Runnin’ Rebel Report

January 26, 2012 by Steven Slivka 

Sloppy play nearly costs UNLV the game, but victory provides learning experience

As Wednesday night’s match-up with Boise State started, the Runnin’ Rebels were the 12th ranked team in the nation. And after scoring the first 12 points of the game, you’d think they should’ve been ranked higher.

But as the first half progressed, UNLV looked as shaky as UNC did one Saturday night at the Orleans Arena two months ago.

UNLV came into the game as a nine-point favorite and after their dominating performance against New Mexico Saturday night, leaving the Taco Bell Arena with a victory seemed like it was going to be a fairly simple task. But that’s easy to say when you’re watching the game on television.

The Broncos, even after falling behind 12-0 to start the game, gave the Runnin’ Rebels trouble all night, refusing to give up anything easy. UNLV came out of the gate with seemingly the same amount of adrenaline running through their veins as they had when they left the Thomas & Mack on Saturday night.

Once again, the Runnin’ Rebels lived and died by the three-pointer. They were absolutely dreadful from behind the arc early on and limped into the locker room clinging to a two-point lead. They were unable to get any sort of penetration against the Broncos and settled for any shot behind the line when they were even remotely open.

As clutch as UNLV has been in the second half this season, I figured they would be able to shut down the Broncos once the second half got underway and break out of the funk they were in.

I believe Dr. Dre said it best: “With grooves so funky, they come with a Speed Stick.”

Unfortunately for the Runnin’ Rebels, there were several parts of their Wednesday night performance that were funky.

Their inability to develop any sort of momentum after their huge start, lack of perimeter defense and the inability to move the ball around successfully to generate points were only a few blemishes.

It was hard seeing Carlos Lopez go down with a hurt ankle and Anthony Marshall foul out after scoring only five points on only 2-for-11 from the field. The Runnin’ Rebels looked out of sync the entire game and maybe some complimentary Crunchwrap Supremes from the Taco Bell Arena would make for nice consolation prizes.

As the two-minute mark came in the second half and they held on to a two-point lead, the Runnin’ Rebels elected to shoot the three-pointer instead of trying to work the ball inside. Words can’t describe the frustration I felt as a fan watching the game.

Then again, UNLV had yet to do anything productive under the basket, so why start now when the game was on the line?

As the Broncos tied the game at 64 with less than a minute remaining in regulation, Dave Rice called a timeout and had an uneasy look on his face while Stacey Augmon seemed to keep his composure as I was on the verge of screaming at the television.

So I respect Augmon for keeping his cool.

As overtime got underway, my palms were sweating pretty badly–my keyboard is still feeling the effects of it. But that’s sports for you. It’s a love-hate relationship and can be quite the emotional roller coaster.

Sports can be like a really cruel girlfriend.

But just as the cruel girlfriend came extremely close to breaking my heart, the Runnin’ Rebels pulled away in overtime and as I saw the Taco Bell Arena empty out, my palms stopped sweating and a sense of relief came over me.

If only UNLV had played the entire game as they had in overtime, the nervousness running through me would have not been nearly as intense as it had been the rest of the evening.

But the Runnin’ Rebels came out on top and although it was not pretty, a win is a win. Now they have to travel to Colorado Springs to take on a hungry Air Force team that is determined to pull off the upset.

Rice admitted that UNLV has not been very good at starting games this season and that they need to learn from this game. Just like they did against UCSB, the Runnin’ Rebels must put this sloppy victory behind them and get ready for Saturday night.

Hopefully they left with some Crunchwraps.

Runnin’ Rebel Report is a commentary on UNLV basketball.