Nelson presents worries in the middle

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Feb. 20, 2004 | 10:49 a.m.

Interim UNLV coach Jay Spoonhour knows he'll have a big problem on his hands Saturday night when the Rebels (13-9, 4-5) play host to Colorado State (11-12, 3-7) at the Thomas & Mack Center.

A 7-foot, 255-pound problem.

Colorado State junior center Matt Nelson, the Mountain West Conference's preseason player of the year and the MVP of last year's conference tourney, returned Monday night from a knee sprain that had kept him out of four games. He looked in midseason form against BYU, scoring a game-high 24 points and grabbing seven rebounds in just 21 minutes of a 79-73 loss to the Cougars.

Not bad considering Nelson had practiced for only 15 minutes on Sunday since re-injuring the knee in the Rams' 89-83 overtime victory against the Rebels on Jan. 26 in Fort Collins.

Despite the lack of practice and limited conditioning, Nelson, who is still experiencing some pain in the right knee, got the better of BYU's 6-foot-11, 280-pound Rafael Araujo in the battle of the conference's two top big men. He made 9 of 12 shots to go along with 6 of 8 free throws. Araujo finished with 21 points on 7-of-17 shooting and pulled down 12 rebounds.

"It felt pretty good once I got loose and started to run on it," Nelson told the Fort Collins Coloradoan. "The only thing holding me back now is my conditioning."

"We were thinking if we could have gotten 10 more minutes out of him, we might have won the game," Rams coach Dale Layer said.

Nelson scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the first meeting despite leaving midway through the second half when he re-sprained the knee.

"He's a big guy with a soft touch," Rebels center J.K. Edwards, who gives away 4 inches in height to Nelson, said. "It's going to be hard. They set a lot of screens for him. You've just have to find a way to get through them and play good defense. He's a very good player."

"There are very few legitimate 7-foot guys in the country who can make the shots that he makes, whether it's the right-handed hook or the baseline turnaround," Spoonhour added. "He's got great touch."

Nelson is second the Mountain West Conference in field goal percentage (100 of 167, 59.9 percent) and is almost automatic when he gets the ball close to the basket.

"He's good enough when he gets the ball 5 or 6 feet away from the basket," Spoonhour said. "In our first game he was catching it one foot from the basket. We can't let that happen again. And we've just got to play with a lot more energy this time."

"I bet when I go back there will be a stack of (phone) messages this thick," he said holding his fingers about a quarter inch apart. "The phones have been ringing off the hook."

Hamrick also has been getting a large number of e-mails from Rebels supporters touting their candidates for the job. Among some of the more interesting nominations included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving and Darryl "Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins.

Another suggested current Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who figures to be fairly busy until at least June.

Somewhat stunningly, nobody has recommended John Wooden or Red Auerbach ... yet.

Hamrick said he has also talked with former Rebels stars such as Jackie Robinson, Greg Anthony and Glen Gondrezick to get their opinions on what type of candidates of the school should look at.

Sobers was the 16th player chosen in the 1975 draft by the Phoenix Suns. He also was the first All-American in UNLV men's basketball history.

Sobers becomes the sixth men's basketball player to have his jersey retired joining Sidney Green (21), Larry Johnson (4), Stacey Augmon (32), Reggie Theus (23) and Glen Gondrezick (25).

Joining Blankson on the second team were Cal State Fullerton center Pape Sow, Arizona's Andre Iguodala and Salim Stoudamire and Pepperdine's Glen McGowan.

The first team consisted of Arizona State's Ike Diogu, Arizona's Channing Frye and Hassan Adams, USC's Desmond Farmer and UCLA's Dijon Thompson.