UNLV capitalizing at the free throw line

Maybe it was superstition or maybe he simply didn’t want his players thinking too much about it, but UNLV coach Marvin Menzies didn’t want to make a big deal about how he and his staff emphasize free-throw shooting.

“The less we talk about it, probably the better,” he said.

But three games into the basketball season, it has been a big deal.

The Rebels not only have shot well from the line in winning back-to-back games, they shot well when it mattered most.

After UC Riverside took a one-point lead in Wednesday’s game, Christian Jones made a free throw to complete a three-point play, and Jovan Mooring then converted all four attempts, and the Rebels never looked back in a 74-62 victory.

Then in Saturday’s 77-68 victory over Cal State Fullerton, Mooring made 10 of 11 free throws during a critical stretch, and the Rebels hit all eight in the final minute to hold off the Titans.

UNLV made 42 of 49 free throws in the two games combined.

The Rebels (2-1) next play Northern Arizona (1-4) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Thomas & Mack Center, but if the Rebels are in a position of needing to sink pressure free throws down the stretch, that won’t be a good sign for them. They are 14-point favorites over an NAU team that went 5-25 last season.

“They’ve got some good individual players that haven’t had any breakout games, but they do have some pretty decent talent on their roster,” Menzies said of NAU. “They’ve got a couple of experienced guys that have played a lot of minutes. So any time you have that as a sticking point, you’ve got to make sure you know those guys are going to come into UNLV ready to play.”

This is another preliminary-round game in the Global Sports Classic. The Rebels also will host Texas Christian on Friday and Washington or Western Kentucky on Saturday.

Whether or not UNLV will need to make clutch free throws against NAU, the Rebels probably will need to come through in such moments in order to win on Friday or Saturday. And at other points in the season.

That’s where the early success could help.

“Every game is not going to be an easy game,” forward Dwayne Morgan said. “In college basketball, you’re going to have some grind-out games, and I think that really shows the character of our team.

“Two games back-to-back, we had to gut it out, dig down deep and gut out a win. It’s early in the season, so if we just capitalize on that from here on, it’s going to pay off when we play the big teams in the future.”

UNLV coaches put the players through various free throw shooting competitions, even on game day.

Players can’t leave practice until a certain number of consecutive free throws are made. Sometimes it’s 10, sometimes it’s 15.

Coaches also divide players into free-throw shooting teams, the losing side having to run or suffer “some form or punishment” in another way, Menzies said.

“In the summer time, we spend hours shooting 100 free throws every day,” Morgan said. “That shows how it pays off when you work on free throws in the offseason.”

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