Plenty to address as Rebels turn their attention to No. 3 Arizona

By Taylor Bern

Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2014 | 2 a.m.

The Rebels are generally a more focused group after losses, UNLV coach Dave Rice has said a few times this year, and that’s a positive as far as avoiding losing streaks. But the fact that it’s a nearly the New Year and it still takes an L to get that type of mentality probably speaks more to how far this team still has to come than anything else.

“I don’t know how many losses it’s going to take for us to understand that we can’t bounce back only after losses,” said freshman guard Pat McCaw. “Our mindset needs to be consistent.”

Their mindset, offensive execution and just about everything else outside of defensive rebounding was anything but consistent Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, where UNLV lost its first-ever game on the Strip by 13 to No. 14 Utah. One of the worst offensive performances of the Rice era ensured that the Rebels (7-3) would fall to 0-3 against Pac-12 schools this season, and now they must turn around and host the league’s best team, which features one of the nation’s best defenses.

No. 3 Arizona (12-0) comes into the Thomas & Mack Center tonight for a 7:05 p.m. tip-off. The game will air on CBS Sports Network.

Outside of the Wildcats simply having a very off night, the list of things UNLV must achieve to keep itself in the game is plenty long, but it starts with improving that anemic offense. One way to help with that is to force senior guard Cody Doolin, who had some flu-like symptoms during the Utah game, out of his comfort zone as strictly a passer and get him more involved with scoring earlier in the game.

“We need him to be the same guy that he was down the stretch against Portland,” Rice said.

Over the final 8:31 of that game, Doolin went 4-for-4 with 11 points, scoring the game-winning basket in overtime and setting up the game-tying shot at the end of regulation.

“He was a one-man wrecking crew,” Rice said. “… That’s what he’s got to do. He’s got to be more aggressive for himself.”

Rice isn’t the only one who sees Doolin’s potential. Arizona coach Sean Miller compared him to the Wildcats’ own pass-first point guard, senior T.J. McConnell.

“He passes the ball, he can score, he shoots the ball, runs their team,” Miller told the Arizona Daily Star. “He’s the engine that makes a lot of their guys go.”

Without him playing up to his abilities on Saturday nobody went anywhere. Freshman Rashad Vaughn, who’s leading the team with 17.3 points per game, needed 16 shots to score his 16 points, and sophomore Christian Wood finished two points shy of his seventh double-double despite loafing all over the court.

Wood has been involved in a flagrant foul each of the past two games. The first one was called in his favor after taking an elbow to the face and the second, questionably, against him on a shot attempt, but also true of both games is that the opponents played him far more physically throughout the games than most opponents to that point.

It clearly bothered him, just as UNLV as a group was bothered by Utah’s perimeter players.

“We’re getting denied on the wings very easily and that takes us out of our offense,” McCaw said.

The Rebels know they can’t so quickly be set off-kilter, but as of yet they don’t have a consistent response. Same goes for free-throw shooting. UNLV is one of only 15 teams in the country hitting less than 60 percent at the free-throw line, something that cost them at least a chance to hang around against Utah.

“Free throws should be the easiest part,” said McCaw, who’s 10-of-16 at the line this year. “I mean, they’re free.”

If it comes down to free throws against Arizona that probably means the Rebels lived up to Rice’s assertion by coming together and responding well after a loss. Of course, even if they do that it doesn’t mean the Wildcats won’t just hand them another defeat.

“No doubt we’ve got to play our best game to win,” Rice said.

Rebels all participate in practice

Rice said that freshmen Dwayne Morgan (hip flexor) and Goodluck Okonoboh (knee) were banged up in the Utah defeat and didn’t practice Sunday, but everyone participated in Monday’s practice and they’re both expected to play.

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