Kelly’s ad-libs heighten level of excitement

Steve Addy

Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2002 | 9:49 a.m.

When senior guard Lou Kelly has the ball, UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour can only fasten his seatbelt and hope something good happens.

Kelly has so many spin moves, fancy passes and off-balance shots in his basketball Rolodex, it's thrilling to watch him select one on the spur of the moment, especially when the decision occurs in midair.

For all of the Rebels' recent rallies, some of their most electric sequences have come when Kelly has left his feet and plots his next move during hang time. If he's open to shoot, he usually does. But if a teammate flashes open, Kelly will try to thread a pass.

"When I go up, I haven't decided if I'm definitely going to shoot," Kelly said. "If I think somebody might be more open, I'll give it up. I can hang in the air longer than most guys, so it's not a problem."

But it's usually a risky play. Such scenarios occur four or five times per game, and Spoonhour can feel his pulse quicken every time.

"It's like what football coaches used to say about the forward pass -- there's a lot of things that can happen, and most of them are bad," Spoonhour joked. "If Lou gets the ball from the head of circle on down, something's going to happen. There's going to be a commotion.

"When he gets in the air, I usually want him to shoot it. Many times, he'll put it on the floor and try to get closer to the basket, and I'm over there wishing he'd just shoot it, because I have great confidence in his shot."

But with Kelly averaging 13.5 points as the Rebels' most explosive substitute, the coach is willing to cut him extra slack when his ad-libs get too adventurous.

"That's something we wish we could correct -- Lou getting in the air -- but you don't want to take away from his creativity," Spoonhour said. "For a guy whose main role is to score, he's really good about passing, and he's getting better at not turning it over."

In Sunday's 84-76 win over Old Dominion, there was proof of the slack Kelly is getting. He was having his worst offensive game of the season, shooting 0-for-7 from the field, many of them bricks. With eight minutes to go, he was still scoreless.

But when UNLV put on its decisive 21-4 rally in the final six minutes, Kelly was on the court making key plays. He fed Dalron Johnson for a layup on a midair improvisation, got the rebound that resulted in Johnson's tying three-point play and fed Marcus Banks for the 3-pointer that put UNLV ahead to stay.

Kelly finished with a season-low four points, all on free throws, but he wasn't bothered.

"I don't have to score a lot of points to be effective," said Kelly, who is second on the Rebels in assists (31) and third in rebounds (42). "I can get loose balls, get rebounds, box out, all the little things.

"Hopefully, (Spoonhour) will get more confidence in me and let me play a little longer."

Yes, Kelly would still prefer to start, but Spoonhour likes him in the backup role and believes Kelly can be just as effective as a finisher.

"At the end of the game, when we had to win, Lou was a solid player," Spoonhour said. "I wish more people would recognize that you can help win games by ways other than shooting. You can make a great pass, get a big rebound, make a hustle play or even take your man out of the play."