Kelly fueled Rebels’ surge

Steve Addy

Tuesday, March 12, 2002 | 10:30 a.m.

At Saint Louis

When the Rebels host Arizona State tonight in the NIT, they will pass another signpost in their 20-10 season. But there's a line of demarcation that stands out clearer than most.

It was Jan. 12, when senior small forward Lou Kelly entered UNLV's starting five for the first time all season and became a permanent part of the lineup. Barely 10 days later, the Strugglin' Rebels began turning into the Winnin' Rebels, starting a string of 12 wins in 15 games.

Coach Charlie Spoonhour points out that many aspects of the turnaround began around that time, such as Jevon Banks becoming an indispensible sixth man, Lou Amundson shaking off his freshman uncertainty and the schedule turning in the Rebels' favor.

"I wish I could say it was because of (the lineup change), but I think it was more a case of everybody getting used to each other," Spoonhour said. "We won a game or two, gained confidence and began to gather momentum. A lot of things started coming together."

True enough, but when Spoonhour made Kelly a starter and sent sophomore center Omari Pearson to the bench, it gave UNLV a three-pronged scoring attack that made the team much more explosive.

Kelly had been getting minutes alongside Dalron Johnson and Marcus Banks, but opponents suddenly had to contend with all three from the opening tip, and for longer stints. They finished as the No. 2 scoring trio in Mountain West play, with Johnson averaging 16.6 points, Kelly 14.6 and Banks 14.2, accounting for 61 percent of UNLV's 74.1 average.

Including three games in the conference tournament, in which Kelly's 68 points led everybody, he averaged 18.1 points during the Rebels' 15-game rush. It was the kind of production UNLV fans had anticipated since Kelly arrived from Juco ball in 1999.

Despite those numbers and the team's fast finish, Kelly is nagged not only by what could've been, but what he believes should've been.

"I don't think it takes rocket science to figure it out -- I should've been starting since the first day of the season," Kelly said. "Coach Spoon went with the other lineup for whatever reason. He's the coach, so I had to live with it. But I felt like I should've been starting.

"There are many games I feel we would've won if I had been in there from the beginning. In some of those games, I was put in when it was starting to get desperate, like we were going to get blown out. I had to come in and start hitting right away or I would go back to sitting."

Early in the season, Spoonhour hesitated to start Kelly mainly because he wanted a hot scorer to bring off the bench. Jevon Banks hadn't yet defined his backup role, and Spoonhour didn't want to leave his bench shorthanded.

Spoonhour made the lineup switch for the Rebels' trip to Utah and BYU. The team lost by 23 and 15, and Kelly had a lousy trip as well, scoring nine points and shooting 3 of 14. But when the Rebels got home, he scored a then-career-high 23 in a win over Colorado State, and was off and running.

Kelly had six more 20-plus games, setting a new high with 29 at Colorado State on Feb. 18, a game he won almost singlehandedly. He hit three free throws to tie it with no time left in regulation, then dominated in overtime as UNLV won 96-91.

Despite a groin pull, Kelly extended his high to 35 in a 120-117 double-OT win over New Mexico in the first round of the MWC tournament. He had 24 in Saturday's championship against San Diego State, keeping UNLV afloat in the second half with several 10-footers in the lane.

But when his 35-foot desperation shot bounced off the rim at the buzzer, UNLV lost 78-75 and was relegated to the NIT. "I thought it was in, honest," he said.

Instead, it was another Could've Been or Should've Been moment for Lou Kelly. But as he would testify, it sure beats watching from the bench.