Rebels are on a Rocky Mountain high heading into Colorado

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Feb. 21, 2005 | 8:59 a.m.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. --- Thanks to their second consecutive last-second, come-from-behind road victory Saturday afternoon at Wyoming, the resurgent UNLV men's basketball team put itself in position to make a little history tonight.

UNLV (12-11, 4-6), which faces conference cellar-dweller Colorado State (10-14, 2-9) at Moby Arena, has never swept the Front Range trip to Laramie and Fort Collins in nine previous attempts in school history.

"Oh, really?" head coach Lon Kruger said when notified of that fact before practice Sunday afternoon. "I wasn't aware of that.

"Road trips are always tough. To win any road trip is difficult."

Especially one that is played in the chilly altitude of Fort Collins (5,000 feet) and Laramie (7,220).

UNLV has managed to earn a split in each of its past six Front Range trips, starting with the 1999 season. The Rebels were swept in 1998. They also split in 1997 and 1979.

UNLV also played at both Colorado State and Wyoming in the 1979-80 and 1980-81 campaigns, but those games were not played on the same road swing. Didn't matter. Jerry Tarkanian's squads ended up with road splits against the Cowboys and Rams in both of those seasons, too.

So a win over the Rams tonight would put the improving Rebels, who bring in a modest three-game winning streak, in some rarified air indeed.

"I think it's probably been more the teams we've played than anything else," senior forward Odartey Blankson said of the Front Range trip woes. "I don't think the altitude has too much to do with it."

Besides, after pulling out another nail-biter at Wyoming on Saturday, 68-66, thanks to Blankson's 17-foot fallaway with just three-tenths of a second remaining, the Rebels are already feeling a mile high going into tonight's contest.

"If you think about (the altitude), then it's going to get you," Blankson said. "It's like if you notice an opposing team's fans. That can mess with you also. I block it out of my mind (but) I'm sure it exists."

"I didn't notice any reaction of our guys to it (at Wyoming)," Kruger said of the thin air following his first visit to Laremie. "I didn't hear any comments or hear anyone wanting out of the game or expressing fatigue at all."

Kruger has his own theory on playing at the high altitude of the Rocky Mountains.

"If you're playing well, then altitude is not that much of a factor," he said. "If you're not playing well, then the altitude is more of a factor."

Perhaps Kruger is taking a page out of Tarkanian's book. The legendary UNLV coach once convinced his players they didn't need to worry about playing at high alititude "because we're playing indoors."

Blankson, who received the star treatment from his giddy teammates when entering the locker room after his game-winner Saturday, said the Rebels have more important things on their minds than the altitude.

"Getting a sweep of this trip would be big," Blankson said. "Any win for us now is a good win for us. (The Wyoming win) is over with now. We have to focus on Colorado State. We're just going out and trying to get better and continue to play hard and improve as a team."