Rebels on the rise

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2005 | 10:45 a.m.

By all rights, the Rebels had reason to feel pretty good about themselves as they entered the locker room after Monday night's 79-67 victory against Wyoming at the Thomas & Mack Center.

UNLV (9-7, 2-2), only a week ago hugging the bottom of the Mountain West Conference standings with an 0-2 mark, followed Saturday night's impressive 86-77 win against Colorado State with another fine all-around performance against the Cowboys (10-8, 2-3). And once again the team's bench came through with another big game, outscoring Wyoming's, 25-13.

But before they could stick their chests out too far about being back at .500 in Mountain West Conference play, head coach Lon Kruger issued his players a challenge.

"I just told them in the locker room that we have to invest more," Kruger said. "We've got to work harder. I think the guys understand that we can take it up another level.

"It's not like we're there. We've had two good efforts back-to-back. The last thing we want to think is that everything is OK."

The message seemed to get through.

"We're not going to settle for being .500 at all," said junior center Louis Amundson, who overcame a bout with the flu to lead the team with 15 points, 13 rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals. "We've got to keep working and do the right things and keep improving every day in practice. ... We don't want to relax and say, 'We got it now.' "

"It's a building point for us right here," added senior point guard Jerel Blassingame, who finished with 12 points and six assists against two turnovers. "We're going to start from here and the sky is the limit. We're just going to keep playing hard and keep doing the things we've been doing."

Those things include much more unselfish play on offense and some good old-fashioned hard-nosed defense.

For the second consecutive game the Rebels finished with 20 assists, this time leading to 29 baskets. Defensively, UNLV had eight steals, including three by swingman Andy Hannan, and held Wyoming to just 33.8 percent shooting (22 of 65) from the floor.

"Our passing is one thing that has really stood out to me the last couple of games," Amundson said. "We've got to realize that is what is working for us and keep improving on it."

Five Rebels finished with scoring in double-figures. Amundson and Odartey Blankson had 15 points each. Blassingame, who limped off the court briefly in the second half with a left ankle sprain only to return to finish the game, and junior center Dustin Villepigue each added 12 points while Hannan finished with 10 points, hitting both of his 3-point attempts.

The Rebels also got valuable minutes off the bench again from junior point guard Ricky Morgan, who finished with five points, five assists and four rebounds in 14 minutes.

UNLV broke the game open with a 20-4 run that featured three 3-pointers by Blassingame and another by Hannan to give the Rebels a 49-30 halftime advantage.

The Cowboys, who had upset San Diego State, 88-81, in overtime on Saturday night, got as close as eight points, 56-48, midway through the second half. But Villepigue answered with a couple of short jump hooks to jump-start a 12-3 run and increase UNLV's lead to 68-51 with five minutes remaining.

Wyoming never cut the UNLV lead into single digits again. The Cowboys were led by guard Jay Straight, who finished with 21 points but had six turnovers compared to just three assists.

The Rebels now depart on a two-game road swing beginning with a Saturday night game at New Mexico (14-5, 1-3) and ending with a Monday night contest at defending Mountain West champion Air Force (12-7, 3-1).