UNLV women’s basketball team has won two straight Mountain West titles but is hungry for a third as conference play begins Saturday.
Sports Columns
The Rebels remain relevant on several fronts in talks about Power Five expansion after Colorado left the Pac-12 to go back to the Big 12.
Eight new faces — many of them known for their ability at the defensive end — highlight UNLV’s basketball roster under second-year coach Kevin Kruger.
Second-year coach Lindy La Rocque has the UNLV women’s basketball team sitting atop the Mountain West with a 9-1 record, and the Lady Rebels are 17-4 overall.
Rare was the familiar face running up and down the Mendenhall Center courts for a UNLV team featuring nine transfers. But the effort and intensity were there.
With point guard Nikki Wheatley watching in a knee brace, UNLV fails to penetrate Colorado State’s zone defense and loses its Mountain West women’s basketball opener at Cox Pavilion.
The quote goes like this: Seize the moment, because some opportunities don’t come twice.
“Saturday night after Thanksgiving on ESPN and, for whatever reason, everyone was watching,” Rebels coach Dave Rice said. “Recruits, opposing coaches and players, everyone. We score 90 points playing our style of basketball and beat the No. 1 team in the country.
If July arrives and Tre’Von Willis finds himself playing in the NBA Summer League among other drafted or free-agent rookies in search of a job among the world’s best players, it will be as much for his know-how than anything.
You can’t minimize the charges. Felony domestic battery by strangulation. Felony grand larceny. Misdemeanor coercion.
The thing to realize is not 45 missed shots. It’s that few of them were even open. It’s that when you defend the basketball in November as well as Cal did Friday, an opponent must play far beyond its own potential to have a chance.
Kathy Olivier just keeps talking — she’s a college basketball coach, which means she owns the intrinsic capacity to yap like Churchill — until the recruit’s eyes flicker. That’s when she knows the proper button has been pushed.