Progress comes in painful steps

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Dec. 20, 2004 | 9:15 a.m.

If Saturday night's 79-67 loss to fourth-ranked Oklahoma State proved anything to the UNLV Rebels, it's that the road back to college basketball's elite is going to be more of a marathon than a sprint.

Rebels head coach Lon Kruger had said before the Las Vegas Showdown loss that the game against Eddie Sutton's 2004 Final Four squad would "set the bar" on how far his program needs to improve.

But after falling behind by as many as 19 points early in the second half to the Cowboys (8-0), it was clear the Rebels (3-4) have a long way to go before they can start dreaming of even taking part in March Madness later this season.

UNLV turned the ball over 21 times, shot just 40.4 percent from the floor and was outscored 10-0 in fast-break points by the Cowboys. And as has been the case many times this young season, the Rebels found themselves going long stretches without a basket thanks to poor shooting or rushed one-on-one shots.

Still, Kruger and his squad left the contest feeling they are making progress, thanks to a frantic second-half rally that saw UNLV cut the lead to eight points, 71-63, with 1:47 to go. But Oklahoma State sealed the victory down by sinking 6 of its 8 free throw attempts while limiting the Rebels to just one driving field goal by point guard Jerel Blassingame.

"I think we're consistently making progress," Kruger said of his team afterward. "We'd like to be farther along. But I think the most important thing is the players understand that we have a lot of steps yet to take. And they're working to get it.

"We played better than we did a couple of weeks ago but we must play much better to beat a team like Oklahoma State."

When asked where the Rebels stood on his measuring stick after playing the nation's No. 4-ranked team, Kruger replied, "We're not in that top echelon, obviously, but not many people are. (Oklahoma State) is at a little different level ... the top 10 group.

"We've got a gap there to cover and I think a realization ... we have to be a little stronger and play a little more physical and a little tougher."

There were some positives to come out of the loss. Among them:

"We're always going to fight," Blassingame said. "This is a team that is not going to just lay down. We always fight back no matter how much they get up on us."

"We came out strong in the second half," added Beck. "We didn't back away. We didn't let down."

Now if they can just bottle that same formula for 40 minutes.

"I've seen a big improvement in this team so far," Beck said. "We're sharing the ball more. We're executing the plays better. And our toughness is a little better. We're going to be alright."

Besides, the Rebels played the Cowboys tougher than Syracuse (74-60 loss) and Washington State (81-29 loss) did.

"After six or seven games you'd expect that there's a lot of work still left to do," Kruger said. "And there is. We just have to focus each day on getting better."

The Rebels return to action on Tuesday night when they play host to Gardner-Webb at the Thomas & Mack Center.