Waste of a road trip

Steve Addy

Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2002 | 10:13 a.m.

PROVO, Utah -- For all of the damage inflicted on their self-esteem, not to mention their record, the Rebels ought not have bothered with the Utah-BYU trip this season.

Just like last season, and the season before.

Alas, the Rebels would have to face the hard truth sooner or later anyway. But it would have been easier on their collective psyche to simply concede two forfeits and move on to less daunting assignments.

Unlike the defensive disaster in Saturday's 23-point loss at Utah, UNLV's offense was unable to produce when it really counted Tuesday night and the Rebels suffered a 60-47 loss to BYU at the Marriott Center.

Though only some of the current cast played in the previous defeats, it was another in a series of ego-bruising UNLV losses along the Wasatch range in the Mountain West's first three seasons.

The Rebels have been swept at Utah and BYU each season, including blowouts by 44 at Utah in 2000 and 28 here last year. The only narrow defeat was an 83-82 loss at BYU in 2000, which probably hurt worse than the routs.

This time, at least, no Rebel was indicted for bailing on his teammates, as Trevor Diggs did to Kaspars Kambala after last year's meltdown. Nevertheless, the Rebels will return home just as downcast, 1-3 in the league, 8-7 overall, and already excused as even long shot MWC contenders.

"We had a chance to win with five minutes to go, and we couldn't pull it out," senior forward Chris Richardson said, shaking his head. "We were playing bad and only down by five. But (BYU) made their shots and we didn't."

UNLV actually led the first-place Cougars (12-3, 2-0) much of the way. The Rebels used spirited and attentive defense to take a 26-22 halftime lead, the fewest points they've permitted in any half all season. They forced 13 turnovers and hassled BYU into 8-of-21 shooting.

"We came out with good intensity. We were all hyped up," said Dalron Johnson, whose 18 points couldn't rescue UNLV from the sour shooting of Lou Kelly (2-of-10) and Marcus Banks (1-of-8).

"Their defensive pressure really impacted us, and we didn't handle it well," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "It's a good thing we were playing at home and not in Las Vegas."

Though UNLV wasn't quite as tidy in the second half, allowing BYU's 17-6 spurt to break open a 35-35 game, the Rebels' perked-up defense earned their only gold star of the night.

The problem is, there's no guarantee it will continue. Lasting progress has been elusive for UNLV. As soon as one leak is plugged, another occurs. After a decent caulk job, the old leak springs anew, as if scheduled. With these Rebels, it's always something.

Tuesday's specific shortcoming was UNLV's inability to get good offensive possessions after the Cougars gained a little lead midway in the second half. Rather than staying patient and running disciplined sets, the Rebels forced shots that BYU rebounded, or they threw the ball away.

"We got in way too big a hurry," UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "We tried to do things too fast. When we do that, we're not very good. You get behind and you think the clock is running at warp speed, but it's not. Trying to make something happen after one pass is not a great idea.

"We need a better understanding of what to do when the game gets pivotal. There's no great secret that we should go through (Johnson). We tried to get it to him three or four times near the end and we threw it away."

Also, with Banks and Kelly struggling, Johnson attempted unsuccessfully to take command. He was cited for three of UNLV's nine turnovers in the second half, and was involved in two others.

"We had to get something going, and I was trying everything I could," he said.

But as usual, there was a wide chasm between trying and succeeding on the Rebels' least favorite Mountain West road trip.