UNLV out to sweep crucial two-game road swing at New Mexico

By Ryan Greene

Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011 | 2:15 a.m.

By winning on Saturday at Colorado State, UNLV accomplished plenty.

The Rebels (20-7 overall, 8-5 Mountain West) solidified their NCAA tournament résumé, put themselves in prime position for a third-place finish in the league and shook off some cobwebs on offense with a blistering second-half performance in the 68-61 victory.

Many thought that heading into the critical two-game road swing, which concludes at 7 p.m. Wednesday against New Mexico (17-10, 5-7) at The Pit, UNLV badly needed a split at the very least.

With one win in the books, and even though UNLV has a little wiggle room heading back on the road, the Rebels don't want to think of it in that manner.

"Going into our last game, we didn't want to put pressure on ourselves, but we knew it was a game we had to win," sophomore guard Anthony Marshall said. "If you put pressure on yourself, you don't really do what you want to, so we're approaching this game the same way.

"This game is just as important as the last game. We don't want to work as hard as we did going into Colorado State then go on the road and not have the same results."

According to bracketologists, UNLV will still be in good shape for the field of 68 even with a loss on Wednesday, but a win could possibly cement their status as a sure-fire invitee.

The Rebels have done a good job lately of ignoring the outside talk regarding the NCAA tournament, and the same type of focus will be needed at The Pit, which, when rocking, is arguably the Mountain West's toughest road venue.

"You've got The Snake, him yelling at you, and stuff like that," Marshall said of New Mexico's tatted-up super fan who sits adjacent to the visitor's bench. "But it's a great atmosphere. As a basketball player, those are the places you want to go and you want to win on the road. There's not a better feeling than going on the road and silencing the crowd."

UNLV did just that in another not-quite-a-must-win situation last season in the trip to Albuquerque.

After dropping the MWC opener on the road at BYU, the Rebels avoided an 0-2 start in league play with a 74-62 victory over the Lobos. They accomplished the feat by hitting 11 3-pointers, which helped build an early lead that they were able to maintain throughout.

The difference this time around is that the guy who hit seven of those treys — guard Kendall Wallace — is on the bench, still recovering from a torn ACL.

The Rebels are, however, coming off of one of their better 3-point shooting performances of the season. They hit eight of 19 tries in Fort Collins on Saturday, including a blistering 7-of-13 showing in a 46-point second-half burst.

The shots started pouring in once Oscar Bellfield hit back-to-back threes early in the half. The confidence from that passed on to everyone, as Chace Stanback and Marshall then pulled the trigger on clutch trifectas in the closing minutes that they might have passed up on earlier in the game.

The looks also came as a result of more penetration into the gut of CSU's defense, instead of swinging the ball around the perimeter and waiting for the best look. UNLV had been prone to doing that far too often earlier in the conference season but may now be turning over a new leaf. Continuing it will be crucial, as the Rebels are sure to see plenty of zone defense from the Lobos.

"We emphasized trying to get inside more and being more aggressive," coach Lon Kruger said. "We shot fewer threes (early), and I think the shots then improved.

"This group hasn't shot it consistently well on the year, but they keep battling away. I know people are focused on not shooting (so many threes), but to the players' credit, they've not shot it well but are still surviving."

In Mountain West play, UNLV is shooting just 25.7 percent as a team from deep, and Saturday's game marked just the third time in 13 conference tilts that the Rebels shot better than 40 percent from the outside.

One of the other two occasions was in a 63-62 victory over New Mexico Jan. 22 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

UNLV was 6-of-13 from long range in that game, but what most will remember instead is the crazy two-minute stretch to close out the game during which both teams gave away several golden opportunities to grab the upper hand.

A wild card in this match-up is how New Mexico will approach it mentally.

The Lobos, following a heart-breaking 62-60 loss at the buzzer at home to Utah on Saturday, are now all but out of the NCAA tourney at-large discussion. The defeat gave them their second losing streak of at least three games in conference play alone.

Three bright spots of late for the Lobos are a trio of newcomers.

Junior forward Drew Gordon, who became eligible after the fall semester, is averaging 12.6 points and 10.1 boards per game. The Lobos are just 9-9 since Gordon got on the floor, but it's hard to place the blame for the recent skid on him, as the UCLA transfer has posted eight double-doubles, including a monster 17-point, 23-rebound effort against the Utes over the weekend.

Meanwhile, two freshmen are emerging on the wings for coach Steve Alford.

Kendall Williams, who appears to be a star in the making, will have revenge on his mind after missing a free throw with less than a second remaining in Las Vegas that would have sent the first meeting to overtime. He's averaging 11.3 points, 4.4 assists and three rebounds a game while running alongside senior stalwart Dairese Gary. Tony Snell is only averaging 5.2 points per game, but since scoring 10 points in 31 minutes at UNLV, the 6-foot-7 frosh hasn't played fewer than 19 in a game, averaging 9.5 points over that stretch and shooting 44 percent from deep.

Given its recent results, expect to see a New Mexico team that's playing with nothing to lose.

UNLV wants to avoid taking the same approach.

"This time around, we have to have patience on each possession of the game and have composure," Marshall said. "We felt like we'd not been playing up to our capabilities, so we're pretty excited about getting better. The win on Saturday helped out a lot, but we can't just be satisfied with that, because these last couple of games are just as important."