Beck back in starting lineup for Rebels

Steve Guiremand

Monday, March 21, 2005 | 9:03 a.m.

Romel Beck lost his starting guard spot to Andy Hannan back in early February after missing three games with a sprained foot.

But he'll get it back Tuesday in the Rebels' National Invitation Tournament game at South Carolina thanks to another injury.

Hannan, who left UNLV's 89-78 first-round NIT victory against Arizona State on Thursday night after just five minutes with a broken nose, sat out his second consecutive practice on Sunday afternoon. He did do some light shooting for about 10 minutes afterward.

"Since Andy couldn't go today, we'll be starting Romel," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said.

Hannan underwent about one hour of surgery to repair the broken nose on Friday morning. He also may have suffered a slight concussion after getting hit by the elbow of Sun Devil guard Tyrone Jackson on a drive to the basket.

Hannan was too woozy to practice Saturday. And he still had gauze stuck up his left nostril to stop some bleeding while watching Sunday's workout from the sideline.

"It's going a lot better but I'm still feeling a little under the weather from it," Hannan said. "But I should be OK (to play Tuesday). I've had some headaches. I also had a cold that kind of went along with it. It was a bad combination."

Just before Sunday's practice Hannan said he had "about five feet" of gauze removed from his nasal passage area that had been inserted to help stabilize the injury.

"That was pretty bad," he said.

Hannan, who is averaging 4.0 points and 2.1 rebounds per game and is shooting 47 percent from 3-point range, said he will attempt to use a facemask when he does return to practice which could be as soon as tonight at the Colonial Center in Columbia, S.C.

Beck has started 17 games this season for the Rebels and is second on the team in scoring with a 13.3 average.

Brad Nessler will do the play-by-play with former UCLA coach Steve Lavin providing the color commentary.

Many flights to Columbia go through nearby Atlanta where NASCAR held the Golden Corral 500 race on Sunday afternoon. Another alternative was to fly to Charlotte, about an one-hour drive from Columbia, but most of those flights were also sold out.

The team is scheduled to fly back commercially on Wednesday morning. However, if they defeat the Gamecocks they may only make the first leg of that return trip which stops at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C.

The winner of the UNLV-South Carolina contest plays the winner of the Cal State Fullerton at Georgetown game later in the week.

A few seconds later Blankson got up ... and tied his shoe. Seems the star forward tripped over his own shoelace. That drew a few chuckles and smiles from teammates and coaches.

Combined for 40 minutes, the duo finished with this line: 32 points, 10 of 14 field goals, 5 for 5 3-pointers, nine assists, four steals, two rebounds and five turnovers (all by Blassingame).

Not too shabby.

"I thought Ricky and Jerel combined to give us very good play at the point," Kruger said. "Ricky obviously had good minutes. Jerel came in and kind of stirred things up defensively and made some shots. He had a little slip there late with a couple of turnovers that were critical. But I thought both played well."