Rebels set to revisit WAC rivals

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, March 18, 2003 | 10:18 a.m.

NEXT UP

What: Hawaii at UNLV

When: Wednesday, 9 p.m.

Where: Thomas & Mack

TV: ESPN2, Ch. 31

Radio: KBAD 920-AM

Line: Rebels by 8 points

One day after finding out that their NCAA bubble had burst, the UNLV Rebels were back on the practice floor to begin preparations for Wednesday night's NIT opener against Hawaii.

Although the painful memories of Saturday night's 62-61 loss to Colorado State in the Mountain West Conference tournament title game were still fresh, the Rebels players said they should be able to bounce back against a former Western Athletic Conference rival.

"We're a basketball team and we're going to finish out as a basketball team," point guard Marcus Banks said. "Coach (Charlie) Spoonhour gave us a great speech in (the locker room). I'm sure everybody is pretty juiced off of it. We're going to go on and end the season right."

"That loss was really tough but we should be able to bounce back," forward James Peters said. "We've got to go to the NIT and work hard and work together."

Several players watched the NCAA tournament selection show Sunday afternoon with hope the Rebels might sneak in despite losing to the lower-seeded Rams.

"I kind of knew we probably didn't have a chance, but I still watched anyway," senior guard Jermaine Lewis said. "If we had done the things we had needed to do, we would have been more worried about where we were playing instead of whether we would get in."

"It was a tough day," senior forward Dalron Johnson said.

Still, getting back on the practice floor Monday at the Cox Pavilion seemed therapeutic.

"I was disappointed after the whole thing but right now we've got the NIT and we're going to try and win it," Lewis said. "I think we will go out and do things and play hard."

"I don't think there will be any problems with us wanting to play or getting ourselves ready to play," Spoonhour said. "But right now we're mentally and physically beat up after playing three tournament games in three days."

Because of that, Spoonhour held a short one-hour practice consisting mainly of shooting drills. The Rebels are expected to put in a full two-hour practice today at the Thomas & Mack.