Road victories sparked Rebels’ confidence

Steve Addy

Monday, March 18, 2002 | 8:57 a.m.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- The Rebels' season will be over if they don't win their next road game Tuesday night. But in a figurative sense, it's an obstacle they have already cleared this season.

When UNLV rallied from 16 points down for its first road win Dec. 15 at Loyola Marymount, then captured its first Mountain West win Jan. 6 at Air Force, both games served as needed springboards for a team struggling to find its way.

Though neither opponent was high-caliber, the victories were handy when they occurred, and are even more valuable in light of where the Rebels are now: preparing to play at South Carolina in the second round of the NIT.

Had the Rebels lost either or both games, they would've had plenty of season left. But their late-season surge of 13 wins in 16 games probably wouldn't have flowered so fully, if at all.

Coming off last season, when they were 1-5 in nonconference road games, the Rebels seemed headed for a similar rut under new coach Charlie Spoonhour. They lost by 13 at Cincinnati, 13 at Washington and six at Alabama-Birmingham from Nov. 24 to Dec. 8. They were foul-prone, turning the ball over with alarming frequency and free-lancing before giving halfcourt sets a cursory run-through.

Even with seven days to prepare for Loyola Marymount, the troubles continued; UNLV trailed 41-25 at halftime in Los Angeles. To most of the players, that was rock bottom.

"At halftime, guys were really down," guard Vince Booker recalled. "We were wondering if we had a curse on us. We knew we had talent, but at that point, we couldn't put it together."

What followed was one of the Rebels' finest halves all season. They played with savvy, picked up their defense, cleaned up their ballhandling and started converting fast breaks they had been blowing. It resulted in a 28-8 run, a 45-27 edge in the half and a 70-68 victory.

Though the winning play -- Marcus Banks' finger-roll layup out of a halfcourt set -- gave an indication of his vast potential, the win's greatest benefit was the togetherness it sparked.

"That was the game that turned it around for us," senior Chris Richardson said. "We were down big-time and we came back to win. I think guys started to think, we better listen to the old man (Spoonhour) because he knows what he's talking about."

Above all, the Rebels seemed to realize that playing responsible defense would not hurt their up-tempo intentions on offense, but enable them. Using fullcourt and three-quarters pressure, UNLV made 16 steals and scored after seven of them in the second half.

"That was more than just getting a road win," guard Jevon Banks said. "We proved to ourselves we could come back. It showed us that maybe we need to believe in what coach was telling us."

Booker said, "That was more than a win. It was a stepping stone. We learned we could win even if we got down by 16. We could say, 'We've been here before, let's do it.' Then we did it again and again. It just kept building."

The Rebels would go on to several comebacks in the second half of the season, including overtime victories at San Diego State and Colorado State, but their confidence emerged that night. Spoonhour saw it when his players calmly walked to the locker room after the game.

"They have handled wins and losses really well," he said. "We haven't acted the fool when we've lost and to this point we haven't acted the fool when we've won. That has been characteristic of every good team I've had."

To Spoonhour, the victory at Air Force was just as crucial as Loyola Marymount for several reasons. The Rebels lost their MWC home opener to Wyoming on Jan. 5, boarded a charter after the game and won at Air Force 66-54 with only one day to prepare for the league's most gimmicky team.

"Your first road win is important, but so is your first conference road win," Spoonhour said. "Winning at Air Force was very important. They're so hard to prepare for, but I was really proud of the way our guys concentrated. That was the best we've focused on something all season."