Ron Kantowski on how Rebels picked up the slack as Kruger went 0 for 8

Saturday, March 17, 2007 | 6:54 a.m.

CHICAGO - Last week, when he practically carried the Rebels on his shoulders into the Mountain West Conference championship game by sinking one basket after another, Kevin Kruger kept reminding reporters that tomorrow he "could go 0-fer," as in missing all his shots, instead of making most of them.

Well, tomorrow finally arrived. Only it was yesterday.

In the biggest game of his life, Kruger failed to make a basket. Nada. Zero. Zilch. The Empty Set. He was 0-for-8 from the field, yet the Rebels won their NCAA first-round game anyway, somehow beating a Georgia Tech team that was bigger, stronger and more talented. They won because Michael Umeh hit his 3s early, Wink Adams made two huge plays late and Wendell White showed those ACC guys that all that glitters in Las Vegas is not made of neon by making about 38 clutch shots in between.

Yet it was Kruger who joined Umeh and Adams at the official postgame news conference, which usually is only open to guys who play well.

When I saw an NCAA rep put Kruger's name on a placard, at first I thought he was coming to apologize. Turns out White was being treated for a sore rib, which had better heal quickly if the Rebels are going to prolong this magical, mystery tour that would make Sgt. Pepper envious.

Afterward, one of the Chicago writers who also covers the NBA noted the United Center, with its wide-open spaces and rims wound tighter than a Tijuana wristwatch, is considered a tough place to shoot.

"Sounds like a good excuse to me. I'll take it," Kruger joked, adding a little levity to a tough situation that, unlike his performance from beyond the arc, he handled with a deft touch.

While it wasn't the first time Kruger struggled with his shot - he was 1-for-7 at Hawaii, 1-for-9 at both Air Force and BYU and 2-for-11 at home against Air Force and again against BYU in last Saturday's MWC final - he seemed discombobulated from the start. Georgia Tech came at him hard, and although Kruger was credited with eight assists, most came on routine passes within the context of the offense.

No matter how you sugarcoat it, he didn't play well. But at least he didn't stop playing.

"I wasn't going to quit just because I hadn't made a shot," he said after finishing with five made free throws in seven attempts.

At least toward the end, his shots were getting closer. Two went halfway down before spinning out. It was almost as if every time the Golden 0-fer, or whatever demon is responsible for a good shooter going bad, thought about removing the lid from the rim, he leaned on it a little harder.

"Kevin had some good looks," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said about his son's off night. "Other guys stepped up and picked up the slack, which has been the case all year."

On Friday the other guys were White, who made 8-of-12 shots and was the only Rebel to shoot 50 percent from the field in an ugly game, and Adams, who got the best of his Tech counterpart Javaris Crittenton twice in the closing seconds on plays that, unlike Kruger's misses, didn't show up on the stat sheet.

First Adams flung the ball off Crittenton's leg to prolong a UNLV possession that led to White's go-ahead basket with 1:11 to play. Then he forced him into a five-second count on the ensuing possession by blanketing the Techie out at halfcourt as if he had just won the Kentucky Derby.

That the key play of the game was a five-second call speaks volumes about its artistic quality. But afterward, the United Center was alive with the chant of "Reb-els," and it sure sounded better than the noise a jump shot makes when it clangs off the rim.