. They'll also remember how they fought back and beat the horde of nearly identical 6-foot-10 guys that Utah regularly brings to town.

A few statistics tell the tale: UNLV was 20-of-28 at the free-throw line; it limited the Utes to a mere five foul shots; and it chopped the Utes' total of successful 3-point field goals from 17 (back on Jan. 12) to three.

It also exposed Utah coach Rick Majerus' lack of eyesight if not court vision. If he told his players the easiest way to score was to lob the ball over the smaller Rebels, they failed to hear him or comprehend his instructions.

As shown by their pitiful total of foul shots, the Utes were neither inclined to play big nor willing to force the ball down low. Instead, they fired away from long range as if they were intent on making another 17 from beyond the arc.

Oh well, what can you expect from a group of young guys who are touring the West?

Banished from their Salt Lake City homes because of the Winter Olympics, the Utes are making due with extra luggage and maps of exotic vacation spots. For instance, they're staying in Las Vegas through Thursday after checking in following a Saturday game in Southern California.

As they're hanging out by the pool today, perhaps reality will pay them a visit. And the new reality is that the Mountain West is very much up for grabs.

Credit the Rebels with a tenacious effort not only after their slow start, but after seeing point guard Marcus Banks be escorted from the floor with a twisted ankle late in the first half. Down by seven at the time and en route to what would become a 12-point deficit (at 35-23), it would have been easy to succumb to what seemed to be the inevitable.

Yet the Rebels (including Banks, a little later) bounced back and "stole one" from the Utes in a comeback that's apt to be memorable.

If they play again in the conference tourney with an NCAA berth at stake, the Rebels needn't be intimidated. Utah is physically big but UNLV may have the greater heart.