Rebels hope to exorcise demons on extended road trip

By Ryan Greene

Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010 | 2:30 a.m.

A year ago, back-to-back road trips to TCU and Colorado State turned into back-to-back losses for UNLV. In turn, that stretch away from home essentially was the beginning of the end.

The 2008-09 Rebels went 8-7 the rest of the way, finishing a disappointing 21-11 campaign with a first-round NIT loss at Kentucky.

This time around, a five-day trip away from Las Vegas that will include stops in Fort Collins and Fort Worth has the team's complete, undivided attention.

First up for UNLV (14-4 overall, 2-2 MWC) is a 7 p.m. game Wednesday against Colorado State (11-6, 2-1).

"I remember us just not being us," junior guard Tre'Von Willis said of last season's surprising 71-69 loss at Moby Arena. "We were letting them do what they wanted to do. We weren't playing defense, we weren't pressuring, we weren't rebounding.

"We didn't do anything we wanted to do, and that was one of the worst (film sessions) we had all year. We didn't take care of the basketball, either. I remember they had, like, three little step-through steals for layups or dunks."

On that night, in front of a sparse crowd of 2,757, the Rebels never quite set a tone for themselves.

Even during pre-game warm-ups, UNLV was a little too loose, and this caught the attention of the Rams. CSU jumped on top early, and 17 turnovers later, UNLV found itself on the wrong side of an upset just four days after falling at TCU, 80-73.

"It felt real weird," senior forward Darris Santee said.

Looking for any kind of spark from his team, UNLV coach Lon Kruger even put his two walk-ons — Scott Hoffman and Rob Ketchum — into the game in the first half.

"Rob got in, too," Willis said with a smile regarding Ketchum, who scored the only field goal of his career that night. "I remember that."

Still, with everything that went wrong that night, UNLV lost by only a bucket.

While the Rebels have shown more focus in everything all the way down to pre-game routine this season, their margin for error on the upcoming road trip is quite slim on the heels of Saturday's 73-69 home loss to Utah. Thinking long-term, it's a very slim margin if UNLV wants to maintain a solid resumé as a potential at-large squad in the NCAA tournament.

"We gave back the one we had earned — we had a one-up with a win at New Mexico and gave that one back," Kruger said. "You hate to do that. It's hard to get in the 'plus' column. We gave away the margin we had and didn't feel good about doing that, especially with a home game."

Last year, UNLV's intensity — especially early on — matched that of the crowd. This season, despite Colorado State clearly playing an improved brand of ball, the turnout should be the same.

Of the Mountain West's nine programs, CSU ranks eighth this year in attendance, with only 2,832 fans on average.

Even though it won't be one of those environments that gets the competitive juices flowing automatically — like, say, The Pit in Albuquerque or the Marriott Center in Provo — the Rebels know that can be a trap.

"It's harder (to get excited), but that's the thing — we got surprised in that game (last year)," Willis said. "Their crowd was in it, they got into us, so it hit us and everybody was like 'Whoa ...' We've got to go down and be ready from tip-off. If we can do that, I feel we can be fine."

An extended trip

Instead of returning to Las Vegas following Wednesday's game, UNLV will spend an extra night in Fort Collins and fly out from Denver on Thursday morning, heading straight to Dallas.

Players will miss only one day of classes, as UNLV doesn't hold Friday classes, and instead will practice in Fort Worth in preparation for Saturday's late-afternoon contest with TCU (9-9, 2-2).

Upon departing Tuesday afternoon, it will be four nights in hotel beds with very little other than hoops to think about.

"You might get behind in school, but it's a good trip," Santee said. "It'll be a good learning process. It'll help us maintain focus."

Lost love from voters

Following Saturday's loss to Utah, UNLV received no votes in the latest AP top 25 poll, but still garnered 11 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.

Last week, UNLV received 28 votes from the AP and 26 from the nation's coaches.

For the second consecutive week, the league's only ranked team is BYU, who is 14th in the AP poll and 13th in the coaches poll.

New Mexico is third in the 'others receiving votes' portion of the AP poll, taking in 96 votes, and fourth in the coaches poll with 25.

Marshall's offense coming along

6-foot-3 freshman guard Anthony Marshall, with his extended wingspan and explosive leaping ability, has shown in each of UNLV's last three games — with a highlight-reel dunk coming in each — that he's capable of providing fireworks.

On the practice floor, the rest of his offensive arsenal continues to emerge.

During heavily defended half-court drills Monday, he rose up and casually swished a pair of mid-range jumpers.

The next step, obviously, is replicating that in games, as his minutes continue to increase as UNLV's primary back-up point guard behind Oscar Bellfield.

This season, he's 36-of-104 (34.6 percent) from the floor and just 1-of-21 from 3-point range.

"He's been shooting the ball better in practice, and when his confidence comes along in that area, I think he'll even play better," Kruger said.

Marshall especially has been effective on the defensive end, as he's currently second on the team in steals with 24.