Rebels’ consolation prize: An NIT trip to Boise State

Steve Guiremand

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

Who: UNLV at Boise State

When: NIT opening round

When: Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.

Where: Pavilion at Boise State

Radio: KBAD, 920-AM

Nick Jacobson's game-winning 3-point shot with 1.8 seconds remaining in Saturday night's 73-70 loss to Utah in the Mountain West tournament title game in Denver denied UNLV a chance for an automatic NCAA tournament bid.

It also earned the Rebels (18-12) a trip to Boise, Idaho, for a Wednesday night first-round National Invitation Tournament game against the the Boise State Broncos (21-9).

Just how UNLV players respond to the news of their trip to the Pacific Northwest remains to be seen, but after seeing their NCAA dreams shattered in devastating fashion for the second consecutive year in Saturday's title game, some players said they'd just as soon stay home.

"I don't really want to go," senior guard Demetrius Hunter said. "I really don't want to go. This hurts, man. Bottom line, it hurts."

"Right now I don't want to play," junior forward Odartey Blankson, whose 3-pointer from the top of the key had tied the game, 70-70, with 21.2 seconds remaining, said. "But tomorrow might be a different story. Right now I just want to go home."

"We don't have a choice," added point guard Jerel Blassingame. "We can't go to the NCAAs now."

Interim head coach Jay Spoonhour said he felt his team would change its mind after sleeping on it for a couple nights.

"Those are the initial reactions guys have after getting so close to their goal of going to the NCAA tournament," Spoonhour said. "But the NIT is a great tournament. Anytime you get invited to play in it you should be excited to play in it. We're going to be excited to play in it."

The Rebels didn't arrive home from Denver until Sunday afternoon. Spoonhour said he would give them today off to rest up and concentrate on school before flying to Boise on Tuesday to practice for the first time since the bitter loss.

"We're tired," Spoonhour said when asked why his team wouldn't practice today. "We just played three straight days and then had to fly home (Sunday). They need a day to rest and also go to school. When we play Wednesday night, it will be our fourth game in seven days."

Meanwhile, Spoonhour and assistants Dave Rice, Deane Martin and Vince Booker were busy Sunday trying to get film and put together a scouting report of Boise State. All this while the news leaked out that Lon Kruger would be named the new UNLV head coach at a news conference this morning.

Rebels fans who wore George Karl masks to UNLV's regular season finale against BYU might want to make the trip to Boise. The son of the former NBA coach, Coby Karl, is a 6-5 freshman guard who averaged 9.5 points and 3.3 rebounds as a starter this year for the Broncos.

Boise State tied with Rice for third place in the Western Athletic Conference this year with a 12-6 record just one game behind co-champions Nevada-Reno and UTEP, both of whom made the NCAA tournament on Sunday. The Broncos lost to UTEP, 83-75, in the semifinals of the WAC tournament in Fresno on Friday.

The Broncos, who have attempted 590 3-pointers this year, are coached by former Oregon assistant Greg Graham. This will be their first postseason berth since 1994 when they lost to Louisville, 67-58, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

"They're a good team," Spoonhour said. "They're well-coached and they shoot a lot of 3's. And they make a lot of them."

If the Rebels win Wednesday's 6:30 p.m. game, they'd face the winner of Wednesday's Rice (22-10) at Wisconsin-Milwaukee (19-10) game.

The semifinals are March 30 at Madison Square Garden in New York City and the title game is Thursday, April 1.

"To go to the Garden, that would be nice," Blassingame, who attended Redirection High School in nearby Brooklyn, said. "But our goal was to go to the NCAAs. And now we have to wait until next year for another chance at that.

"And next year seems like a long time away right now."