Rebels may miss own March party

By John Katsilometes
Review-Journal

      When the season started, it was unthinkable.
      A month ago, it was unspeakable.
      But the UNLV basketball team now must face the following reality: It is in danger of not making the Western Athletic Conference Tournament.
      With the NCAA Tournament a pipe dream and the National Invitation Tournament far from a certainty, the Rebels lurched back home Sunday after an 0-2 road swing through Colorado State and Wyoming, carrying a 10-10 overall record and disappointing 2-5 mark in the WAC.
      The haughty preseason talk of finally returning to the NCAAs for the first time since 1991 has become a dim memory, and the Rebels now must recover from Thursday's 60-57 loss at CSU and Saturday's sloppy 73-62 loss to the Cowboys.
      Their goal is simply to finish in the top six in the eight-team Mountain Division, qualify for the WAC Tournament (set to begin March 3 at the Thomas & Mack Center) and try to play their way into the NCAAs or NIT.
      "That's been our goal since Kevin (Simmons) and Keon (Clark) came back from their (NCAA) suspensions," UNLV coach Bill Bayno said Sunday after the team returned from Laramie, Wyo., the site of Saturday's defeat. "We've got to continue to do the things we've been doing well and keep a positive attitude. The important thing is to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season, in the (WAC) tournament and go from there."
      Merely reaching the WAC tourney will be no easy task. UNLV has yet to win on the road in the conference, and has been unimpressive in its wins at home against bottom-feeders Air Force and BYU.
      The Rebels sit in sixth place in the WAC, a game ahead of Air Force and BYU in the Mountain Division. UNLV still must play both on the road, beginning with the Falcons on Thursday.
      The Rebels also must play at Utah and at home against Texas El-Paso and New Mexico, teams that handled the Rebels with relative ease already this season.
      If the WAC Tournament started today, the Rebels would play against the Pacific Division's fourth-place team, Southern Methodist (14-5, 3-4).
      Bayno, whose ability to pluck positive elements out of draining losses has become one of his most impressive attributes as a coach, said UNLV showed signs of life despite dropping two straight on the road.
      "We played well, as well as we have all season," he said. "We've played well since the first half of the Utah game (when the Rebels fell behind by 20 points), and we have played very, very hard. No one has quit, and we know we still have time to have a successful season."
      Bayno also reiterated the obvious: Any victory on the road in the WAC is an achievement.
      "We lost in places where hardly anyone wins," Bayno said. "Only one team has won at Colorado State (Utah), and only one team has won at Wyoming (New Mexico). It's not like these are easy places to play, and both of those teams are playing very well."
      And both found success against UNLV by banging the Rebels, whose frustration finally boiled over in Laramie. Center Kaspars Kambala popped Wyoming center Jeff Allen with an open hand after a 3-pointer by Bradley Mann with 5:38 to play and the score 56-47.
      Kambala was ejected for a flagrant foul, but Bayno defended his freshman center. Immediately after the game, he retreated to his hotel room and watched the game tape. He was angered by what he saw.
      "Right after the shot, Allen takes off after Kas and tries to hit him with an elbow," Bayno said. "He gets a running start and throws a forearm shiver that barely misses Kas' head. But Kas should have kept his cool and not retaliated, and he knows it."
      Kambala said only that the blow was accidental, but was aware that Allen had tried to catch him with an elbow.
      Kambala wasn't the only Rebel ejected. Point guard Mark Dickel was called for a flagrant foul on, of all things, a moving screen, and got tossed.
      "There was a lot of frustration," said Bayno, who was hit with a technical foul after Clark was called for offensive goaltending in the closing moments. "Mark Dickel is a great, great kid. He's not a dirty player."
      Bayno said both Kambala and Dickel would avoid one-game suspensions by the WAC office because they were ejected for flagrant fouls, not for fighting.
      As for Clark, Bayno said he had "no answers" for Clark's dismal road trip. The 6-11 center and possible NBA lottery pick scored just 11 points combined in the two games, including a career-low three Saturday, and was bullied around by Wyoming's front line.
      "It's not like he's not in great shape, because he is," Bayno said. "He's running the court better than he ever has here. He just needs to regain some confidence."