Notebook: UNLV players bemoan lack of ‘urgency’ against K-State

By Ryan Greene

Monday, Dec. 14, 2009 | 2:30 a.m.

A 95-80 loss to Kansas State on Saturday afternoon at the Orleans Arena stung enough for the UNLV basketball team.

But re-living it a day later?

"It was embarrassing — for every player," sophomore forward Chace Stanback said. "Just watching yourself not doing certain assignments that you're normally supposed to do, and just watching them out-tough us out there, we really didn't come out as ready as they were."

One thing several players said stuck out on film, which they might not have noticed at the time, was a lack of urgency out of the halftime locker room.

Despite how hot K-State was out of the gates, with both precise shooting and sticky perimeter defense, the Rebels had a chance, down by six, to hold for the last shot of the first half and slice into the deficit. A turnover turned into a Jacob Pullen layup at the buzzer, putting the Wildcats up 42-34.

It turned out to be a sign of things to come.

"We didn't have a sense of urgency at all," junior guard Derrick Jasper said. "We weren't communicating on defense, getting our reads right. After watching the film and seeing what they did in the first half, I think we should have felt that way."

At the end of the day, K-State took UNLV (7-1) out of its typically well-disciplined presence on the offensive end, forcing the Rebels into more turnovers (16) than assists (14) for the first time this season. K-State never cooled, as its 57.1 field goal percentage made it the first UNLV opponent this season to fire away at better than a 40 percent clip.

The Rebels didn't give off the same vibe in the second half that they did in recent come-from-behind road victories at both Arizona and Santa Clara. The Wildcats took advantage most notably when up 54-45 early in the second half, ripping off a 13-0 run that proved to be too much for UNLV.

"Yesterday, we felt they were making shots, but we watched the film and saw that we were the cause of a lot of that," junior guard Tre'Von Willis said. "We didn't do anything we wanted to do. We didn't take passes away, we didn't pressure them defensively. We let them get too comfortable, look around and get whatever they wanted on the floor. All around defensively, it was just horrific for us, and we didn't get to do anything we wanted to do."

The Rebels said they learned what needed to change on the defensive end for when they return to action Tuesday at Southern Utah.

However, it was understood, too, that it was just one game in a long season. Also, it won't be every night when the Rebels run into a team that hits 14 of 23 attempts from 3-point range. In turn, following what could partially be looked at as a statistical anomaly of a game, the energy at Sunday's one-hour afternoon practice session was at a high level with no visible lag.

The time was focused on resetting offensive precision. The Rebels started off by swiftly running through several different plays in clean, crisp fashion, undefended.

"We didn't do a whole lot of contact stuff today," coach Lon Kruger said. "Not much at all. We've got to be sharper. We have to move stronger, compete harder.

"Film doesn't lie. It's pretty evident that Kansas State dictated on both ends of the floor. You always feel bad when you let people do that, regardless."

Talking starters

Freshman guard Anthony Marshall didn't show any jitters in his first career start Saturday.

The Mojave High grad finished with 11 points on 3-of-9 shooting, had some good moments and had some worth forgetting, such as his three turnovers.

Could he start again? Sure, according to Kruger. So could some others.

"We've got to get people out there who are going to get results," said Kruger, who went with the 6-foot-3 Marshall over the 6-foot-8 Stanback in the starting rotation. "We've got to keep searching for the five who are going to do that. The starting lineup's gonna change a lot over the course of the year, probably because we've got a lot of guys capable of playing, but we've got to find guys who are going to do it every possession, every game."

Kruger said he didn't know who would start Tuesday night.

Stanback, meanwhile, scored a season-high 14 points in 26 minutes coming off the bench for the first time this season.

A week to get healthy?

UNLV's next three opponents — SUU on Tuesday, Weber State on Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center and South Carolina Upstate on Saturday at home — have a combined record of 9-17.

Kruger said, especially off a loss, the Rebels will hardly be sitting back this week.

"Regardless of competition, it has to be (an opportunity to grow)," Kruger said. "You have to keep growing. This is a critical time of year. It prepares you for conference play, let alone the two weeks coming up. We've got to be more consistent for 40 minutes on the floor. We've had a lot of good possessions defensively and offensively, but way too many that need to be improved. That's always the case this time of year, but we have to start increasing the number of good possessions."