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Rebel Report Card: UNLV vs. Air Force

 Two games, two blowout wins under interim coach Todd Simon.

The UNLV men’s basketball team cruised to a 100-64 victory against Air Force on Saturday night in Mountain West Conference play. Simon moved to 2-0 since taking over for Dave Rice last weekend.

UNLV’s lead was never in doubt versus Air Force, and had fans at the Thomas & Mack Center more interested on the NFL playoff thriller between Green Bay and Arizona than what was going on the floor in the second half. Fans roared from the suites after Aaron Rodgers connected on a hail mary touchdown to send the game into overtime.

It was all fun and games for the Rebels and their fans.

Backcourt: B+

Having your head coach fired midway through the season is never a good thing, but the Rebels have been playing relaxed since the switch, and it’s showing on offense.

Jerome Seagears arguably had his best game as a Rebel by making 5 of 5 3-pointers and scoring 17 points. The senior point guard has received plenty of scrutiny for not running the offense smoothly. Seagears stopped worrying about that and just did what he does best — score points. If the shot wasn’t there, Seagears passed the ball around the perimeter, which led to 13 3s from the team.

“We hit rock bottom,” Seagears said. “It’s only up from there.”

Patrick McCaw has been under pressure to take over games. He didn’t need to on Saturday. McCaw scored eight points and recorded five assists. The Rebels’ ball movement showed in the stat sheet with 21 assists.

Frontcourt: A+

Derrick Jones Jr. was arguably the Rebels’ most popular player the first month of the season due to his dazzling dunks. The freshman forward had been quiet lately until he dropped 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds versus the Falcons.

Jones, who was scoreless in two out of the previous five games, got going offensively with an early alley-oop. He was relentless in the paint on offense and defense, and was a big reason why UNLV moved the ball up quickly for 26 fastbreak points.

Stephen Zimmerman recorded another double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. The freshman 7-footer still isn’t receiving many set plays in the post, but he’s going after offensive rebounds for easy putbacks. The Rebels scored 26 second-chance points.

Dwayne Morgan set the tone early for the Rebels. Morgan, who scored eight points, was aggressive in the paint, that fed off to other bigs like Zimmerman and Ben Carter.

Bench: B

Simon allowed Jordan Cornish to run the point for the second unit and he delivered eight points and six assists. Cornish admitted during the presser that the team felt relieved when the coaching change happened because the team was under pressure to perform well for Dave Rice.  

“When you see your leader uptight knowing that his job can be taking from him, his team feels the same way,” Cornish said. “Now that weight is off our shoulders and we’re free.”

Carter recorded eight points, five assists and 10 rebounds. Walk-on freshman Austin Starr hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds to push the Rebels into triple digits.

Coaching: A

Todd Simon received a team effort from his Rebels and it’s not because he’s calling a great gameplan. He’s letting his Rebels run and letting them figure out the pace of the game.

The half-court issues still haven’t been solved, but it wasn’t a problem this week. The Rebels pushed the ball and attacked the paint for easy buckets in the first half.

Air Force went zone defense in the second half. The Rebels didn’t force anything inside and broke the zone with 3-pointers.

Eventually UNLV will need to address the half-court offense against the better teams in the Mountain West. For now, Simon and the Rebels are relaxed and letting the game come to them.

— Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @gmanzano24

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