Depleted? UNLV wins with a few good men

You can never underestimate the spirit of sports, those intangibles that make certain athletes rise to the occasion when all seems lost in a season, when your bench has been reduced to the point your basketball coach spent part of his day before a conference game against your biggest rival glancing at the school's football roster.

If for nothing else, a warm body or two.

UNLV didn't dip into the well of those who wear helmets for Tony Sanchez, but just the thought of it defines where the Rebels found themselves against UNR on Saturday.

And yet such is a time when crazy things often occur.

Huge shots are made.

A depleted team refuses to give in.

A light appears in the dark tunnel of Mountain West mediocrity.

The Rebels lost yet another starter to injury before tipoff and yet responded in a most energized and impressive manner, defeating UNR 102-91 in overtime before an announced gathering of 14,640 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"Just a tremendous effort by a short-handed squad from a size and depth standpoint," UNLV interim head coach Todd Simon said. "I couldn't be prouder of this group. They kept digging in and blocking out all the negativity and adversity. It shows the character of this group.

"It's very, very gratifying to see the guys sit around the locker room and see all their hard work pay off. It seems like we have had a decade's worth of adversity in three weeks."

By the way, if you're keeping score at home, it was Dwayne Morgan this time.

The sophomore forward suffered a separated shoulder at UNLV's morning shootaround and is expected to have an MRI on Monday, further shortening the depth of a team that has already lost junior forward Ben Carter (knee) for the season and freshman center Stephen Zimmerman Jr. (knee) indefinitely.

Simon said Morgan hurt himself on a play that happens 100 times a day.

He went up. He came down. He knew something was wrong.

There is playing small and there is UNLV right now, a team forced to show mostly zone on defense and hope like crazy jumpers fall at the other end.

There isn't much more to say, no real solutions, no magical strategy that such a situation dictates. Simon can't possibly have many words left for his team, other than to just play harder than it ever has.

But he did take a gander at that football roster Saturday.

Did he wonder which ones had basketball experience?

"No," Simon said. "I just looked at who was big."

Wins like this take special efforts and sophomore Patrick McCaw offered one for the Rebels, finishing with 25 points and 18 rebounds, his biggest shot a running 3-pointer at the buzzer of regulation that forced an extra five minutes and answered a UNR 3 just seconds before.

From heartache to celebration.

From despondency to exhilaration.

From sure loss to memorable victory.

"The (3-pointer) was going in," McCaw said. "There wasn't a doubt in my mind. It was going in. I knew I had to make a move quick and tried to get to the middle to get a straight-on shot."

If this is how it's going to be, meaning Morgan misses more time and Zimmerman remains in street clothes even after being cleared medically and the Rebels cover the post with guards and small forwards, McCaw and others have to continue holding their own on the boards.

It's certainly not ideal and absolutely not easy, but the Rebels on Saturday were tough enough to corral 48 rebounds to 53 for UNR.

You couldn't expect a better effort from UNLV.

It was more than just a win for a struggling team. It moved UNLV into sixth place in the Mountain West, still two games back of fifth in the loss column but at least within visible distance to not facing the challenge of winning four games instead of three at the conference tournament that awards its champion an automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

Climbing another spot is certainly a long shot — two of UNLV's final three games are at Boise State and San Diego State and it's likely the Rebels have to win out to stand a chance at fifth — but wins such as Saturday's can offer a team the sort of spark of motivation it didn't realize existed.

The easiest thing in the world for UNLV, especially after Morgan went down hours beforehand, would have been to roll over against UNR.

The hardest thing was to respond the way it did.

"We were tough," Simon said. "We were really tough. Say what you want, but that's a very physical team at Reno and we matched it."

Never, ever underestimate the spirit of sports.

Crazy things can happen.

Suddenly, a running 3 falls and an arena erupts and a light appears in the dark tunnel.

— Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on "Seat and Ed" on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Twitter: @edgraney