UNLV Rebels on guard for game against UC Riverside

Friday was a learning experience for the entire UNLV basketball team, and particularly the guards.

South Alabama gave the Rebels’ backcourt difficulty all night, with UNLV’s three starters combining to shoot 7 of 30 in a 76-68 season-opening loss.

Video has been reviewed, and now the Rebels (0-1) hope to take those lessons and build on them when they face UC Riverside (0-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“We were pretty sluggish in our own offensive transition,” UNLV coach Marvin Menzies said. “We didn’t get out and run the way we wanted to run (and) get to the proper areas on the floor. There was a litany of things. Defensively, I thought we were pretty sad at our fundamentals and weren’t aggressive like we want to be and like we will be going forward.

“We got some good lessons, that’s for sure. You hate to get lessons with a loss, but we were able to take that and move forward into practice.”

Against Riverside, UNLV will have to contend with guards Malik Thames and Chance Murray, who combined to score 29 points against Portland in a 71-55 loss on Friday.

Thames is the point guard, and he likes to take the offense into his hands; he scored 18 points and had just one assist while making 3 of 8 3-pointers.

Murray, an Arizona State transfer, made 4 of 10 shots, including 2 of 7 3-pointers.

“They’ve got a couple of guys that are very skilled and shooting the ball at a high clip right now, especially their point guard,” Menzies said. “No. 11 (Thames) is crafty, just really savvy with his experience. It looks like he grew up with a coach as his dad or something. He does all those little things, and his shot selection is very good.”

UNLV sophomore point guard Jalen Poyser is still adapting to a position that is not natural for him. He is more of a two-guard, but the closest the Rebels have to a true point guard is sitting on bench.

Jordan Johnson is sitting out under NCAA rules after transferring from Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Behind Poyser are Jovan Mooring and Zion Morgan.

Menzies said the emphasis shouldn’t be on who’s running the point.

“It’s not a typical offense where that guy’s got to take it, start the offense in the backcourt,” Menzies said. “There are a lot of things that we do — ball screens and early outlets — that get it out of the point guard’s hands early so that he can become more of just a guard. So I think there are some things we can do offensively from our end, but there is also film and instruction and the intangibles, too. There are certain parts of the game where certain things have to be said on the floor to the guys from a vocal standpoint, and (Poyser’s) getting better at that every day.”

Poyser scored 17 points against South Alabama, but was 3 of 11 on field goals and had one assist to four turnovers. Now he hopes to improve his performance against the Highlanders.

“When things weren’t going the right way, it’s the point guard’s job to get the team back on track,” Poyser said. “I’ve been watching film. I’ve seen what I need to improve on as a point guard, and I’m going to bring it into the next game.”

NOTE — Jay Green, a 6-foot-5-inch guard at Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix, signed with UNLV. He is the first member of the Rebels’ 2016-17 recruiting class. “It’s a school I’ve been following for a long time,” Green said. “I’ve always dreamed of going to that school. It’s a great program, great coaches, great atmosphere.”

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