Rebels to play 6 tourney teams

Victoria Sun

Thursday, Sept. 5, 2002 | 9:39 a.m.

Home games against Southern Cal, Stanford and Washington highlight the 2002-'03 UNLV men's basketball schedule released Wednesday.

UNLV will play six 2002 NCAA Tournament teams: USC, Stanford, Wisconsin, Utah, Wyoming and San Diego State.

"I think the schedule is pretty good," coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "We're very happy picking up USC and Stanford.

"When Louisville chose not to come we were fortunate Stanford was available. Playing more Pac-10 teams is attractive for the fans."

Louisville backed out of playing the Rebels in the Dec. 21 Las Vegas Showdown forcing UNLV to find a replacement. UNLV will play Stanford at 9:05 p.m. following the Purdue-Arizona State game at 6:35 p.m.

In one of last year's Showdown games, BYU upset then 13th-ranked Stanford 81-76.

UNLV may add one non-conference game to its 27-game schedule if the ESPN Regional office finds a marquee opponent.

The Rebels have room for an additional game because Texas asked to postpone its Dec. 14 game against UNLV in Austin, Texas. The Longhorns are ranked on ESPN.com's and foxsports.com's pre-season top 10 lists.

"We have enough games in terms of numbers right now because of the Jim Thorpe Classic," Spoonhour said. "The question is if we can find somebody who can help our power rating if we play them.

"There are a bunch of teams who still have games available and they're brokering through ESPN. We'd play the game in mid-December."

UNLV will play West Virginia and SMU in the Jim Thorpe Classic at the Thomas & Mack Center Dec. 28-29. Because it is an exempt tournament, it counts as only one game toward the maximum 28 allowed.

The Rebels, who finished 21-11 last season and advanced to the second round of the NIT, will play at Wisconsin (Dec. 7) and at DePaul (Jan. 11).

UNLV women's basketball coach Regina Miller announced the Lady Rebels' schedule which includes 15 home games and a trip to Hawaii for the University of Hawaii Invitational Dec. 14-15.

The Lady Rebels, coming off a 23-8 season and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, host Arizona Dec. 22 at 5 p.m. and Nevada-Reno Dec. 29 at 2 p.m.