Notebook: Darris Santee back at full speed after Saturday scare

By Ryan Greene

Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010 | 2:10 a.m.

Thin looked like it was going to become even thinner for coach Lon Kruger's front-court rotation Saturday.

Two days later, it's quite the contrary.

Already without 6-foot-6, inside-outside threat Derrick Jasper and 6-foot-8 Matt Shaw, Brice Massamba was left as the Rebels' only remaining true big man for much of Saturday's second half after Darris Santee suffered a muscle injury in his lower abdomen.

However, it didn't really matter that much, as the Rebels (20-7 overall, 8-5 Mountain West) turned a 40-16 halftime lead into a 70-39 blowout of Colorado State with relative ease.

Santee was back at full speed Monday during a feisty afternoon practice session at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"I caught either an elbow or knee (late in the first half)," Santee said when describing how he suffered the muscle bruise. "I'm just a little sore. It only hurts on contact, not when I jump and run. I'll be able to play just fine.

"That's a blessing, because we couldn't afford (another significant injury) right now."

Santee tried to go early in the second half but had to come out for good after committing a foul in transition.

After playing a season-high 27 minutes Wednesday in a 66-61 loss at Utah after Shaw went down with a sprained ankle in pregame warm-ups, Massamba finished with a season-high 25 minutes Saturday in Santee's late-game absence.

Massamba ended his afternoon with seven points, three rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots.

"Darris is fine," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. "We were real concerned about that because he was real sore, got hit right on the bone. He responded to treatment and was pretty normal today."

Santee let his teammates know he was fine with a good amount of authority.

Aside from running around as if nothing ever happened, he had the afternoon's biggest highlight. After Anthony Marshall was trapped mid-air between two defenders, he wrapped a pass to Santee, who went up for a huge one-handed slam on redshirting freshman forward Carlos Lopez.

He'll be ready to go at the same rate Wednesday, too, when UNLV hosts TCU in an 8 p.m. contest at the Mack.

As for Shaw, it looks like the Rebels will have to wait about another week, as Wednesday's home game is followed by a Saturday matinee at Air Force.

"Matt looks doubtful for sure for Wednesday — we're hopeful for Saturday," Kruger said. "We were deep three weeks ago, then all of a sudden we go from a stretch where we're playing 11 people, and then nine seems real short. In reality, nine's not an unusual number. But, because of size, we just don't have any big guys when you take Derrick and Matt out, and Derrick had played a little bit of (power forward) as well."

Kruger said the team is still aiming for the March 6 regular-season finale at home against Wyoming for Jasper's comeback from a partially torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee, suffered Jan. 26.

Wallace snaps slump

After scoring his only two-point bucket during Saturday's game, Kendall Wallace let out a grin while running back up the floor.

But the three that he hit from long range probably provided the biggest sense of relief.

Wallace, who leads the Rebels in 3-pointers made this season with 45, snapped a two-game 3-pointer drought in Saturday's win.

In fact, in the previous two games — losses at San Diego State and Utah — it wasn't just makes that were tough to find.

Looks were, too, as he attempted just one trey in each contest.

"I think when we were driving the ball, they weren't really helping off of me, and it's kind of tough to get looks sometimes when teams are trying to take you out of what you want to do," Wallace said. "They were not leaving me open at all."

By taking away the 3-point threat from Wallace, they essentially took Wallace away. In a combined 28 minutes in those two games, he had just two points and one rebound.

"San Diego State's very athletic and active, and they're just not going to leave Kendall to help off on somebody else," Kruger said. "And then Utah, they've got a 7-foot-3 guy in the middle, they don't help off of the perimeter guys either. Just different philosophies there, based on a 7-foot-3 guy and the other one based on athleticism."

He'll have a chance to build up some momentum of his own down the stretch run, as he got off 19 3-point attempts combined during the first time around against UNLV's three remaining regular season opponents — TCU, Air Force and Wyoming.

Higher ground for Lobos, Cougars

While UNLV went without votes in the Associated Press top 25 poll for the first time in six weeks, Mountain West kingpins BYU and New Mexico both continued to move on up Monday.

New Mexico (23-3, 11-2) is now up to No. 10, giving the program its first top 10 ranking in 12 seasons.

As for BYU (23-3, 10-2), the Cougars got bumped to No. 13 after a pair of blowout wins last week, finishing with Saturday's 22-point slamming of Wyoming.

The two will meet next Saturday afternoon in Provo in a game that likely will decide who takes the league's regular season title.