Rebels crush Racers, 69-55, advance to Sunday’s 76 Classic title game

By Ryan Greene

Published Friday, Nov. 26, 2010 | 6 p.m.

Updated Friday, Nov. 26, 2010 | 8:29 p.m.

Final, UNLV wins 69-55

ANAHEIM, Calif. — It took UNLV only 24 hours to fix its one glaring flaw from Thursday's victory over Tulsa, and the result was a 69-55 thrashing of Murray State on Friday in Anaheim.

With the win, the Rebels advance to Sunday's 6 p.m. title game of the 76 Classic, where they'll meet Virginia Tech. The Hokies escaped earlier in the day against Oklahoma State, 56-51.

Chace Stanback led the Rebels with 19 points, while Quintrell Thomas had his best game yet as a Rebel with 12 points and six rebounds.

The Rebels' unrelenting defensive pressure forced 16 Racer turnovers, with 13 of those coming in a tone-setting, one-sided first half.

The Rebels were 27-of-46 from the floor and 7-of-15 from 3-point range.

Derrick Jasper and Oscar Bellfield each scored 10 for UNLV, who is now 5-0 and could be a win on Sunday away from cracking the Top 25 polls come Monday.

For full postgame coverage, including stories, photos, stats and much more, stay tuned to lasvegassun.com/rebels.

3:44, Second Half, UNLV leads 65-51

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Chace Stanback is still in a zone offensively despite some lingering foul trouble, while Quintrell Thomas has yet to relent in the paint. Everything's clicking for UNLV, who leads Murray State 65-51 and is closing in on a spot in Sunday's 76 Classic title game against Virginia Tech.

Thomas now has 12 points, four rebounds and two blocks while doing a nice job of avoiding foul trouble until the closing minutes. He now has four, but the game is getting out of reach for the Racers.

Meanwhile, Stanback has 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, making him 13-of-15 from the floor in two games this weekend in Anaheim.

UNLV has had Murray State in the double bonus for a good portion of the second half, as that's helped the Racers stay somewhat within range, but the Rebels haven't turned down the defensive pressure or gotten sloppy on offense.

Oscar Bellfield also has 10 points for UNLV to go with six assists.

11:41, Second Half, UNLV leads 47-38

ANAHEIM, Calif. — UNLV isn't showing any signs of letting up in the second half, as Murray State clearly has no plans of going away.

The Rebels have continued to apply strong defensive pressure out of the break, and are still up on the Racers with just under 12 minutes to play, 47-38.

Murray State, if anything, has simply become more sound with the basketball. After posting 13 first half turnovers, the Racers only have two in the first eight minutes of the second half.

As for foul trouble on the UNLV side, Chace Stanback picked up his third not long after hitting a bit baseline jumper early in the second half. He leads UNLV with 12 points, but Lon Kruger is saving him on the bench for the game's stretch run.

Quintrell Thomas, meanwhile, continues to have his strongest performance yet as a Rebel. He only has one foul to go with eight points and four rebounds, and is playing the most minutes he has yet in five games.

Halftime, UNLV leads 34-22

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Now we'll see if UNLV really learned its lesson from last night's second half slip.

Against Tulsa, the Rebels led by nine at the break and by 17 twice in the second half, yet let the Golden Hurricane right back in.

Tonight, Lon Kruger's club is up 34-22 following a dominant first half in which it completely controlled the pace, forcing 13 Murray State turnovers and shooting at a 52-percent clip from the field.

Anthony Marshall was active on both ends, and both he and Chace Stanback have seven points so far to lead UNLV. Quintrell Thomas has yet to pick up a foul after playing 11 first half minutes. He has six points and two rebounds.

Off of Murray State's 13 giveaways, the Rebels have produced 16 points.

What's most impressive, though, is how UNLV established early on the defensive end, using multiple traps and double-teams in the backcourt to make Murray State's veteran guards look flustered.

The Racers have only four assists and are just 8-of-20 from the floor, with clean looks being few and far between.

A few extra numbers of note from the first 20 minutes ...

— Justin Hawkins, who played only four minutes in last night's second half, delivered with 12 big minutes in the first half tonight. He has five points and two rebounds.

— Oscar Bellfield has four assists and only one turnover. The Rebels as a team only have seven giveaways.

— Tre'Von Willis, Brice Massamba and Chace Stanback each have two fouls.

— UNLV is out-scoring Murray State in the paint, 14-4. Good first half for the Rebels' big men defensively.

7:32, First Half, UNLV leads 23-15

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The shaking heads on the Murray State side are becoming more abundant, as UNLV has not let up the pressure on the defensive end so far.

Murray State has nine turnovers in roughly 12 minutes, while UNLV has turned those giveaways into 12 points.

Also impressive so far is UNLV's aggression on the offensive glass, as the Rebels have come up with eight second-chance points. The latest example was a put-back by Quintrell Thomas just before the first half's third TV timeout. Thomas leads UNLV so far with six points to go with his two points.

15:50, First Half, UNLV leads 13-11

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Three of Murray State's four buckets in the game's first four minutes have been 3-pointers, helping the Racers keep pace with UNLV, who leads 13-11.

But the style of play so far definitely favors the Rebels, who have already forced two ugly Murray State turnovers and scored five points off of them.

UNLV is applying the same backcourt pressure it used to fluster Tulsa last night, and Murray State's veteran guards are having a surprisingly difficult time adjusting.

Offensively, the Rebels look smooth. Chace Stanback hit a big three to open the scoring, while Anthony Marshall hit one for the second straight night. Quintrell Thomas also had a nice series before the first TV break, making the first of two free throws in a trip to the line, then off of an offensive rebound on the second attempt, draining a mid-range jumper.

UNLV is showing the type of intensity that Lon Kruger wanted last night when it was up 17 in the second half on Tulsa, as the bench is fired up after every whistle and score and the emotional edge on the floor is clear.

Pregame

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The day's first semifinal in the winner's bracket of the 76 Classic was, to say the very least, ugly.

Virginia Tech's 1-3-1 zone defense flustered Oklahoma State to no end, while the Hokies had their own offensive issues.

Each team only connected on 17 shots, and the two were a combined 34-of-108 from the floor. In case you don't have a calculator in front of you, that's 31.4 percent.

Virginia Tech claimed the first of two spots in tomorrow's title game, though, prevailing 56-51. The Hokies (4-1) will meet the winner between UNLV (4-0) and Murray State (3-1) on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. back here at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Though most casual basketball fans are not quite that familiar with Murray State, the reigning Ohio Valley Conference champs are as dangerous a team as you'll find in this field.

I've already said it a hundred times, but the Racers came within two points of upsetting eventual national runner-up Butler in the second round of last year's NCAA tourney, and have three of five starters back.

They're quick, athletic and experienced.

In other words, if UNLV lapses like it did in the second half yesterday after getting ahead of Tulsa by 17 on two occasions, trouble might be easier to find.

Here are three things I'll be watching for tonight when the Racers and Rebels tangle ...

1) Did the Rebels get throttled a bit verbally by Kruger following last night's second half? I got the general sense from some of the guys that there was a bit of a bitter taste left over from that win. They didn't seem as pleased as they probably would have been had they held on and won by 20 or so. Whether that kind of wake-up call translates moving forward will be apparent right away tonight.

2) Will UNLV take as many defensive risks deep in the backcourt with double-teams and traps as it did last night? Tulsa lacked a true point guard, but Murray State has two of them in seniors B.J. Jenkins and Isaac Miles. Both are more capable of escaping those traps on their own than Tulsa's guards were, but both are also turnover prone. In four games, they've combined for 21 assists and 23 giveaways.

3) Can UNLV's big men clean it up on the foul front? Brice Massamba and Quintrell Thomas were both effective scorers against Tulsa, but both of them and redshirt freshman Carlos Lopez were again plagued by foul trouble. Murray State will test their collective restraint with relentless attacks at the bucket. Can they lay off and stay on the floor?

I forgot to give a prediction and Pick to Click last night. I blame the tryptophan from my turkey dinner for that. As for tonight, I'm saying UNLV prevails, 78-71. For a Pick to Click, I'm taking Chace Stanback. It's impossible to take anyone else right now, he's obviously feeding off of playing in front of tons of friends and family and he presents Murray State with a big match-up problem.

I'll be back just after tip-off. As per usual, to join the in-game conversation with me, add the #unlvmbb tags to your tweets.