Rematch: All eyes on Heath

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 | 10:21 a.m.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what UNLV's scouting report will be for Saturday afternoon's game at San Diego State.

Stop Brandon Heath.

It was Heath, a talented 6-foot-3 sophomore from Westchester High School in Los Angeles, who almost single-handedly led the Aztecs to an 81-73 victory against the Rebels on Jan. 15 at the Thomas & Mack Center. He finished with a Mountain West Conference sophomore single-game scoring record 37 points, 23 of them coming in the second half, with the majority of the points coming on baseline drives to the basket.

Although it was easy to point the finger at point guard Jerel Blassingame for getting beat off the dribble often by Heath, the Rebels' interior defense also did a poor job of switching and blocking Heath's path to the basket. It was a textbook example of matador defense.

"Heath had his way with us, especially in the second half," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. "We obviously weren't getting there to provide the help and let him get all the way to the goal way too many times. We obviously have to do a much better job this time."

"He definitely had a career night on us," senior forward Odartey Blankson said. "We've got to make sure we pay more attention to him when he gets the ball on offense."

A lot of has changed for the Rebels since that first meeting.

The starting backcourt in that contest, Blassingame and injured senior Romel Beck (bruised foot), will be replaced in the starting lineup for the third consecutive game by junior Ricky Morgan and sophomore Michael Umeh, both of whom are better defenders. And UNLV unveiled a 2-3 zone defense in the second half of Wednesday night's 74-71 victory against Missouri, something that would appear to be tailor-made for a San Diego State squad that ranks last in the conference in 3-point shooting (32.6 percent).

Heath, in fact, is shooting just 31 percent from behind the arc this year after hitting only 30 percent of his treys as a freshman.

"It did work well," Kruger said of the zone after the Missouri contest. "It's the first time we've played a 2-3 zone all year (the Rebels have also used a 3-2 zone). I thought our guys were pretty active."

Long-armed freshman walk-on Curtis Terry seemed to especially excel in the zone. Terry had career highs in rebounds (5) and steals (2) and tied his previous best in assists (3) while also scoring nine points in 31 minutes of action.

"Curtis played great," Kruger said. "In that zone he was smart on top there."

Terry seemed fired up for the challenge of trying to slow down Heath, who is tied for fourth in the MWC in scoring with a 17.4 average.

"He came in here and scored 37 against us," Terry said. "We're not going to let that happen again. Now we have to go into their house and return the favor to them."