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twitterLIVE GAME BLOG:
UNLV struggles to exhibition victory against Division II school
Rebels, however, finish strong in not giving up a point in final four minutes
Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun
UNLV guard Anthony Marshall takes the ball upcourt against Washburn during a preseason game Tuesday.
Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 | 6:48 p.m.
Washburn vs UNLV
The UNLV men's basketball team got a quick warm-up for the regular season with a 62-52 exhibition win over Washburn.
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It will go down as a 62-52 victory for the UNLV basketball team. But it was surely not a double-digit win.
The Rebels trailed for most of the second half against Division II Washburn Tuesday night in an exhibition game, but held the Topeka, Kan., school scoreless in the final 4 minutes, 44 seconds in rallying for the win at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The Rebels took the lead for good on a bucket from Oscar Bellfield with a little more than four minutes to play. They built their advantage to 57-52 with five straight points from UCLA transfer Chace Stanback, including a 3-point play.
The strong ending made amends for a night of sloppy, unorganized play offensively. The Rebels only shot 35-percent from the field, including a horrid 4-of-23 on 3-pointers, in struggling all night.
Stanback had a game-high 15 points and eight rebounds while Bellfied was the only other Rebels to reach double figures, scoring 11.
Rebels take four-point lead, give it back in less than a minute
Tre'Von Willis buried a 3-pointer from the corner with 5:03 to play to give the Rebels a 51-47 lead as it appeared they were going to survive this exhibition-game scare against Division II Washburn.
But give Washburn credit for not backing down. It scored five points in less than a minute to retake the lead, 52-51 with 4:23 to play.
UNLV didn't expect this type of challenge in a preseason game, but maybe that's a good thing for later in the season when they play a meaningful game.
Washburn matching UNLV basket for basket
Thankfully for UNLV, this is only an exhibition game — a dress rehearsal of sorts for Saturday's opener against Pittsburg State.
The Rebels have picked up the pace offensively in the second half, connecting on 7-of-13 shots after shooting 34-percent in the first half. But Washburn is seemingly matching the Rebels basket for basket.
The Rebels, just like last year, appear like they will live and die with the 3-pointer. Tonight, they are dying — only hitting 2-of-15 from beyond the arc.
Nine have scored for UNLV with Oscar Bellfied and Justin Hawkins still leading the way with seven points.
It should be an interesting ending.
Rebels now trail Division II school
Washburn of Topeka, Kan., opened the second half on a 8-2 run and holds a 32-30 lead against UNLV with 15:56 to play. The Rebels, just like the first half, continue to struggle with unorganized play and mistakes.
Rebel faithful should start worrying about the possibility of being upset. I'm sitting in front of Washburn's bench and they are full of emotion. They clearly want this game more.
Rebels up 28-24 at halftime, title team honored
The 1990 title team was just honored with the likes of Greg Anthony and David Butler leading the charge out to midcourt as the players were introduced one-by-one. Anthony, now a television commentator for CBS, addressed the crowd.
"Thank you for all the memories. We are honored to be here with you tonight," Anthony said.
Coach Jerry Tarkanian was also present, sitting in a chair in front of his players. Tarkanian has had back and shoulder surgery this year, and broke two ribs during a fall this summer.
Noticeably missing was Stacey Augmon, who couldn't attend because he is an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets. Larry Johnson was also not present, but attended a reception for the team last night at Green Valley Ranch Resort.
As for the game, the Rebels hold a 28-24 lead despite bad play. Justin Hawkins with seven points and Oscar Bellfield with six points are the leading scorers, but the Rebels are only 11-of-32 from the field. Derrick Jasper and Kendall Wallace have each played 11 minutes.
Rebels leading Washburn 22-18 with four to play in first half
Kentucky transfer Derrick Jasper has a pair of field goals and sophomore Oscar Bellfield also has four points in helping UNLV pull ahead, 22-18 with 3:36 to play in the first half.
One of Jasper's buckets was slam dunk following a drive to basket to bring the crowd to its feet. There are least 10,000 fans here at the Thomas & Mack Center, which isn't bad considering this is an exhibition game against a Division II school.
The Rebels haven't found their comfort zone yet on offense. They are shooting 32-percent, including 1-of-9 on 3-pointers, and have seven turnovers. Coach Lon Kruger is using most of his bench, with 11 of the 14 players dressed receiving first half playing time.
Rebels pull ahead in exhibition game
Freshman Justin Hawkins from Los Angeles is shining in his debut, scoring seven points in his first four minutes of action to spark a 9-3 UNLV run and give the Rebels a 14-9 lead against Washburn with nine minutes to play in the first half.
The UNLV defense has also picked up the pace, holding Washburn scoreless the last five minutes.
Willis and Santee hooked up for play of the game thus far with Willis driving to the basket, drawing a double team and dishing to Santee for an easy bucket. After starting slow offensively, the last five minutes have erased any doubts about the potential.
Rebels struggling early
UNLV has only made one field goal in the initial five-plus minutes and trail Division II Washburn 6-3 with 14:13 to play in the first half. A driving layup by Tre’Von Willis and a foul shot by Brice Massamba account for the lone points.
The Rebels already have four turnovers and are 1-of-8 from the field. But it's early and Washburn is also struggling.
UNLV starters were Oscar Bellfield, Willis, Jasper, Darris Santee and Massamba.
Pregame
Welcome to the Thomas & Mack Center for what is expected to be a great night for UNLV basketball fans.
The 1990 national championship team will be honored with a halftime ceremony during the Rebels exhibition game against Division II Washburn of Topeka, Kan.
The likes of stars Larry Johnson and Greg Anthony are scheduled to attend in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the title.
This year’s team could also give fans something to cheer about. In a final tune-up for Saturday’s season opener against Pittsburg State, expect coach Lon Kruger to give several significant minutes in experimenting with different combinations.
Transfers Derrick Jasper (Kentucky) and Chace Stanback (UCLA) are two players fans are anxious to get a better look at.
Personally, I’m looking forward to the return of junior forward Matt Shaw, who missed last year after having knee surgery. The 6-foot-8, 240-pound Shaw could be a difference maker down low where he has shown aggression during early practices.
Be back once the game begins.
Discussion: 16 comments so far…
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Ahh I found the blog. I was looking at the lasvegassun.com/rebels page and the link wasn't there. It was only on the Sun's home page
Well, now that that's out of the way... Let's start winning a little more convincingly please.
Not a good sign struggling against a Division II school.
Was it ugly? Yes. Does it count? Thankfully, no. Exhibition games are supposed to be learning experiences. Let's just hope this team learns fast. Hopefully Saturday will provide a convincing double-digit win as opposed to whatever this was that transpired tonight. Go Rebels!
Ugly game. One positive about the game was Stanbacks ability to finish strong after some poor turnovers in the first half.
http://cjonline.com/stories/020105/bch_c...
Getting familiar with one another WILL help the shooting percentage. There were a ton of bad passes due to poor spacing and just flat out not knowing one another very well.
There appears to be some very electric players and the desire to play as a team and hustle was evident for most of the game. I haven't seen the stats but it seemed like Bellfield took a lot of shots and it's not like they were all wide open jumpers. I can't imagine this was by design considering the amount of guys that can score.
The center play looks to be a big question mark for now but Brice seemed most productive tonight. Unfortunately foul trouble limited his playing time.
Anyway, the Rebs were fortunate to get the double digit win because it definitely was not indicative of what played out for the majority of the contest.
Go Rebs!
Ouch. That's a little closer than it should have been. Hopefully it's not a sign of things to come.
It was obvious that Lon didn't play our starters very much tonight. He was giving young players time on the floor. Chace also needed time to get the rust off. 1st half to second half was dramatic for him. He will do just fine for us once he is 100% in a week or two.
CBI.
It was a win, let's all just take it and accept it for what it is. Teams destined to be good find ways to grind out a W no matter who the opponent is, how bad they play or how much their shots aren't falling. PLEEEAAAASSSEEE lets not set the bar too high and put crazy expectations on this squad this early. (I'm having flashbacks of last season already)
1st game of the season. Many new faces coming off red-shirt years or are true freshmen....come on its simple, the guys came out aggressive and ready to attack. Shots just weren't falling. 1st game jitters. Lon was playing the youngins a little more than the regular starters. That's just how I sum it up, no more no less. Who's next!?"Remember #25 Syracuse lost their exhibition game to a D-II opponent. Lucky for them that one didn't count neither.
Looks like they can turn it on when they need to.
11-0 run to close the game.
That half time "celebration" of the NC winning team was weak. The idiot who picked this game to do it on should be fired (unless it was Kruger, lol). Should have been during a more meaningful game, maybe that's why LJ didn't show.
Lol @ Sufferin'
They played so bad, he downgraded his prediction from NIT to CBI. Against Washburn, they indeed looked like A CBI team and earned that preseason #85 ranking they got from one rating service.
However, we shall see what this team turns out to be. The coaching staff will definitely earn their salaries this year as they have their work cut out for them.
Doesnt matter if Coach was experimenting with players or not folks.
Washburn players had no right to even be in this game,,although there is alot of parity at the division 1 level,,division 2 is a different story altogether
peace out tark!!