Notebook: Key first half plays by Hawkins boost freshman’s confidence

By Ryan Greene

Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010 | 1:29 a.m.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — There was no reason for Justin Hawkins to wonder if his confidence in his offensive game would again blossom.

For the UNLV freshman guard, it was simply a matter of when that time would come.

It came on Wednesday night, as he scored nine of his 10 points in the first half, aiding the Rebels to an 80-72 victory over Colorado State at Moby Arena.

Hawkins hadn't scored in double figures for the Rebels since a Nov. 25 victory over Holy Cross, and his minutes had fluctuated of late. He'd played only seven total minutes in UNLV's three previous games.

If he can duplicate that splendid first half from Wednesday night, chances are he'll see more before too long on a regular basis.

First, Hawkins broke the ice by hitting a corner 3-pointer with the Rebels trailing early, 20-18.

The inner boost was visible, as he immediately became more assertive with the ball.

With UNLV again trailing, this time 27-26, he faced up against Colorado State's Adam Nigon with the ball, again in the corner.

After a couple of head fakes, he dumped the ball to Brice Massamba in the post, and ran from one corner to the other along the baseline, losing Nigon in the process. He called for the ball and chucked up a quick trey, which went in after bouncing on the rim a couple of times. Nigon fouled him, as he was hurried to catch up after being swallowed by a screen underneath.

The rare four-point play told Hawkins that he truly was back.

"Everything just relaxed for me," he said. "When it left my hands, I didn't know. I was like 'it could go in, it could miss.' When I saw it go around the rim and go in, I thought 'finally.' I played more relaxed and then I just started making plays for my teammates and you could see it happen.

"Just confidence went through me. I hit one, I hit two, I thought maybe I could hit three, four or five. You never know."

Instead of getting greedy, Hawkins used that confidence to help in other ways. He added two assists, two rebounds and an emphatic block of a Travis Franklin layup attempt to his stat line, which was compiled in just 14 minutes on the floor. He was 2-of-3 from the floor, 2-of-2 from long range and 4-of-5 at the line.

"I thought Justin was terrific," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. "He came in, made shots, and most important, he put the ball on the floor to create opportunities for other guys, which got us some good ball movement on several possessions.

"He's been working. He comes early, stays late, has been working on getting extra shooting in. It's great to see it correlate to making shots in a game, because when guys work extra, you'd like to see him get results."

One impressive freshman

Colorado State guard Dorian Green, who came into Wednesday's game leading all Mountain West Conference freshmen in scoring, was a big reason why the Rams hung around for as long as they did.

The wiry 6-foot-2 Lawrence, Kan., native scored 20 points on 6-of-16 shooting. That included a 5-of-8 showing from 3-point range, with at least three of those makes coming practically from NBA range.

"Twenty? Wow, that's really impressive," UNLV sophomore forward Chace Stanback said afterward, asking what Green finished with. "We knew he was a 3-point specialist before we came into this game, but just kudos to him.

"He was real tough."

Inside the numbers

Some numbers of note from Wednesday's game ...

• UNLV's 33 defensive rebounds tied a season high. The Rebels also had 33 in their third game of the season — a Nov. 21 victory over Southern Illinois.

• The Rebels are now 6-1 this season in true road games.

• UNLV's best defensive accomplishment may have been in shutting down CSU senior forward Andy Ogide, who came in averaging 11.9 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game. The Mississippi transfer had just four points on 2-of-5 shooting and two boards in 28 minutes.

• Colorado State's Travis Franklin was visibly frustrated as he went just 3-of-14 from the free throw line. The rest of the Rams, however, were 13-of-14 at the stripe.

What's on tap?

In what resembles an extended road trip most NBA teams take, the Rebels will fly straight to Dallas on Thursday morning, practicing both Thursday evening and Friday afternoon in preparation for Saturday's game at TCU, which tips at 3 p.m. PST.

The Horned Frogs won their non-conference finale on Wednesday night over Texas Pan-American, 80-67, improving to 10-9 overall. Jim Christian's club is 2-2 so far in Mountain West play, most recently falling at San Diego State on Saturday, 67-62.

UNLV is out for a bit of revenge, as one of its more unsightly losses in league play a year ago was an 80-73 setback at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

TCU features preseason all-conference selection Zvonko Buljan at forward. The senior from Croatia is averaging 13.4 points and 9.3 rebounds a game. He posted a pair of double-doubles against UNLV last season, including a 20-point, 13-rebound showing in the upset in Fort Worth.

TCU's motor, however, is sophomore point guard Ronnie Moss, who leads the team in both scoring (13.7 ppg) and assists (6.4 apg).

The final word

Justin Hawkins on dealing with his minutes decreasing recently and how he handled it: "It's tough, because I'm a competitor, because I want to be out there with my teammates helping them out. But I know what's best for my team, and if that's me being on the bench and rooting them on the best I can, then that's what I'm going to do. Then when we get into practice, I'm just going to push them even further, because they know I'm right there, waiting for them to get in."