Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

NCAA Tournament:

Tourney Treats: Round of 32 could feature a pair of Vegas stars going head to head

Rebels to face Colorado

Steve Marcus

Chace Stanback, center, and other members of the UNLV Rebels wait to find out their selection for the NCAA tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center Sunday, March 11, 2012. The Rebels will face Colorado at Albuquerque.

UNLV can’t afford to look past Colorado, not with its struggles down the stretch, poor play away from home or consecutive first-game exits.

That’s why fans and media do it for them.

If the Rebels take down the Buffaloes and 3-seed Baylor holds serve against 14-seed South Dakota State, it will set up a matchup of stellar Vegas high-school guards.

Pierre Jackson, who played at Desert Pines, is averaging 13.3 points per game for the Bears, which ranks second on the team. He’s shooting 46 percent from the floor, 43 percent behind the three-point line and 82 percent at the free-throw line. He also dishes out 5.8 assists per game.

And on the other side is Mojave's Anthony Marshall, a second-team all-conference pick for UNLV after averaging 12.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

UNLV hasn’t had great success against Vegas natives this year (see: Thorns, Hank), but it’s a matchup Marshall would enjoy being a part of.

“Right now, I’m just trying to focus on Colorado, but at the same time it would be something special,” Marshall said. “We had a chance to play against each other in high school a lot and anytime you get two Vegas natives going against each other in a game of that magnitude it would be something very special.”

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

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