Rebels want bolder McCaw to lead aggressive attack

Unlike most go-to scorers, UNLV sophomore Patrick McCaw prefers a quiet life. Celebrating after big plays is not his style. He never cares to attract attention or see his name in headlines.

If he piles up shot attempts and points, he's inclined to get embarrassed.

"I think I'm such a team player, I just want everybody else to shine, more than myself sometimes," he said.

He spoke softly, of course. His personality is probably refreshing to an older generation. His former coach, Dave Rice, said McCaw was more comfortable being Robin than playing Batman. Now, it's up to a new coach to bring out his bolder, Batman side.

In Todd Simon's second game as interim coach, the Rebels (10-7, 1-3 Mountain West) host Air Force (10-7, 1-3) at 7 p.m. today at the Thomas & Mack Center, where there no longer is so much tension in the air.

Rice was fired Sunday. No offense to him, two of his former players said, but the coaching change allowed the team to exhale and play with nothing to lose. The result Tuesday was a runaway victory over New Mexico.

Senior guard Jerome Seagears explained the scenario best, saying Rice's firing forced the team to hit "rock bottom" and hit the reset button.

"I think guys on the team just felt the pressure, and probably just felt the pressure of the coaching staff," Seagears said. "Coach Rice is our guy, and he's a great person, but he was kind of put in a situation where the pressure was getting to everybody."

Against the Lobos, Seagears said, "We were playing the way we should play, and we weren't so uptight. We just want to get up and down."

There was an obvious difference in McCaw's play. He scored 18 points — his most in a game since Nov. 28 — and committed only one turnover in 30 minutes. Some of it had to do with Simon's shift in philosophy.

UNLV will be a full-court pressure defensive team that runs in transition for the rest of the season, Simon said. Rice promised that approach throughout the offseason before going conservative and backing off. An open-court game appeals more to McCaw.

"Coach Simon was stressing, 'Get out and run.' We pressed the whole game. Everybody brought energy," McCaw said. "When we get out and run, it's scary. If we continue to press, it's going to speed everybody up in our league, and I don't think (opponents) are going to be able to handle it."

One of the last major changes Rice made was to shift McCaw and Seagears in the backcourt. McCaw moved to point guard, which was not Seagears' natural position but one he was trying to learn. Simon said he's sticking with McCaw, inherently more unselfish than Seagears, as the primary point man.

Simon said McCaw, like most of his teammates, will be more effective in fast-paced games. The Rebels, unlike most other teams in the Mountain West, do not fare well in slow, grinding half-court situations. Opposing teams were getting physical with McCaw, grabbing him and gearing the defense to stop him.

"The more we can push and run and stay out of the half court, it makes it a lot harder to do all of those things to take a guy out of his game," Simon said. "The game plan was to stop us, stop Pat."

McCaw should see more open space to run the floor and lose some inhibitions.

"He's such a phenomenal player if you give him a little bit of a crack because he can go 60 feet in a hurry," Simon said. "You can lose him in transition because he's so fast."

During a spectacular November, McCaw scored 20 or more points in all three games of the Maui Invitational and was averaging 19.2 points when the team returned from Hawaii. But in ugly December losses to Wichita State, Arizona State, Arizona and Fresno State, McCaw averaged 5.0 points and seemed to be lost in a fog. He said there were no off-court problems in his life.

"There wasn't anything going on," he said. "I think I was just having some off games."

UNLV needs its leading scorer to return to the Batman role he played in November. The team flopped when he regressed into Robin.

"Coach Simon has been stressing to me that I've got to be aggressive, and that's going to open up the floor for everybody else," McCaw said.

On the day Rice was fired, McCaw said softly, things were put in perspective. The Rebels are again envisioning a run to win the Mountain West.

"Losing somebody like that kind of hits you close to home because Coach Rice is like a father to most of us and everybody respected him," McCaw said. "Losing him midseason, people are upset about it. We're playing with a chip on our shoulder.

"I think this team still has some special things coming its way. Everybody is in practice bringing the energy and having fun. It was hard for me to deal with, but now I'm trying to continue to win and just do it for Coach Rice."

— Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyoumans247.