Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Robinson helping team stay motivated

Anybody who thinks the Lady Rebels will have a hard time getting their basketball jones for Thursday's WNIT game against Arizona State at Cox Pavilion should be mindful one of one very fundamental aspect about it.

Somebody's going to keep score, meaning there's going to be a winner and loser.

For a fierce competitor such as UNLV point guard InFini Robinson, that's motivation enough.

"Definitely," she said as the Lady Rebels (22-6) assembled at Cox Pavilion Tuesday to begin preparations for the 7:30 p.m. contest. It was the first time they were together as a unit since having their NCAA tournament hopes dashed by Utah in Friday's Mountain West tournament semifinals in Denver.

"We always want to play, whether it's at Sunset Park, the practice gym or wherever," Robinson said. "We are disappointed, because we are a very good team and we feel we should be in the NCAA tournament. But we're looking forward to playing in the NIT. We want to win it. Playing in the postseason is still something you look forward to, especially for someone like me, being a senior."

Robinson is one of only two seniors on this year's team that brings a 22-6 record into the WNIT, but the only one who plays extended minutes. The reality is that this tournament could mark the end of her competitive career, so she would just as soon it last four more games instead of one.

"I've been thinking about that ever since the new year," she said about hanging up her high-tops. "Maybe there will be an opportunity to go overseas (to play pro basketball) and if the opportunity presented itself, I would definitely take it.

"But I would like to go to grad school and become a school psychologist. That's something I've wanted to do ever since I was little."

But Robinson, who will graduate with honors in May, said she wouldn't mind making a few more basketball memories before she begins to hit the books ever harder.

The 59-55 loss to Utah was especially bittersweet, because it overshadowed one of the best games of her UNLV career and her few seconds in the national spotlight.

Robinson scored 13 points in the first half, including a 51-foot buzzer-beating basket that was No. 2 on ESPN's Plays of the Day.

"When I saw that, I almost started to cry," she said.

Utah clamped down on Robinson in the second half, limiting her to just three more points, but it was easily her best performance since she scored 24 points and sank 6-of-7 from beyond the 3-point arc in UNLV's victory over San Diego State in the MWC regular-season opener.

The good news for coach Regina Miller is that Robinson is not the only Lady Rebel looking forward to lining up against the Sun Devils (17-11) of the Pac-10.

"I was very angry that we lost (against Utah) because I felt we should have won -- a few key mistakes at the end cost us the whole, entire game," said junior forward Sherry McCracklin, who is featured in an item in this month's "Slam," the official magazine of the NBA.

"Now it's all behind me. I feel like it's a new season. Even though we didn't make it to NCAA, I'll take it (a WNIT berth). Why not just go to the NIT and win it, to prove to everybody we should have been in?"

That, said the Lady Rebels, would be a bigger statement than electing not to play in the WNIT out of protest, which is what Utah did when it was snubbed by the NCAA tournament selection committee.

"We're UNLV. We have pride," Robinson said. "We're competitors, that's just our nature. We're excited to still be playing ... so I was shocked when I heard that Utah had turned it down."

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