UNLV as prepared as can be for opener with USD

By Rob Miech (contact)

Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008 | 2:10 a.m.

Anticipation for UNLV’s basketball season has been bubbling since the Rebels were ousted from the second round of the NCAA tournament by eventual national-champion Kansas.

A summer tour of Australia, in which UNLV went 4-2, whet that appetite. There are flashy new scoreboards inside and outside the Thomas & Mack Center to dazzle the eyes.

A 34-minute challenge Tuesday from Division-II Washburn, however, might have upset a few stomachs.

This afternoon, finally, the real season begins against a foe that won at Kentucky last season and then bounced Connecticut from the first round of the NCAAs.

San Diego won’t have the services of four players, including senior center Gyno Pomare.

Still, UNLV can boast that it defeated the Toreros, at full strength, by 11 points on their own court last season.

Last season does matter, according to Rebels senior forward Joe Darger.

“They’ll be tough,” Darger said. “They have good big guys and good guards, and we know they’ll want some revenge for last season. We’ll try to snuff them out as quick as possible.”

He said the Rebels prepared for USD all week as if Pomare is going to play. He isn’t. Neither are Trumaine Johnson and Clinton Houston. All have been suspended for unrelated violations of team rules.

De’Jon Jackson, who hit the shot that beat UConn, is out with a knee injury.

Those players combined to average 28.5 points and 13.8 rebounds last season.

Six-foot senior guard Brandon Johnson and 6-9, 235-pound junior forward Robert Mafra, a junior college transfer who had 21 points in an exhibition last weekend, will power the Toreros.

“We’ll prepare for their best,” Darger said, “get out there and work as hard as we can.”

Late Friday morning, before it was confirmed that San Diego would be shorthanded, Rebels coach Lon Kruger said today’s game wouldn’t be a typical season opener.

More like a mid-season game, he said, since both teams won games in the NCAAs in March.

By Friday afternoon, when it was revealed how many Toreros second-year coach Bill Grier wouldn’t have, Kruger didn’t change his view.

“No, not at all from our perspective,” Kruger said. “Certainly, it does from San Diego’s … but it doesn’t change our approach or what we’re doing on either end.

“It is unfortunate people have to deal with those issues. When they happen in your own backyard … you never know how kids will act. You never know.”

Kruger said Washburn tested his squad. An eye-opener, he said. “We have to have more composure.”

The Rebels, especially their big men, missed some close shots Tuesday. That has continued, as guard Kendall Wallace, and centers Beas Hamga and Brice Massamba missed tight shots in practice Friday.

“Finish it!” assistant coaches Lew Hill and Steve Henson implored.

“We’ll be tougher,” said junior center Darris Santee. “We’ll be ready. We’ll be prepared.”

UNLV missed 12 of its first 13 shot from long range Tuesday. The Rebels hit four 3-pointers the rest of the way to pull away from the Ichabods.

But they practiced Wednesday, Thursday and Friday on the Thomas & Mack Center court to get reacquainted with their home.

Before Tuesday’s exhibition, they hadn’t run on their own court for nearly two weeks, courtesy of a bull-riding event that took over the arena.

“That’s why it’s always tough to play on the road, because you’re not used to the gym,” Darger said. “It’s definitely different in here than the Cox practice gym. But they played good defense, too, so it’s probably both.”

Freshman guard Oscar Bellfield will continue to start, too. Tre’Von Willis, who appeared to be the starter over the past month and during the summer, will spell Bellfield.

Both played 20 minutes Tuesday.

Willis, who played with more aggressiveness and purpose, never balked about Kruger’s decision.

“I’m a winner,” Willis said. “I’m a team player. Whatever I have to do to make this team win, that’s what I will do. Simple as that. I just want to win.

“If that means we’ll win with me not starting, that’s what I’ll do.”