UNLV basketball fans get first chance to see new Rebels

Except for three exhibition games in August in the Bahamas, UNLV’s basketball team has been mostly out of sight.

The Rebels have practiced behind closed doors, opening Mendenhall Center to the media just twice, including last Tuesday for the beginning of a scrimmage.

There was some insight gained that day, but much more will be learned by the media and fans — and, for that matter, the players and coaches — at 7 p.m. Tuesday when the Rebels play an exhibition game against NAIA Division II school Dakota Wesleyan and the Thomas & Mack Center.

It’s the first of two exhibitions this week. UNLV hosts New Mexico Highlands on Friday before opening its season with a home game against South Alabama on Nov. 11.

Plenty of questions follow UNLV into its game against Dakota Wesleyan, which already played a regular-season game in defeating Waldorf 93-64 on Friday. And more questions will remain even after the night concludes because first-year coach Marvin Menzies is still trying to figure what he has to work with, and one exhibition won’t provide all the answers.

But the chance to play another team in front of a live crowd, even if the game doesn’t count in the standings, will provide some knowledge.

“There’s a lot more to get from this type of situation in terms of evaluating yourself,” Menzies said. “But you know how that goes. The competition kicks in when the ball goes up.”

Six-foot-4-inch sophomore Jalen Poyser probably will start at point guard for the Rebels, and Menzies said he still was evaluating that position. Expect others to get a shot at running point to give Menzies and his staff a better idea of where that position stands.

The frontcourt is even more uncertain with 6-11 freshman Cheickna Dembele out with an injured right heel, and 6-8 junior Dwayne Morgan still coming back from hip surgery over the summer. Christian Jones, a 6-7 senior, probably will start in the post, a spot he played in the Bahamas and where he could begin the regular season.

“Who walks out on the floor first is far more important (to the players) than it is to me,” Menzies said. “Who plays? Who’s on the floor at the end of the game?”

Only three players return from last season’s team, which went 18-15. The Rebels head into this season with low external expectations, having been picked by the media to finish eighth in the Mountain West.

“We can’t get caught up in what everybody’s saying about this year,” 6-8 freshman forward Troy Baxter Jr. said. “We’ve just got to get better. We’ve got to worry about us. We don’t really care about the outside sources.”

Menzies has said he wants to push pace, and the Rebels did that in those August exhibitions and again in last week’s scrimmage, so expect UNLV to come out running against Dakota Wesleyan.

The difference between the exhibitions in the Bahamas and this one is the Rebels will treat Tuesday’s like a real game.

“We’ll try to put together a scouting report,” Menzies said. “We’ll prepare for them. That’s good for us as a staff and for the players to understand what the game preparation will be like, so we’ll go through the full routine.”

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