Rebels on the rebound

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Jan. 14, 2005 | 11:20 a.m.

The folks who put together the Mountain West Conference basketball schedule this year didn't exactly do Lon Kruger and his UNLV Rebels any favors by having them open up at Utah on Monday night.

The Utes, who rarely lose at the Huntsman Center, made it 42 wins in their past 44 games at home with a 70-52 victory.

But the schedule looks a whole lot better for the Rebels now with that tough road game out of the way.

UNLV (7-6, 0-1) plays six of its next eight at the Thomas & Mack Center, including five conference games. The stretch begins Saturday night when San Diego State (7-7, 1-0), hot off a 59-57 upset at BYU, comes calling.

The Rebels then host the two teams that tied for the MWC cellar a year ago, Colorado State (8-6, 0-1) and Wyoming (8-6, 0-1), next Saturday and Monday, respectively. Then after a weekend trip to New Mexico and defending MWC champion Air Force, the Rebels host BYU, Utah and Missouri in a five-day span in early February.

If UNLV is going to make any kind of run at winning the MWC, the Rebels will have to hold serve on their home floor the next few weeks while trying to gain at least a split on their New Mexico-Air Force trip. The Rebels are 48-9 at the Thomas & Mack Center since the 1999-2000 season.

"You've got to get these home wins in the conference and then you can get some momentum for when you go on the road," senior forward Andy Hannan said after the team's 2 1/2-hour practice Thursday at the Cox Pavilion. "We're really focused on Saturday and getting this win and taking it one day at a time. We have to really focus on this one."

Kruger said: "If you're going to have a chance (to contend for the title), you've got to try and hold home court. It's very important for us to be playing at home given that we're not playing as good of basketball as we need to. We have to keep trying to win some games and make some progress."

As one might expect for a team that was badly outrebounded, 43-18, in Monday night's loss, the Rebels spent a lot of time in practice this week working on being more physical and aggressive on the boards. Shot selection, another glaring problem during the season, also was stressed.

"We're approaching practice a little differently," Hannan said. "We're trying to be a little more aggressive. ... I think we've responded real well. Everyone has been hungry to practice."

When asked about getting ready to play San Diego State, Hannan replied: "It's more about us and what we need to do, which is being more aggressive and physical. We need to take care of our own responsibilities first."

Kruger said the focus for his team is on improvement and the Aztecs, not the schedule.

"Everyone plays the same schedule," Kruger said. "We're 0-1. It feels like we're 0-5, yet we're not. We obviously didn't play like we wanted to (at Utah). We have to focus and battle like crazy on Saturday. That can be our only focus at this point."

Added point guard Jerel Blassingame: "(Monday's loss) was a reality check. We'll take it one game at a time. All of our games are winnable. We (still) feel we can win the conference. We all believe that."