Arizona wants to renew court rivalry with Rebels

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, July 22, 2004 | 9:25 a.m.

When it came to college basketball rivalries, few were more glamorous in the 1980s than UNLV against Arizona.

Tark the Shark vs. Midnight Lute. The series also featured Wooden Award winners Larry Johnson and Sean Elliott as well as future NBA stars such as Steve Kerr, Stacy Augmon and Armon Gilliam.

But the schools haven't played since 1990 when the Rebels won 95-87 at the Thomas & Mack Center en route to the 1990 NCAA title.

However, there appears to be a good chance that could change.

Ryan Hansen, director of basketball operations at Arizona, told the Arizona Daily Star that the Wildcats would like to play a home-and-home series with the Rebels starting in 2005-06.

"We've got a home-and-home series with Utah now, and next year we're planning to start one with UNLV and Lon Kruger," Hansen said.

UNLV athletic director Mike Hamrick said he would welcome it.

"There's nothing official yet," Hamrick said, "but those are the types of teams that we'd like to bring to Las Vegas in the future."

archive