Freshman point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. could be getting ready for his high school prom. Instead he leads the UNLV men’s basketball team in scoring and assists.
UNLV
Marcus Arroyo’s second season at UNLV begins with Thursday night’s game against Eastern Washington at Allegiant Stadium. He’s looking for his first win after last year’s 0-6 finish.
David Jenkins Jr. has yet to get going for UNLV basketball, which lost a third straight game to open the season, falling to Alabama 86-74 on Tuesday night.
The Rebels have a fall schedule and will open under Marcus Arroyo as head coach for the first time when meeting San Diego State on Oct. 24.
In a game they never led and, well, one you really never thought they would win, the Rebels fell to Cincinnati 65-61 before an announced gathering of 9,572 at the Thomas Mack Center.
That the Rebels dropped a 43-21 decision to the Trojans on Saturday isn’t nearly the most important chapter early in Tony Sanchez’s fourth year as UNLV coach.
While it’s impossible to directly connect Arizona being linked to arguably one of the biggest scandals in NCAA history with what has been surprisingly inconsistent results thus far, it’s hardly a stretch to suggest the two storylines share a common alliance.
Armani Rogers sure looks the part. If anything is going to suggest more wins are close enough to see, it’s the portrait of a 6-foot-5-inch, strong, ultra-athletic quarterback.
We can confirm UNLV has a men’s basketball team this season, as the lights officially were turned on when first-year coach Marvin Menzies was forced to bring the Rebels out of hiding for the first of two exhibitions at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Marvin Menzies is now coaching a program with a far more profound sense of history in a town whose annual expectations for UNLV basketball exist somewhere between unrealistic and foolish.
Consider: Since the 2012 season, Mountain West teams are a combined 304-330. But the telling part, the absolutely eye-opening and ridiculous part, comes against Power 5 schools, in which the conference is 17-81 over that time.
You never argue with confidence wins defined by video game numbers. They’re part of the process, too, along with recruiting better players and building better facilities and instilling a better mindset when believing success is possible.
It requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking pieces. When the puzzle that is the Rebels of next season is finished, it’s a good bet Cody Doolin will have defined a fairly significant piece.
Playing teams from a major conference is good; losing to them doesn’t help much of anything.
The obvious question: Was the basketball game lost by Boise State or won by UNLV?