Mistakes costly in loss to UNLV
LAS VEGAS – The UNLV basketball team wanted to establish an up-tempo, full-court game against Nevada.
And it did.
The Rebels (3-1) outscored the Wolf Pack (2-2) 30-10 in points off turnovers and 14-2 in fast break points in the 79-67 win at Thomas and Mack Center Saturday.
Nevada turned the ball over 19 times to the Rebel’s eight.
“We knew they were going to play the full court defense,” coach Mark Fox said. “We just didn’t play good in the second half. We played good in the first half, but the second half was bad, especially the start.”
The first half had seven lead changes. UNLV led 32-31 at halftime but went on a 12-6 run after the break.
Nevada’s game plan was to work on its size advantage against the Rebels. Matt Shaw is the Rebel’s tallest player at 6-foot-8. Nevada can play big with McGee (7-foot) and Demarshay Johnson (6-foot-9) down low. Instead UNLV worked on its speed advantage. Adams and Curtis Terry ran the court, slashing at the net.
Adams led UNLV with 17 points. The Rebels had four other players score in double-digits with Corey Bailey’s 14, while Matt Shaw and Joe Darger each scored 13 and Terry scored 11.
Marcelus Kemp followed his breakout performance against Santa Clara—shooting nine of 15 for 23 points—by making four of 13 shots for 11 points at UNLV.
Kemp got in foul trouble when he committed his third foul just 17 seconds into the second half.
“Marcelus’ foul trouble was a factor,” Fox said.
“We have to find a rhythm on offense,” Kemp said. “We lost the turnover and free throw battle.”
Nevada missed 11 free throws in the game including crucial foul shots down the stretch.
JaVale McGee missed four of six free throws in the game’s final five minutes but scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. His ability to get to the line late was because of his high percentage shooting.
He was 4-9 from the line for the game.
Armon Johnson shot well from the field for Nevada. The guard was 7-13, with a season high 15 points.
This is the Wolf Pack’s second loss in a row to its in-state rival. UNLV won in Reno last year 58-49. The Rebels lead the all-time series 50-19. The Wolf Pack only has six wins in Las Vegas.
Nevada’s biggest lead was 6-0 to start the game. The UNLV crowd of 13,068 was shocked immediately after its pre-game firework show. The Rebels went on a 6-0 run to tie the game. Lead changes dominated the first half before UNLV ran away in the second half.
The game was Nevada’s first in a week. UNLV lost its previous game to No. 6 Louisville 68-48 on November 21.
“As inexperienced as we are we’re going to have to get use to a lot of ups and downs,” Fox said. “We just have to learn from these experiences.”
Nevada’s next game is at home Wednesday against California.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 at 2:13 am and is filed under Men's Basketball, Sports.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Print this post
Email this post© 2008 The Nevada Sagebrush
