Notebook: Shaw shakes off rust while Jasper sits once more

By Ryan Greene

Saturday, March 6, 2010 | 9:02 p.m.

One out of two ain't bad, really.

The Rebels on Saturday got back one of two injured rotation players who have missed significant time, as junior forward Matt Shaw returned from his four-game absence caused by a sprained left ankle.

Shaw had a pretty nondescript afternoon, playing eight minutes, not attempting a shot and recording just one rebound and one assist.

Still, shaking the rust off was maybe most important for the 6-foot-8 inside-outside threat, who entering Saturday's 74-56 rout of Wyoming was averaging 7.5 points and 3.1 rebounds per game this year.

"I think Matt did OK," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said of Shaw, who returned to live practice drills on Tuesday. "Naturally, you're going to be a little out of sync."

UNLV's third meeting with Utah on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference tournament may hold some sentimental meaning for Shaw. It was before the second match-up between the two — a 66-61 Utes victory on Feb. 17 — when Shaw suffered his injury during pre-game warm-ups. He was set to return to the starting lineup that night as a reward for his recent efforts after playing as a reserve the previous six games.

As for the other wounded Rebel — junior guard Derrick Jasper — he suited up, but ultimately did not take off his warm-ups.

Jasper, who suffered a partially torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee Jan. 26 against Air Force, missed his ninth consecutive contest.

He came back to practice at full-speed on Thursday for a bit but sat out on Friday, which indicated that he was highly doubtful for Saturday.

"I thought it looked good in moving around on Thursday, but was a little sore on Friday, so given that, no need to jump him out there today," Kruger added. "We expect that (Jasper will return to game action on Thursday), but again, it'll depend on how he feels."

Buckley on hand

Taking an official visit to campus over the weekend — thus in attendance at Saturday's game — was 2010 UNLV signee Henry Buckley.

The wiry 6-foot-11 center recently finished his senior season at the Central Carolina Sports Academy in Greensboro, N.C., where he averaged roughly nine points, eight rebounds and six blocks per game.

For now, Buckley is back in Houston, where he moved to from New Orleans during high school after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

The next step for Buckley is to achieve a qualifying score on the ACT exam, which he'll take next month.

Buckley said that he's working with one of his former teachers from Wheatley High in Houston in preparation for the test.

A third senior?

Along with honoring graduating seniors Steve Jones and Darris Santee prior to their final home game on Saturday, UNLV also recognized former guard Scott Hoffman.

Hoffman, who graduated last spring after spending five years in the program, left the team prior to this season to find work. The former walk-on from Hays, Kan., whose father is a long-time friend of Kruger's, stayed in town after landing a job rather quickly.

The rest of the field

Mountain West Conference play ended on Saturday night with San Diego State rolling to a 61-42 victory at Air Force.

But the field for the start of the MWC tournament was solidified before that game even tipped.

The event begins with the play-in game between Wyoming (10-20 overall, 3-13 MWC) and Air Force (9-20, 1-15) at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Mack.

The winner of that game will face top seed New Mexico (28-3, 14-2) at noon Thursday.

The second quarterfinal contest will pit San Diego State (22-8, 11-5) against Colorado State (16-14, 7-9) in a game that will tip at approximately 2:30 p.m. That will be followed by a 6 p.m. tilt between BYU (28-4, 13-3) and TCU (13-18, 5-11).

UNLV (23-7, 11-5) gets to take part in Thursday's finale at roughly 8:30 p.m. against Utah (14-16, 7-9).

If UNLV wins, it would take part in the 8:30 p.m. semifinal on Friday against the BYU/TCU winner. The first semifinal on Friday will tip at 6 p.m.

The championship game, televised on Versus, will begin at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The final word

UNLV guard Tre'Von Willis on the pressure turning up from this point on: "Now we're basically playing one-and-dones for the rest of the year. I'm excited, because this is really going to show us where we're at, and it's going to show what kind of team we really are."