Columnist Ron Kantowski: Real test for Rebels yet to come

Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2005 | 9:46 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Well, over a span of 72 hours the Rebels, at long last, are showing signs of getting it.

But why do I keep wanting to take these consecutive victories against Colorado State and Wyoming and put my finger into their side?

I guess that's just what Doubting Thomases do.

What the Rebels have proved is that they are capable of holding serve against two Mountain West minnows -- at least this week. While that certainly beats the atrocious unforced error against San Diego State that started this homestand, let's see how they do on the road at New Mexico and Air Force this weekend before we start talking NIT.

Rebels coach Lon Kruger pretty much said the same thing after Monday's 79-67 win against the uninspired Cowboys. Only his delivery wasn't quite so harsh and he left out the wisecrack about the NIT.

"It's not like we're there," Kruger said. "We've put two good efforts back to back but we can't start thinking everything is OK."

But at least the past couple of nights it has been closer to OK than KO. It was the second game in a row where UNLV received a much-needed lift from its bench, dumped the ball inside to its big men and ceased and desisted taking all those crazy shots from the perimeter.

The Rebels attempted only 14 3-pointers against Wyoming, their lowest total since they hit just 1 of 12 from beyond the arc in the season opener against Saint Mary's. It was a stat that practically leaped off the box score and into Kruger's lap.

"Fourteen is a better number for us than what we've been doing," he said.

In Saturday's 86-77 victory over CSU, the Rebels shot a similar number of 3s -- 15 -- and made eight. Monday they made 6 of 14. See a pattern here?

You don't have to be Dr. James Naismith to figure out that if the guards aren't launching all those bombs from the outside, then the forwards are getting more touches and taking more shots at the ol' peach basket on the inside.

Louis Amundson followed Saturday's 13-point, 9-rebound effort against CSU with 15 and 13 against Wyoming. While he's still a chocolate-covered mess on the free-throw line (1 for 5 Monday), take note, Rebels guards: If you throw the ball to Amundson when the clock is running, he knows what to do with it.

I'm not sure you can say the same about Dustin Villepigue, who, like Amundson, also stands a sturdy 6-foot-9. But the Rebels' illustrated man enjoyed his best night since scoring 16 points against Oregon State in the second game of the season, tattooing Wyoming with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 21 hard-played minutes off the bench.

The Rebels, despite spotting the Cowboys a couple of inches per man, spent more time in the paint than LeRoy Neiman. Forty of their 79 points were scored in the lane.

And, for a change, UNLV's perimeter defense didn't launch an opposing point guard to player of the week honors. In the past three games, Utah's Marc Jackson, San Diego State's Brandon Heath and Colorado State's Sean Morris lit up the Rebels for 23, 37 and 31, points, respectively. While Jay Straight scored 21 -- about four above his average -- to pace Wyoming, he needed 20 shots to get them.

To be honest, the Cowboys missed a lot of easy shots in the first half when the Rebels outscored them 20-4 over the final 5:11 to take a 49-30 halftime lead and command of the game. Although Wyoming appeared to be the more talented team (all those junior college guys, I guess), after winning at San Diego State on Saturday it played with little fire or emotion.

Even Cowboys coach Steve McClain, who is usually more animated than a Saturday morning cartoon, seemed subdued, although an aide later told me he has been fighting off a bug.

Still, Wyoming seemed more than satisfied with a road split, and the Rebels made sure that's all they got.

So there's an opportunity for a little breakthrough here as the Rebels get ready to pack their bags. They've only won three in a row once this year, but two of their victims in that skein had hypens in their name (Gardner-Webb and Texas-Pan American) and the third (Florida Atlantic) may as well have.

It'll be a lot more difficult Saturday at The Pit in Albuquerque, so somebody wake up Romel Beck (2 pts. vs. CSU; 2 pts vs. Wyoming). I have a feeling the Rebels are going to need his offense, too, in the Land of Enchantment.