Columnist Dean Juipe: Five Rebels barely beat one Lobo

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2003 | 10:38 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Quite the strange game, wasn't it? Ruben Douglas scores 40 and yet UNLV wins, its greater depth and strength of character overcoming a career night by the New Mexico star.

For those who made it through Monday's late, late game in Albuquerque, the reward was in seeing the Rebels pull off an unlikely comeback to post a 75-66 victory. Down by nine at the half and up by nine at the end -- all because the Lobos were as literally close to being a one-man team as can be imagined.

Douglas, who seems as if he has been playing college basketball forever, came within one of hitting half of his shots in a superlative outing on national television. Too bad half the nation was sound asleep as he did it.

Of course it appeared as if the Rebels were asleep as well during much of the game, barely contesting Douglas' shots and hardly making an extra effort to even keep an eye on him. He was open and open and open, and he was red hot.

But any one-man team has its fatal flaws and the remainder of the Lobos contributed only 26 points.

For that, UNLV can be thankful. If Douglas hadn't been resigned to a Pete Maravich-like game in which each of his teammates should have been charged the price of admission, whatever remains of the Rebels' aspirations might have been swept away.

Never has a UNLV team opened a conference season at 0-4, but this one came close. With as few as four minutes to play the Rebels were losing and in danger of making the type of history that would brand them as underachievers.

But at 1-3 they can look to the bright side. Wyoming will be tough here on Saturday but, overall, the schedule gets a fraction easier for a week or two and the near misses that led to those close losses might well be forgotten.

Yet there's some head scratching going on.

Marcus Banks had a strong game at Air Force in a loss last Saturday but has now had three other conference games in which his scoring contribution has been limited. He was downright sluggish in The Pit.

But offsetting his performance was one by Demetrius Hunter that reminded UNLV fans not only of what they've been missing but what might yet lie ahead. Injured in recent weeks and not as big of a scorer as many were projecting, Hunter led the Rebels with 24 points despite a hitch in his gait.

If he can get healthy and stay that productive, it would take a considerable load off Banks (and Dalron Johnson) and allow the Rebels to resume thinking of themselves as at least a fringe top-25 team.

In that respect, the Monday win fell into the "must" category. Had UNLV lost and been 0-4, the NCAA Tournament would have ceased to be a realistic dream.

And 0-4 was looking probable at the intermission, so credit the second-half recovery on anything that might have been said in the locker room. That and having just enough athleticism and versatility to overtake an opponent that had only one fire burning.

A threat repelled, that's what this one was. A loss would have been disheartening, maybe even devastating to the Rebels and their fans.

Instead, there's a chance to regain not only their momentum but to rekindle a few promising thoughts.

That mixture of emotions was personified in the game itself. The Rebels were living on the edge, yet finished the night very much alive.