Coach Sanchez talks about injuries, recruiting and last year’s Hawaii fiasco

UNLV is a banged-up football team as it prepares to play Hawaii.

Quarterback Blake Decker (shoulder), wide receiver Kendal Keys (general soreness) and defensive tackle Mike Hughes Jr. (concussion) are questionable for Saturday's 3 p.m. game at Sam Boyd Stadium. The game will be streamed online at unlvrebels.com.

Decker missed 2½ games due to a separated nonthrowing shoulder, but this injury is to his throwing arm. Coach Tony Sanchez said, however, Decker has been cleared to play, though he didn't practice Tuesday.

Also, fullback George Naufahu and wide receiver Stephen Sweeney are out for the season because of anterior cruciate ligament tears.

UNLV (2-6, 1-3 Mountain West) is a 9½-point favorite over Hawaii (2-7, 0-5).

Besides UNR, the Rainbow Warriors are the most intense rival on UNLV's schedule. The Rebels are bitter are over last season's ending at Hawaii, when a series of controversial series of events led to a 37-35 victory for the Warriors.

Hawaii also should be energized after coach Norm Chow was fired on Sunday. Coaching changes often create adrenaline, which should benefit interim coach Chris Naeole as he leads the Warriors into this game.

Sanchez addressed the various issues in his weekly news conference Tuesday.

On the importance of recruiting Hawaii: "I believe, if I read the number correctly, there are over 100,000 Polynesians living right here in our Las Vegas Valley. It's a comfortable place, and I think they enjoy it here. I think it's a good place where you can make a good life for yourself, and there's a natural fit. I've said from the beginning that's one of the places that we're really going to recruit heavily."

On last season's controversial loss at Hawaii: "We'll talk about it (with the players) a little bit. We haven't done that yet. Our seniors know what happened. They haven't forgotten it, and that was an unfortunate situation. It looked like the clock might've been mismanaged a little bit. That's a victory that a lot of our guys in the locker room feel like they should've had and earned."

On whether the Rebels will face an emotional Hawaii team after Chow was fired: "I think you've got to prepare like everyone is going to come on fire to play you, but we need to be that way, too. We've done a good to this point of you haven't seen an emotional letdown. That's the one thing that we haven't had this year, and you've got to fight to maintain that. It's hard to go through an entire season and not have that happen. Whatever energy they bring here, we need to be able to match it. We are the ones at home. It is our homecoming game."

On Decker's injury: "We'll see his pain level throughout the week and see if he can do it. It's one of those deals where we've kind of been dealing with it all year. We'll get Kurt (Palandech) ready to go. … Hopefully, by Thursday, we've got (Decker) throwing the ball around and he's got a level of comfort that he feels like he can tolerate."

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65