Texas outmuscles Rebels

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Jan. 3, 2005 | 9:58 a.m.

AUSTIN, Texas -- During the pregame introductions at the Erwin Center here Sunday night, a cartoon of a herd of longhorns charging down the street was played on the scoreboard.

It was a sign of things to come for UNLV.

Thanks to their strong and physical inside play, the 15th-ranked Texas Longhorns (10-2) eventually bulled over the Rebels, 89-82, before a crowd of 8,138 that included six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong courtside.

The Longhorns held a 40-16 edge in points in the paint and outrebounded the smaller Rebels, 41-33. Texas' starting front line of 6-foot-10 freshman center LaMarcus Aldridge, a 2004 McDonald's All-American; 6-foot-8, 235-pound junior power forward Brad Buckman, who looks like he'd make a nice offensive tackle on Mack Brown's Rose Bowl champion football squad; and explosive 6-foot-5 sophomore P.J. Tucker (25 points, 10 rebounds), outscored UNLV's Louis Amundson, Odartey Blankson and Romel Beck, 47-30.

"We wore them down, basically," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "We went at them (inside) and they stood behind the (3-point) line. It was two teams where one shot at will out there and the other worked it inside and tried to get to the free-throw line."

UNLV coach Lon Kruger admitted: "They hurt us. I thought our big guys battled real hard but I think the size difference is something that wore us down a little bit."

Junior forward Dustin Villepigue, 6-foot-9, was one of the few Rebels to hold his own inside, with seven points and six rebounds in 20 minutes of action.

"They're a very physical team," Villepigue said. "I think they're the most physical team we've played this year."

Despite the obvious mismatch inside, UNLV (6-5) still managed to hang around thanks to good early shot selection and some timely 3-point shooting.

The Rebels overcame an early eight-point deficit in the second half to take the lead, 53-50, thanks to a 13-2 spurt that featured three consecutive 3-point baskets in a little over a two-minute span, including two by point guard Jerel Blassingame.

The lead seesawed back and forth over the next seven minutes with UNLV taking its last lead with 5:55 to go, 67-65, on a 3-pointer by reserve guard Michael Umeh.

But the Rebels went cold outside after that and didn't score another field goal during the next 5 1/2 minutes as Texas, content to pound it inside and go to the free-throw line, outscored UNLV 16-5 en route to an 81-72 lead. The Rebels never got any closer than five points after that.

UNLV, which attempted 33 treys and made 12 of them (36 percent), seemed content to fire up long jumpers early on the shot clock during their closing dry spell instead of trying to take the ball inside first and working the clock.

"I think we were trying to get it all back in one possession, and that was wrong," Villepigue said.

Beck said: "I think we did a good job of sharing the ball early in the game. Toward the end of the game ... I think we got caught up in the hype with the crowd getting into it."

Kruger tried to accentuate the positive after his team's lastest loss.

"Texas is a good basketball team," he said. "I really like their team. They're big and physical and strong and Rick always does a great coaching job. I liked the way our kids battled. We had some opportunities. We need to eliminate some plays that we're making that make it difficult to go on the road in a place like Austin and win, but I think we're making progress."

But Kruger wouldn't go so far as to say his team left Texas with at least a moral victory.

"I don't know about moral victories," Kruger said. "We fought. We battled ... but that should happen."