Rebels try to buck ‘Super’ history

Steve Addy

Thursday, Jan. 31, 2002 | 10:43 a.m.

The last time UNLV played basketball on Super Bowl Sunday, the Rebels were only 90 miles from the big game.

On Jan. 28, 1990, the Rebels were in Baton Rouge, La., for an afternoon game against LSU. A few hours later, down the road at the Superdome in New Orleans, the 49ers and Broncos would duel in Super Bowl XXIV.

But there would be no postgame field trip for UNLV. By the time the Super Bowl kicked off, the Rebels were on the plane home after a nationally televised 107-105 loss to a team on which Shaquille O'Neal wasn't the best player.

That's some of the history the current Rebels will buck Sunday when they host DePaul at 11 a.m. on ABC, four hours before the Rams and Patriots kick off before an estimated 130 million viewers on Fox.

UNLV has lost all three times it has shared the stage with the Super Bowl, all on the road, and all were among the best clubs in UNLV history -- 1978, 1989 and the 1990 NCAA champions. But none of the losses came against 98-pound weaklings, either.

This year's Super Bowl Sunday appearance was not intentional. UNLV was scheduled to play DePaul, but the Super Bowl was to have been played last Sunday. When the NFL postponed its Week 2 games because of Sept. 11, the Super Bowl was bumped to this weekend.

UNLV-DePaul is an ABC regional telecast, reaching 27 percent of the country -- mainly Mountain West markets and the Midwest. Though the Super Bowl is on a different network, and FOX's pregame gabfest precedes the Rebels tipoff by a half-hour, UNLV is glad to get some face time on TV's most-watched day of the year.

"You have two name teams, two reputable teams, and it's a game people are going to watch," senior associate AD Jerry Koloskie said. "Even 27 percent is a pretty large audience. That's a lot of Super Bowl parties going on. The exposure is tremendous for our program."

Coach Charlie Spoonhour said he's happy for the exposure, too -- "If we win." But that would be a first for UNLV on Super Bowl Sunday.

In 1978, hours before Dallas beat Denver 27-10 in Super Bowl XII at New Orleans, the Rebels lost at Marquette 97-81. Despite 27 points by Tony Smith and 12 rebounds by Reggie Theus, UNLV lost to the defending NCAA champs, who had consensus All-American guard Butch Lee.

In 1989, before the 49ers' 20-16 victory over Cincinnati in Super Bowl XXIII at Miami, UNLV suffered a 92-74 loss at Louisville. Stacey Augmon and David Butler had 17 points apiece, but the Cardinals -- three years removed from their own NCAA title -- got 28 from center Pervis Ellison.

The 1990 game at Baton Rouge was a beauty. The Rebels and LSU were truly part of CBS's Super Bowl XXIV lineup, as their game led into the pregame show for the 49ers' 55-10 rout of the Broncos at the Superdome.

In a game full of future NBA players, the absence of one -- Augmon -- probably made the difference in the Rebels' two-point loss. Augmon and Chris Jeter were serving a one-game suspension for an early-season transgression in Hawaii.

Without Augmon, the Rebels' best defender, LSU guard Chris Jackson went off for 35 points.

Guard Maurice Williamson added 26, and 7-foot freshman Shaquille O'Neal had 17 points and 14 rebounds. The Tigers also had future NBA center Stanley Roberts.

Anderson Hunt scored 31 for UNLV, Larry Johnson 27 and Butler 22, but it wasn't enough.

"Shaq and Stanley Roberts weighed 600 pounds between them, but we had no answer for Chris Jackson," former Rebels guard Dave Rice recalled.