Blog: Vaughn gets double-double in 34-point victory against San Jose State

By Taylor Bern

Published Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015 | 6 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015 | 9 p.m.

UNLV 74, San Jose State 40

Game over

Rashad Vaughan led the way with 15 points and 10 rebounds — his first career double-double — and UNLV pulled away at the start of the second half to coast in with an easy 74-40 victory against San Jose State tonight at the Thomas & Mack Center.

UNLV improved to 10-6 overall while getting its first Mountain West victory (1-2) before heading on the road next week at Boise State on Tuesday and at San Diego State on Saturday.

The Rebels never trailed and opened a 15-point halftime lead that only increased in the second half when UNLV stopped giving up offensive rebounds. They allowed 12 in the first half, which was almost half of all the Spartans' misses.

All 11 eligible Rebels scored, including walk-ons Charles Rushman (four points) and Barry Cheaney (three points). Check lasvegassun.com later tonight for a full report from the Rebels' victory.

No matter what happened Wednesday, this game should have been a no-sweat blowout. Now that the Rebels are coming off their third consecutive loss, and third defeat overall against UNR, they should overall motivated from the start to put this thing away quickly.

The disparity is highlighted by the point spread — UNLV is a 20-point favorite, its biggest line in a Mountain West game since playing TCU at home in 2012. The game tips off at 7 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Center and will stream on the Mountain West Network and Campus Insiders.

San Jose State’s lone victories this year are against Bethesda and St. Katherine, and the latter was only a seven-point victory. For comparison, UNLV defeated St. Katherine at Orleans Arena by 60.

So really this shouldn’t be close after about the first 10 to 15 minutes. If it is, that’s on UNLV, because the only thing the Rebels really need to worry about is the Spartans going off behind the three-point line.

As a team they’re not good, hitting only 30 percent beyond the arc, but sophomore Rashad Muhammad, a Bishop Gorman High grad, is making 40.7 percent (22-of-54) out there. He made four early in the Spartans loss at Air Force and finished 6-of-12.

Of course, San Jose State still lost by 22.

As bad as the loss to UNR was, in a few ways a poor showing today would feel worse. Because of suspensions — at least three Spartans regulars are expected to miss their sixth straight game tonight — and a general lack of talent, the Spartans are far and away the worst program in the league. This is the opponent that to the rest of the league, even a close victory would feel a bit like a loss.

Bern’s prediction: I’ve been laying the points against San Jose State without question pretty much all year so even though I don’t like UNLV being this big of a favorite I’ll stick with the trend. UNLV 84, San Jose State 60

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