Underdog Rebels hope to catch Stanford off guard

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Dec. 12, 2003 | 9:58 a.m.

The UNLV men's basketball team finds itself in a familar position heading into Saturday afternoon's game at 13th-ranked Stanford:

The Rebels are underdogs.

As was the case in their previous games against Pac-10 teams Cal and USC, not much is expected from Charlie Spoonhour's surprising 5-1 squad against the Cardinal (4-0), which knocked off then-No. 1 rated Kansas, 64-58, last Saturday and is expected to battle Arizona for the Pac-10 Conference championship.

But Spoonhour doesn't take any joy in that fact, even if it means there will be little if any pressure on his team.

"It's like saying you're having a quick-draw deal with Wyatt Earp," Spoonhour said. "You're going against the best."

Fortunately for UNLV, Stanford will be without one of its bullets.

Junior swingman Josh Childress, who scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Stanford's 77-66 victory against the Rebels last December in Las Vegas, is out of the lineup indefinitely with a foot injury.

Doesn't matter says Spoonhour.

"The thing you have to understand is that they've got some experienced people who have been in that system who can step right in and play," Spoonhour said. "They can handle a loss like that better than a lot of people. They've got a very deep, experienced ballclub."

Childress may be out, but four other big, strong frontcourt players who dominated the boards for Stanford at the Thomas & Mack Center last year -- 6-foot-9, 230-pound senior forward Justin Davis, 6-foot-10, 265-pound junior center Rob Little, 6-foot-9, 250-pound senior forward Joe Kirchofer and 6-foot-10, 225-pound sophomore center Mike Haryasz -- all are back and present the smaller Rebels with a major problem.

Stanford outrebounded UNLV, 54-27, in that contest and had 21 offensive rebounds, including eight by Davis who finished with 21 points.

Needless to say, that statistic has been brought up a few times this week by Spoonhour.

"Oh yeah, I've heard that a few times," senior forward James Peters said. "We've got to go harder at the boards as a team. Stanford is a really good rebounding team and they have a good overall team. We've got to be ready to play. And hopefully we learned from last year."

"We need to do a better job on the boards than we did here a year ago," Spoonhour said simply.

The Rebels should get a boost from the return of their best rebounder, 6-foot-8, 250-pound senior center J.K. Edwards, following a six-game suspension for extra phone benefits. But Spoonhour cautioned it could takes several games before Edwards catches up with his teammates and gets into game shape.

"I have no idea how many minutes he'll play," Spoonhour said. "It just depends on how tired he gets when he starts playing. And he'll get tired."

One Rebel who enjoys the underdog role is junior point guard Jerel Blassingame, who will be going against one of the Pac-10's best point guards in hard-nosed Chris Hernandez.

"It gives you extra motivation," Blassingame said. "Its always good to be the underdog. It puts less pressure on us. We're coming out to play hard. I love it."

"It'll be fun," Spoonhour said. "It will be a good experience for our kids. It never hurts you to play the best."