Rebel Report Card: UNLV vs. New Mexico

The Todd Simon era is off to a rousing start.

UNLV sped up the game on both ends of the floor and earned its first conference win of the season with an 86-74 home win over New Mexico on Tuesday night.

Simon, named the interim coach on Sunday after Dave Rice was dismissed following an 0-3 start to conference play, led the Rebels to their best effort in weeks.

Backcourt: B+

Patrick McCaw emerged from a prolonged slump with a great game for UNLV on Tuesday night. The sophomore was very engaged on both ends of the floor, finishing with 18 points, three assists and two steals. McCaw hit two 3-pointers early in the second half to help UNLV start to pull away from the Lobos. Jerome Seagears also had his best game in weeks. He had 10 points and two assists while playing 30 minutes. Seagears missed all four 3-point attempts, but made all four shot attempts from inside the arc. Both guards pitched in on the defensive end to limit Cullen Neal to 2 of 10 shooting with three turnovers, though his backcourt mate Elijah Brown had a huge game. McCaw and Seagears combined for just one turnover in 60 minutes of action. Unforced errors had been killing UNLV as the Rebels lost three conference games to start Mountain West play.

Frontcourt: B

Stephen Zimmerman had what he believes was his best game of the season as the freshman finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds in the victory. Zimmerman also helped lock down the paint with four blocked shots. UNLV didn't get a whole lot of contribution from the two other starters in the frontcourt, however. Derrick Jones missed his only shot attempt, which came from 3-point range, and committed four fouls and a turnover in seven minutes of action. Dwayne Morgan wasn't much better, finishing with four points and four rebounds in 18 minutes.

Bench: A

The UNLV reserves outscored their New Mexico counterparts 39-5 in the victory. Ike Nwamu led the way with 15 points on 5 of 10 shooting, including a 3-for-8 effort from 3-point range. Ben Carter did a little bit of everything, racking up 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Jalen Poyser was once again a spark as he had eight points in just 15 minutes. Jordan Cornish, who has been in a shooting slump all season, once again teased UNLV fans by knocking down a pair of 3-pointers.

Coaching: A

It's entirely possible UNLV was bound to break out of its funk on Tuesday regardless of who was on the sidelines. But Simon was the coach and needs to get credit for a great all-around effort. UNLV sped up the tempo on both ends of the floor and it resulted in some easy looks on offense and some panicked possessions for New Mexico. The Rebels, who had committed 19 turnovers per game over the three-game Mountain West losing streak, cut down to just seven against the Lobos. The increased tempo also forced New Mexico into coughing it up 14 times. Perhaps most impressively, UNLV was able to take advantage of winning the turnover battle. The Rebels scored 24 points off miscues to just seven for the Lobos. That's a major edge. Simon's challenge will now be to bottle up whatever UNLV was able to do on Tuesday night and try to carry the momentum forward through the rest of conference play. If the Rebels play like that, they will be among the favorites.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj