San Diego State’s basketball team shot 52.4 percent on 3s and flashed its elite defense in taking out UNLV 76-67 on Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
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The Rebels’ first-year basketball coach hasn’t won any games yet at the school, but he’s winning over fans of all ages by promoting the team across the Las Vegas Valley.
Saturday marks just the second time UNLV football will meet Southern California, the first being a 1997 game in which Jon Denton and the Rebels had a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter before falling.
If faith really means seeing light with your heart when all your eyes see is darkness, it also means seeing success in Columbus, Ohio, when everyone else sees a trip to the woodshed.
What those who remained home didn’t see: A team in UNLV that, while hardly perfect at either end, made more winning plays when arriving at the critical juncture of five minutes remaining.
There is first another 12-game schedule to navigate, and UNLV is hardly an easy book in which to predict an ending. The Rebels will be deeper than last season because it’s impossible not to be.
They began filing out of the Thomas & Mack Center with 4:21 remaining, apparently having seen enough of the clinic San Diego State’s basketball team gave to UNLV on Saturday night.
When the number of Mountain West games is 18 and your program hasn’t won a regular-season league championship in forever, any mark on the left side of a win-loss column is cherished inside a locker room.
Tony Sanchez wouldn’t answer the question, which usually means if you give him a few minutes and attack the point in a different manner, he will have something to say.
What you are witnessing is Dave Rice’s prophecy coming true, and within it will be these sorts of close losses to an experienced team. But as the games and weeks and possessions pass, UNLV basketball improves.