Rebels ready for the road after some home-schooling

Monday, Dec. 1, 2003 | 9:40 a.m.

UNLV's basketball players heard the applause their sticky defense drew Saturday night, tried to muffle ensuing gasps and then they listened to themselves when it mattered most.

Coach Charlie Spoonhour said senior guard Demetrius Hunter and junior forward Odartey Blankson took invaluable leadership roles as California was busy cutting its deficit from 20 to 10, 7 and then 4.

"Everyone was trying to listen," Spoonhour said. "That was a good thing. Guys were talking about digging in, defensively."

The Golden Bears shaved UNLV's lead to a point before the Rebels repelled Cal's onslaught and slinked out of the Thomas & Mack Center with a 59-57 victory to improve to 3-1.

"When we came in (to huddles) for timeouts, 'O-dot' and Demetrius were saying all the right stuff," Spoonhour said. "We were having trouble on offense, so they said, 'Let's get something going with our defense and maybe we can get a basket."

"Everyone, at least with their body language, was on the same page. That's good for this time of year. Now, we go on the road and we'll have exactly what California went through tonight."

In California, no less. The Rebels play at Southern California on Wednesday, at Loyola Marymount on Saturday and at Stanford on Dec. 13, when center J.K. Edwards will return from suspension and give UNLV a true back-to-the-basket threat.

The Rebels will eagerly anticipate returning home to the Mack on Dec. 18, against Northern Arizona.

Saturday, UNLV was richly rewarded by an announced crowd of 11,810 whenever a player took a charge, skinned a knee by diving for a ball, blocked a shot or snagged a clutch rebound against the Golden Bears.

"The crowd definitely gave us a lot of energy on defense, with the chants in the student section ... they were great over there," Blankson said. "We were feeding off that all night, we just slipped up a little bit in the second half."

The crowd first roared its approval for the defense midway through the first half, when UNLV forced Cal out of its offense by pestering its guards and with stifling interior defense.

It happened a minute and a half later, then five minutes later. To implore his charges on the defensive end of the court, Spoonhour often stomped a foot and stood with both feet inbounds.

During the second-half malaise, the crowd tried to do its part.

"I mean, the crowd is our sixth man," Hunter said. "They played a big role, because we were tired. And when you hear that crowd behind you, you get a little second wind. That's big. That's the sign of a winner.

"Vegas loves winners. If you win, great things will happen here, and our crowd came out and supported us. We need them every game."

And Blassingame. When he tweaked his right hamstring a bit more than four minutes into the second half, the control of the game was left to freshman point guard John Winston, with some help from fellow rookie Michael Umeh.

That indecision contributed to almost all of that 20-point lead dissolving.

Blassingame returned with 6:31 left, as his teammates clung to a 53-48 advantage, and played the rest of the way. He will be evaluated daily by trainer Dave Tomchek, the early favorite for team MVP honors.

"What happens with our freshmen, if they lose the ball they don't want it again. They want to get as far away from it as they can," Spoonhour said. "You can't do that. You have to get back and get it and stick your hand right back into the fire.

"It's the fourth game. That's the thing you have to understand -- we're not at a point now where we know what we're doing when someone goes down like that. We haven't experienced it. Now we have. Didn't like it, either."

Spoonhourc did like the probable boost his team will get in the all-important Ratings Percentage Index come March. In his previous two seasons in Las Vegas, he got few of those with which to impress the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.

He believes he bagged one Saturday against a team that will belong among the top 25 or 30 teams in the country by the end of December.

UNLV might also nudge into that class, depending on how the road treats it over the next two weeks.

"We almost let it get away Saturday, but I look at it like a learning experience," Hunter said. "We have a lot of new guys who are getting time. We could have made it easier on ourselves, but we just have to learn.

"We're going on the road, and that was a good test. We'll be in those situations a lot."