Friday, March 18, 2005 | 10:50 a.m.
Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
Surely, this wasn't the Not Interested Tournament to which the Rebels and what few diehards continue to follow them at this time of the year have grown accustomed.
In that NIT, the Rebels show up -- the majority of them, anyway -- but they don't play. Last year, for instance, Odartey Blankson was so set against playing in the booby prize tournament, or getting on an airplane bound for Idaho -- or both -- that he detained himself at security. Eventually, he decided to go through the motions anyhow, and the Rebels wound up firing a spud in an uninspired 84-69 defeat at Boise State.
On Thursday night, before a small but totally-into-it crowd of 4,096 at the Thomas & Mack Center, Blankson, one of three UNLV seniors who probably were playing their last home games, scored 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting to serve as a catalyst in an 89-78 victory over Arizona State of the Pac-10.
If this was just another meaningless NIT game, these Rebels didn't treat it as such. They way they played, it was more like the late game of the Las Vegas regional. Somebody call Clark Kellogg. Get Wisconsin-Milwaukee on the phone.
Guys played defense, guys made the extra pass. Guys made shots, guys passed up shots to set up teammates to make shots. Guys dove for loose balls, guys pumped their fists in the air after scraping their knees (or in Andy Hannan's case, bloodying their nose) in coming up with them. Guys had fun.
A meaningless game? I don't think so. This was more like a celebration of basketball, by a bunch of guys who acted like they want to play some more. Even if it means going to South Carolina, which is what the Rebels will do Tuesday as they try to extend their season again.
"It had some pop to it," admitted UNLV coach Lon Kruger, who is to be commended for spiking the Rebels' Kool-Aid, or whatever he did to get them so fired up to play.
There was so much pop, and snap and crackle before it, that the only apparent storyline coming in -- Kruger vs. Kruger, Lon vs. his son Kevin, the Sun Devils' starting sophomore guard, was quickly forgotten.
Kevin Kruger, the spitting image of his old man except that he wears No. 13 while his dad wore No. 12 as the heart and soul of some good Kansas State teams in the 1970s, got off to a slow start and finished with eight points, about three below his average. He made just 2-of-8 from 3-point distance but certainly didn't hurt the Devils with a performance that included six rebounds, five assists and just one turnover.
"It was awkward of course," the elder Kruger said about trying to beat the younger Kruger.
Particularly early in the game, when Kevin Kruger missed a couple of 3's and the UNLV student body started chanting "Who's Your Dad-dy?"
These were the same kids who were watching for free thanks to Kruger's generosity, the coach having come out of his pocket to purchase 200 tickets that were distributed among the students.
Something tells me Kruger didn't expect the hotel management majors to cut Kevin any slack. Still, that didn't make it any easier to coach against him.
"Not just Kev, but all those other guys, too," Lon K. said about getting to know the ASU players by following Kevin K. around when the schedule allows. "We've gotten to know a lot of them and they're great kids."
But for 40 minutes Monday, the Sun Devils were just guys wearing yellow shirts who happened to catch the Rebels on one of their better nights.
UNLV shot a blistering 59 percent from the field and despite the frenetic pace of the game, turned the ball over only 10 times. It was easily the most entertaining game of the year, as both teams ran up and down the court and dunked on each other.
Arizona State's rugged Ike Diogu (29 pts., 11 reb.) was the best player on the court, but the Rebels played excellent defense on everybody else. The game turned midway through the first half when Kruger put five reserves on the floor who played defense like the '85 Bears.
Led by the much-maligned Jerel Blassingame, the Rebels swarmed as a unit to produce a traveling call before Blassingame forced another turnover on a 5-second count as UNLV took a 30-21 lead.
ASU got close a couple of times, but with the Rebels passing the ball around tic-tac-toe style, it wasn't long before UNLV drew a line through the big boys from the power conference.
"It was good to see the guys make the extra pass and not think about finishing themselves, but finding a teammate," Kruger said. "The result was some good rhythm jumpers."
Blankson, for one, had rhythm. He had music, or at least made some. Not sure about the girl, but he had his teammates. Like the song says, who could ask for anything more?
"Last year was different because of the coaching change (Charlie Spoonhour retired in mid-season with his son Jay taking over in the intermim) and the whole year in general," Blankson said of his attitude adjustment regarding the NIT. "Coach wanted us to play and have some fun and so the guys went out and gave it our all.
"We still have a lot of guys who love to play the game."
There were times this year when you wouldn't have known it. Thursday night wasn't one of them.
This was opening night at the Las Vegas regional, and the Rebels played like the No. 1 seed.
archive
