Rebels take advantage, prep during bye week

January 29, 2009 by Matt Maxson 

Break gives basketball teams time to prep and heal

 

The Rebels aren’t going anywhere, but that won’t stop them from saying “Bye!”

For the first time since the winter break, the UNLV men’s and women’s basketball teams took a bit of a sabbatical as both team’s had a week without any scheduled games.

The weeklong break is a great opportunity to make adjustments and get the team organized after a tough week that featured two wins by the men’s team against Utah and Brigham Young and losses by the women’s team to the same schools.

UNLV head coach Lon Kruger explained that having the layoff during the third week of school allowed his team to get settled academically while preparing for a tough stretch leading into March.

“It’s a good week to work on specific things in practice,” Kruger said. “And it’s a good week to get those nagging injuries to heal up.”

One of those injuries may be to senior guard Wink Adams who suffered an injury against Southern Utah but recovered in time for the team’s conference schedule. 

Adams experienced a shooting slump but came to life against BYU and Utah when he scored 36 points in those games combined. Still Adams is appreciative of the opportunity to get his feet under him.

“It’s good we have a week off,” Adams said. “But when we get up to Air Force, it’ll be like that’s then and this is now.”

Last year the Rebels had three week long breaks during the conference; they were 2-1 in games after the layoff. During the 2006-07 season, in two bye weeks the team was 2-0.

The Air Force Falcons are getting back to Colorado Springs, Colo. after trips to Fort Collins, Colo. and Laramie, Wyo. The team is suffering injuries across the board including forward Anwar Johnson who has led the team this season. Even the rejuvenated Rebels aren’t going to take that for granted.

“We’re going in [to Colorado Springs] thinking everyone is going to be playing,” senior guard René Rougeau said. “They’re going to be riled up for us to come [to Clune Arena] this time.”

“We’ve got to respect everyone, [Air Force] has a good team. They have a lot of potential,” Rougeau said. “I look forward to guarding [Johnson].”