Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2004 | 9:36 a.m.
(All games PST)
NOVEMBER
5 -- L.A. Stars, 7:30 p.m.
17 -- EA Sports All-Stars, 7:30 p.m.
23 -- St. Mary's, 7:30 p.m.
26 -- Oregon State, 7:30 p.m.
DECEMBER
1 -- at Cal, TBA
4 -- at Nevada-Reno, TBA
8 -- at Pepperdine, 7 p.m.
12 -- at Auburn, Noon
18 -- Oklahoma State, 7 p.m.
21 -- Gardner-Webb, 7:30 p.m.
22 -- Florida Atlantic, 7:30 p.m.
29 -- Texas-Pan American, 7:30 p.m.
JANUARY
2 -- at Texas, TBA
5 -- Fort Lewis, 7:30 p.m.
10 -- at Utah, 9 p.m.
15 -- San Diego State, 7:30 p.m.
22 -- Colorado State, 7:30 p.m.
24 -- Wyoming, 7:30 p.m.
29 -- at New Mexico, 6 p.m.
31 -- at Air Force, TBA
FEBRUARY
5 -- BYU, Noon
7 -- Utah, 7:30 p.m.
9 -- Missouri, 7:30 p.m.
12 -- at San Diego State, Noon
19 -- at Wyoming, TBA
21 -- at Colorado State, TBA
26 -- Air Force, 7:30 p.m.
28 -- New Mexico, 9 p.m.
MARCH
5 -- at BYU, 6 p.m.
10-12 -- Mountain West tournament at Denver, TBA.
Lon Kruger gets a head start on his first season as UNLV men's head basketball coach with a Labor Day weekend foreign exhibition tour in Vancouver, British Columbia.
But Kruger's first regular-season pacing the sideline of the Thomas & Mack Center will start a little later than he had hoped.
While most Division I teams open their season with a game on Nov. 19 or 20, the Rebels couldn't find a suitable opponent to play at home that weekend and must wait until Tuesday, Nov. 23, to start their non-conference schedule. UNLV will play host to West Coast Conference power St. Mary's, considered a legitimate contender to unseat Gonzaga as conference champ this winter, at the Thomas & Mack that night.
UNLV released its 2004-05 men's basketball schedule on Tuesday. The Rebels are scheduled to play seven teams that went to the postseason last year including six --- Nevada-Reno, Oklahoma State, Texas, Utah, Air Force and BYU --- that played in the NCAA tournament.
Kruger had hoped to get in at least one tuneup game before playing the Gaels, who return their top three scorers from a 17-12 squad that lost to Gonzaga, 84-71, in the WCC tournament final and also narrowly lost at Arizona, 84-78, last season. The Gaels, who open against Belmont on Nov. 11 in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic and would play the Cal-UC Riverside winner the following night with a victory, could conceiveably have played four games before meeting the Rebels.
Kruger and senior associate athletic director Jerry Koloskie had been working for weeks to try to find an opponent to fill the Nov. 19-20 slot and even tried to get some later opponents to switch their games to an earlier date. But Koloskie said a decision was made about a week ago to instead add a game against Division II Fort Lewis College of Durango, Colo., to break up an eight-day break between a Jan. 2 game at Texas and the Jan. 10 MWC opener at Utah.
"We had a lot of different scenarios we worked on," Koloskie said. "In the end we felt it would be better to add a game that first week of January before our conference opener instead of having a lot of time off. You don't need (eight) days of practice before a game during that time of the season."
Kruger said: "You would normally play your opener that first weekend. But it really doesn't matter that we're going to start a few days later (on the 23rd)."
The Rebels will play exhibition games against the L.A. Stars (Nov. 5) and EA Sports All-Stars (Nov. 17) before facing St. Mary's. Then after a Nov. 26 home date against Oregon State, UNLV will spend the next three weeks on the road to make room for the National Finals Rodeo and play games at Cal, Nevada-Reno, Pepperdine and Auburn before returning home to face Oklahoma State on Dec. 18 in the first game of the Las Vegas Showdown.
"Three weeks is a long trip, but that's the way it is," Kruger said. "It's a difficult schedule but one I think should help prepare us for Mountain West Conference play."
Some other highlights of the schedule:
REBELS NOTES: The Rebels begin two-a-day workouts on Monday morning in preparation for their Canadian trip. Practices are tenatively scheduled for 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. ... Koloskie said there have been discussions with Hawaii about playing a home-and-home series in the 2005-06 season. If it can be worked out, the Rebels would likely head to the islands after final exams in early December while the rodeo is still occupying the Thomas & Mack Center and would play the Warriors and another opponent during their stay.
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