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Blog: UNLV misses two attempts in the final seconds and falls 68-66 at Wyoming
Associated Press
Wyoming guard Francisco Cruz directs a play against UNLV’s Chace Stanback (22) during their game Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012 in Laramie, Wyo.
Published Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012 | noon
Updated Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012 | 3:10 p.m.
UNLV Rebels on the road
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KSNV coverage of the UNLV Rebels complete first half of Mountain West Conference schedule, Feb. 3, 2012.
Sun coverage
- Snowstorm adds to already difficult road trip for UNLV basketball as it travels to Wyoming
- Oscar Bellfield and a pair of bench guards lead UNLV to 82-63 victory against Colorado State
- Former UNLV basketball coach Charlie Spoonhour dies after battle with lung disease
- 2011-12 UNLV Men's Basketball Schedule
- All UNLV Men's Basketball Coverage
LARAMIE, Wyo. — UNLV ran out of late-game magic on the road, missing two shot attempts for either a tie or the win and fell to Wyoming 68-66. Anthony Marshall drove the the basket and just missed a layup, then after Quintrell Thomas corralled the rebound, Mike Moser missed a 3-pointer from the right side.
The Rebels fall to 21-4 overall and 5-2 in the Mountain West.
The Cowboys (18-5, 4-3) controlled the game for much of the second half, but down the stretch they missed several shots that could have been daggers. That gave UNLV a shot at its third-straight overtime game on the road, but the shots just didn't fall for the Rebels.
Quintrell Thomas led UNLV with 15 points, floowed by Oscar Bellfield and Anthony Marshall, who each had 12. Mike Moser scored 11.
Both teams shot near 50 percent from the field.
Check lasvegassun.com later tonight for a full recap of today's game.
UNLV in trouble at Wyoming, trailing 60-55 with 7:32 remainingLuke Martinez got loose for his fifth 3-pointer, giving Wyoming a 60-55 lead with 7:32 remaining. Oscar Bellfield is leading UNLV with 12 points while Mike Moser has 11.
Wyoming is shooting just less than 50 percent, but perhaps more importantly it only has six turnovers. It's hard for UNLV to get into any kind of offensive rhythm when it can't create turnovers.
Fouls have limited UNLV's interior defense, but so far they haven't been as much of a factor as they were in the first half. That's good news for the Rebels, who are shooting 58 percent, but they still need to get better on defense if they're going to get out with a victory.
UNLV trails 48-44 at Wyoming early in the second halfUNLV coach Dave Rice has charged Anthony Marshall with covering Wyoming's Luke Martinez in the second half, and so far Marshall isn't giving him any room to breath as UNLV narrows its deficit to 48-44 with 14:33 remaining.
The result of Marshall's defense is that the Cowboys have hammered the ball inside, but considering the way Martinez was shooting in the first half, UNLV will take that right now. Oscar Bellfield is still pulling the trigger, leading the Rebels with 12 points, but Mike Moser seems off his game. He's airballed two 3-point attempts, dropped an entry pass from Marshall and lost the handle on a couple of rebounds.
He's still got six points and seven rebounds, so it's hard to complain much, but he doesn't look like himself.
Wyoming goes on a late run and leads UNLV 42-36 at halftimeA plethora of foul calls kept UNLV from getting out and running too much in the first half and Wyoming took a 42-36 lead into halftime. The Cowboys' Luke Martinez leads all scorers with 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting (all 3-pointers) and three other Wyoming starters each have 10 points. Oscar Bellfield is leading the Rebels with 10 points.
The Rebels are shooting 63.6 percent from the field, yet they trail mostly because of six turnovers and 12 fouls that have allowed the Cowboys to shoot 11-for-12 at the free-throw line.
Five Rebels have at least two personal fouls, and Chace Stanback has three. That will likely limit UNLV's options in the second half, especially if Brice Massamba or Carlos Lopez pick up their thirds early on.
Besides fouls, UNLV needs to worry about its perimeter defense. Wyoming isn't shooting great from the outside, but Martinez is, and so far he's been enough to impact the game. His shooting has opened up the interior and allowed Wyoming to get some easy buckets.
To stop that, it has to start on the outside, getting hands up earlier and contesting shots better than they did in the first half.
UNLV trails 23-17 at Wyoming midway through the first halfAfter a quick start on the interior, UNLV has found good shots hard to come by and Wyoming has kept it going from the perimeter in taking a 23-17 lead with 7:52 left in the first half.
Massamba still has six points on 3-of-3 shooting, but he also has two fouls and will sit on the bench for the bulk of the first half.
During a timeout with about 10 minutes to go, junior guard Anthony Marshall did most of the talking (yelling, really) and looked like he was trying to fire up the team. After that break, he hit the Rebels' next two baskets and looks like he may be poised to take over.
He's going to need some defensive help to get there, though.
Brice Massamba is shooting well, but UNLV trails 9-8 early at WyomingBrice Massamba's contributions usually don't show up in the box score. But so far at Wyoming he's making a big impact with six points on 3-of-3 shooting as UNLV trails 9-8 with 15:35 left in the first half.
Coach Dave Rice is always talking about working the ball inside-out, but it rarely shows up this consistently, this early in games. Wyoming has countered with good perimeter shooting, but Rice will take a consistent inside presence and gamble that the Cowboys won't be able to keep pace with 3-pointers all game.
UNLV basketball back on the road for a difficult game at WyomingLARAMIE, Wyo. — The UNLV basketball team successfully completed the first step of this difficult road trip, which is simply getting here.
After snow changed their travel plans, the Rebels got into town late Friday night and were up early Saturday for shoot around at Arena-Auditorium. Extra sleep would be nice, but coach Dave Rice found out earlier this season that his team performs better when it sticks with its gameday routine, no matter how badly the players (and coaches) don’t want to get out of bed.
So now that they’re here and ready to go, the attention turns to getting the victory against a plodding Wyoming team. And the Rebels have sophomore forward Carlos Lopez back to help in that effort.
The Cowboys average the second-lowest points per game in the conference, and it’s not because they lack talent. That’s just their style, which is bad news for the Rebels.
It means the game may become a tug-of-war between one side (UNLV) trying to speed up and the other (Wyoming) trying to slow down.
As has been the case in other Rebels games against slow-it-down teams, the result will probably be somewhere in the middle.
Both teams are good enough that they will have stretches where they really control the pace of play. The key will probably be who can make that key stretch with around 10 minutes left in the second half. At the point, provided it’s a close game, the trailing team will be forced to play out of its comfort zone in order to catch up.
Wyoming forward Leonard Martinez and guard Luke Martinez combine to score 26.1 points per game, and point guard JayDee Luster averages just less than four assists per game.
UNLV assistant coach Heath Schroyer knows all three of those players, and really the entire roster, very well. Before coming to UNLV, Schroyer was Wyoming’s head coach for the last three and a half seasons.
That means the Rebels go in to this game knowing the Cowboys personnel, their tendencies and how they take their coffee (OK, maybe not). It’s an advantage, but it doesn’t win you the game, just like assistant coach Justin Hutson’s knowledge of San Diego State didn’t result in a victory.
UNLV is hoping for some better luck this time around.
Bern’s prediction: The Rebels know how to scrap and claw for victories on the road, and they will probably have to do that once again today. I expect UNLV to lead by as much as 10 at some point, but Wyoming is too good and the venue too difficult for the Rebels to pull too far away. I think Mike Moser will hit a big shot with about one minute left that will allow UNLV to ice the game at the free-throw line. UNLV 70, Wyoming 65.
Discussion: 12 comments so far…
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It is absolutley unacceptable that a conference matchup between the #11-ranked team playing at a very good 17-win team is being broadcast in low-def on the near-invisible "mtn" network. How much longer do we have to endure the obscurity of this loser television deal? Check the rest of the top-25. There are only two other games that are as difficult to find on TV: Harvard and... SDSU.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Way not to show up again on the road Rebels. Blow out everyone at home and get beat or barely win against every team on the road. Better pull their heads out of their a$$e$.
It's making excuses, but there is little doubt that the difficulties encountered just getting there took a toll. My wife and I both felt there was a lack of energy from the Rebels in the 2nd half that they are known for.
That was really tough to watch. It seems like they just kept firing 3's, even though their big men were wide open down low. They did have a couple of nice dishes to Quintrell, but overall, it was a missed opportunity. Wyoming was clearly focused on stopping the UNLV shooting game and their fast break. I thought it was kind of crazy that they didn't have guys at the line for the rebound off the free throws. They just all sat back and made sure to stop the break.
Interestingly enough, the stats for the game don't look THAT bad. Their mistakes just came at the worst times.
It was inevitable. I think these guys are tight enough to work with each other and learn from the loss, and come back stronger.
Quick side note...I'm watching Kentucky right now, and there's absolutely no way that the UNLV team that played today could beat the Kentucky team that I'm watching right now. Let's hope this loss is for the best, and they figure a way out of this away game slump.
Big time trap game, tough travel schedule, good defensive team, go ahead and vent rebel fans but this one was predictable. Still a top 15 team. If you watch college basketball more than just when the rebels are on you will see that these losses happen all the time to good teams, and this is still a really good team. They are probable not going to win every game the rest of the season. That doesn't mean they suck, but they are not as good as Kentucky or Syracuse either. And they will not "survive the tourney" as a overly ambitious fan(atic) put it this week.
I agree with COrebel. Mr Thompson, please do something about the TV coverage.
Luck ran out; consistent poor road game play, poor offensive showing, poor defense, and poor scouting finally took its toll. Wyoming was obviously well prepared for UNLV. Come on, no excuses for this one, the rebels were just out played. UNM is playing great basketball right now and on the road. UNLV will be hard pressed to win at The Pit. Tough loss for the Rebels, but with their recent poor performance on the road, a road loss was inevitable. Don't overlook CSU they play well at home and they will be looking to beat UNLV for another road loss. Like my Indiana Hoosiers, both IU and UNLV have brought excitement back to their respective schools, but realistically neither will advance far in the NCAA tournament. ImproveLV I agree hope this loss was for the best, maybe spark some fire into the Rebels, but based on their consistent poor conference road play a lesson was not learned. Its been fun tough.
We can't be a team that doesn't score for six minutes and still beat hard charging teams.
We also can't be a team that goes the way of Moser....When his day is off, like today, we need players to step up.....not aside.
Having said that, they will be fine, this is a speed bump not Mount Everest.
Once again, the Reb's are doing it with smoke and mirrors. Their ranking will drop, as it should. They are not impressing anyone with last second wins against teams they should put away early.
Wyoming is a very tough defensive team and underrated, this was a predictable outcome. All the Rebels need to do is clean it up, how many unforced TOs do we average on the road, I'm guessing around 4? Toughest remaining games are @ UNM and @ CSU. If we win one of those two, we'll be fine
Hooiser Boy I agree with you about the poor scouting. Everyone keeps saying how we have the advantage in scouting because Heath Schoyer and Juston Huston recruited the Wyoming and San Diego St players and know how they play but yet we lost both games to those teams. A lot of help they've done!
@COrebel--
Problem is UNLV does not have a contract with ESPN or Fox Sports. Blame the Mountain West for their crappy TV deal. The sad thing is UNLV is an after thought for ESPN as they rarely report on them.
As for the game... They were due after the BSU and AF road games. Maybe this will help them more than hurt them come tournament time.
Well after the last 4 games, UNLV is lucky that they have only 1 loss.