Off of long road swing, UNLV welcomes Boise State to town

By Ryan Greene

Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010 | 2:15 a.m.

Following a brutal nine-day stretch that saw the UNLV men's basketball team play five road games, travel nearly 5,000 miles by both airplane and bus and spend only about 72 hours at home, the Rebels get a chance to play their first home game since Nov. 20.

Well, sort of.

No. 20 UNLV (8-0) will take the floor on Wednesday night for its annual appearance at the Orleans Arena, where it will play "host" to Boise State (6-1). The team will be back in the Thomas & Mack Center next Wednesday against UC Santa Barbara.

Though the Rebels are back playing in front of their own fans, this week has been far from normal.

They returned to town on Sunday afternoon, and on Monday came not just the team's first full practice in 13 days, but also the start of a week filled with final exams.

"It can be a little fatiguing, but all students go through that," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. "This is a challenging stretch, no question about that."

On top of everyone balancing their own books and tests, the Rebels have also readjusted some of their focus on the floor.

The team is fresh off of an 82-70 victory over rival Nevada-Reno on Saturday that in reality wasn't as close as the final score indicated.

The reason for that, though, is that UNLV played one of its patchiest halves yet this season — especially on the defensive end — to close it out.

The Rebels held a commanding 46-25 halftime lead, but the rest of the way, the Wolf Pack shot 58.1 percent (18-of-31) from the floor, and their 45 points were the most allowed by UNLV to an opponent in one half so far in eight games.

They closed the gap to as few as 10 points before UNLV's Oscar Bellfield slammed the door shut with some offensive heroics.

UNLV's last full-fledged practice was on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, just hours before the team departed for the 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif. Since then, each of its sessions between games have been more like walk-throughs in an effort to preserve the players' legs.

Some of UNLV's defensive deficiencies on Saturday may have been due to fatigue at the end of the nine-day gauntlet that was both physically and mentally taxing.

From here on out, the schedule is again status quo, with the team playing no more than two games in one week until the Mountain West Conference tournament in March.

"Blocking out here, executing there — the little things start slipping a little bit," Kruger said. "It's good to get back out there and reinforce some things. Consistent rebounding is a big key. We'll probably talk about that all year. We have to be more fanatic on both ends."

What Kruger and his staff are also preaching is playing smarter basketball, as foul trouble continues to be an issue for the Rebels.

On Saturday night, junior forward Chace Stanback, who on the season is UNLV's leading scorer (14.4 ppg), was held scoreless for the first time in 42 games as a Rebel. However, he was limited to just 14 minutes due to consistent foul trouble and only attempted two shots.

Granted, UNLV without Stanback still held a strong advantage in terms of personnel over UNR, but that won't always be the case moving forward, and Kruger wants his team to adjust now. There have been other occasions this season when foul trouble has rendered one of the team's rotation regulars ineffective, and the Rebels' depth has helped mask it.

"When you're attacking all the time, which we have been doing and has been good, you maybe start taking things for granted, thinking that if you work hard, it's all OK," Kruger added. "You've got to work hard and work smart."

The Rebels will be matching up against a Boise State team that might not rival them in quality of depth, but the Broncos will also play several guys.

Under first-year coach Leon Rice, who before heading to Boise was an assistant for Gonzaga coach Mark Few, the Broncos have 10 guys playing an average of at least 7.4 minutes per outing.

Also, like UNLV, Boise State will rely on its wings for much of its offensive production.

Leading the way is 6-foot-6 senior Robert Arnold, who is averaging 18.1 points per game and shooting 43.2 percent from 3-point range. His top sidekick is fellow senior La'Shard Anderson, who on top of averaging 13.6 points per outing, leads the team in assists (4.3 apt).

On top of what the Broncos have to offer, the Rebels will be fighting a couple of other demons, to boot.

First is the label of this being a classic "look-ahead" spot, as UNLV will leave on Friday morning for one of its marquee non-conference trips, facing No. 24 Louisville at 9 a.m. local time on Saturday.

UNLV also has a recent history of starting games slow when playing in the cavernous, cold Orleans atmosphere.

Last season, it buried them as Kansas State hit seemingly every shot it put up in the first half, cruising to a 95-80 win. In 2008, the Rebels were just 3-of-19 from 3-point range, and talent ultimately prevailed in an ugly 70-61 victory over Western Michigan.

"It's just mental," sophomore guard Anthony Marshall said. "We can't let that affect us. We all know we can shoot, so we've just got to go in there with the mindset of making shots and playing now."

Starting fast, too, would help erase any lingering feelings from Saturday's second half.

"We kind of had a letdown in the second half against Reno," Marshall added. "Our focus is very high right now. We know what we did wrong."