Rebels try to avoid the ‘trap’ at Santa Clara

By Ryan Greene

Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009 | 2:30 a.m.

It has all the makings of your classic "trap game."

No. 24 UNLV heads to the Bay Area this weekend to face Santa Clara, who at 4-3 and the victim of a few ugly losses is struggling to find solid ground early this season.

The Rebels are coming off of back-to-back emotional victories, first on Saturday at home over Louisville, then on the road in a double overtime thriller over Arizona on Wednesday night.

After this weekend comes almost a full week off before — you guessed it — another emotional tilt. UNLV takes on Kansas State next Saturday, which is both the alma mater and former employer for UNLV coach Lon Kruger. Much of the Rebels' staff has deep ties to the K-State program, too.

On the other hand, Santa Clara's three losses came in consecutive fashion to San Diego State, Pacific and Northern Arizona by an average margin of 25.3 points.

Will UNLV get caught in the trap?

Kruger sounds as if he'd be surprised if that's the case when the two tip tonight at 7 p.m.

"To this point, they've been as good as any (team) we've had, because they've consistently made progress," Kruger said of his 6-0 club. "This group seems to be focused on getting better with every practice, and I like that. It's human nature, though, to at some point get a little comfortable and complacent, and that's what we have to fight off.

"When you get off to the start we've had, sometimes you say 'OK, I'm a little hungrier, I like this, I want to keep getting better.' I think I've seen that out of this team more than the complacency. That's what you hope for."

Saturday will be as good of a test of UNLV's focus as any.

On top of shaky showings so far this season, Santa Clara's Leavey Center hasn't necessarily been a band box for opponents to play in. The Broncos' average attendance in three home games so far is 1,420 in a 4,700-seat venue.

The numbers reflect the Broncos as being a team on the ropes early into the season, which means the Rebels must apply some pressure early to keep them from getting any wild ideas of ruining their best start to a season since 1992.

"It's on the road, so our thing is we can't let them surprise us," junior guard Tre'Von Willis said. "They can't keep us on our heels and be the aggressor. We've got to be the aggressor and take it to them and play Rebel basketball."

The opportunity to grab the upper hand early certainly appears to be there for UNLV, who is facing a Santa Clara squad taking its lumps during a youth movement of sorts.

Only two members of Kerry Keating's club saw action in last year's 78-66 Santa Clara loss to UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center. Keating's roster contains no seniors and four juniors.

This season, following the graduation of double-double machine John Bryant on the inside, the Broncos have turned pretty frequently to the 3-point shot.

The Rebels' glaring flaw during the perfect start is inefficiency from the outside, shooting 25.2 percent as a team from deep, with 33.2 percent of their shot attempts coming from beyond the arc.

The Broncos can sympathize.

Of Santa Clara's 417 shot attempts in seven games, 34.6 percent are 3-point tries, with only 30.1 percent of them falling through the net.

Sophomore guard Kevin Foster, who was 1-of-5 last year from deep against UNLV, is averaging an astonishing 11.8 3-point attempts per game, hitting on 31 percent of them. He is, however, the Broncos' leading scorer, averaging 19.8 points per game.

"Our 3-point percentage is something like 25 percent, and that's pretty bad," Willis said. "But we've been getting some pretty good looks and getting what we've wanted. We've just got to keep the mindset of attacking and that's what we're focused on, getting the ball in the paint. Once you get the ball in the paint, the defense has to give something."

Kruger addressed his team following Wednesday's win at Arizona, telling them that after a 5-of-26 showing from deep, his players have a "couple games" to get things turned around before he might intervene and ask for more looks from high-percentage spots.

Ball movement has not been a problem for UNLV, and the Rebels haven't necessarily been settling for their 3-point looks. Many have come as a result of penetration from the perimeter.

That will also be key, as UNLV could run into a bit of 3-2 zone defense from the Broncos, who have displayed the scheme at times this season.

The Rebels' most extensive look against a zone defense came against Louisville last Saturday, and it never really threw them off. They practiced for several minutes against the 3-2 on Friday before taking off to head out west.

"They haven't played a lot of zone, but they've played some," Kruger said. "We just don't want to be surprised by it if they do. We prepared for zone a lot against Louisville. That helped our guys.

"Coming off of the Louisville game, we didn't attack as much against Arizona, and their man defense was pretty compact, so they had something to do with that, so credit them, but we've got to get back to attacking more."