Instant Analysis: Black eye of losing to Reno will be tough for UNLV to overcome

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015 | 10:28 p.m.

Some will say the UNLV basketball team’s 64-62 loss to UNR tonight can be partially credited to a hangover from Sunday’s game at Kansas. They were drained from giving power Kansas a fight.

Others will say the Rebels team of mostly underclassmen is a work in progress and will occasionally have one of these awful performances. This was the worst possible night to be awful — losing to UNR, a team which entered with a 5-8 record, is inexcusable.

Shame on the players from taking UNR lightly. Shame on coaches for not having them ready. The Rebels failed to match UNR’s intensity. One team wanted to win the game. The other played with no urgency, giving up 22 offensive rebounds and 19 second-chance points. That proved to be the difference.

Here are some more observations:

Tonight will haunt Rebels in March: UNLV, which needs to finish in the top two of the Mountain West to have a strong case to be selected to the NCAA Tournament, has now lost three straight games. It’s 0-2 in Mountain West play and has a loss to six-win UNR to make amends for. After beating Arizona last month, nearly winning at Wyoming in a good showing and leading Kansas at halftime, the Rebels have again taken a step backward. It’s a gigantic step, actually. UNLV aims at becoming a national program. Those types of teams don’t lose at home to a team the caliber of UNR.

A rivalry game? A victory against UNR — in any sport — is cause for a night of celebration for us native Las Vegans. For that reason, and that reason alone, UNLV basketball players say it’s also important to them. But, in all reality, the UNR game is just another league contest in the Mountain West. There’s more anticipation for games against San Diego State and New Mexico. That’s why the home crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center seemed disinterested most the night. Fans would have been rowdy from start to finish for a back and forth game against San Diego State. Lesson learned. If UNLV players had the same urgency and energy as UNR, they wouldn’t have lost in back-to-back years at home. This is a black eye that won’t soon go away. Losing at home in consecutive seasons should be plenty of ammunition to change that mindset.

UNLV’s player depth problem: With just nine available scholarship players, including freshman Dantley Walker who doesn’t play in meaningful games, UNLV’s player depth will be a problem all season. Against Kansas, they appeared exhausted toward the end of the game when surrendering a 23-6 scoring run. Tonight, starting center Goodluck Okonoboh picked up his fourth foul with about nine minutes to play, being forced to the bench during a critical stretch of the game. UNLV was fortunate Okonoboh was the lone player limited by fouls. Avoiding foul trouble and injury, especially in the front court where UNLV has three players for two positions, will dictate how the season plays out.

A look at the stat sheet: UNLV, who has struggled most of the year at the free throw line, made 15 of 16 attempts tonight. That included Rashad Vaughn draining a pair of free throws with seconds remaining to briefly tie the game. Vaughn led UNLV with 20 points, Christian Wood was again solid with 17 points and 13 rebounds and the Rebels blocked 11 shots.

Up next: San Jose State, arguably the worst team in the Mountain West, comes Saturday to the Thomas & Mack Center and should be an easy victory. Nothing, though, comes easy for this UNLV team as they painfully learned tonight. Road wins will be hard for all teams in the Mountain West to come by, meaning defending the home court — no matter the opponent — is paramount. Rebels can’t afford to overlook two-win San Jose State. It can’t be a repeat of the Fresno State loss of 2013. Or tonight’s ugly defeat.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21