Flu bug hits Rebels before difficult stretch of 3 games in 7 days

The injury bug for UNLV basketball has been replaced with another ailment.

The flu bug.

It has made a run through the team in recent days to the point coach Josh Pastner isn’t sure how many able bodies he will have for Saturday’s game against Air Force at Thomas & Mack Center.

It even got the man in charge.

“It has been a tough week,” Pastner said. “I don’t really get sick and I was in a fetal position for 48 hours. It was the worst I have ever experienced. So I know when guys are getting it, it’s bad.

“The bottom line is, hopefully we’ll have a majority of guys healthy enough and we’ll do what we can to get them back quickly and see how they are.”

The Rebels (6-6, 1-0 Mountain West) are looking for their first three-game win streak of the season when welcoming the struggling Falcons (3-10, 0-2), who have lost six straight and own conference defeats to San Diego State and Wyoming.

But they still run the Princeton attack with all those back-cuts. They still change defenses. They can still be pests to compete against.

“I ran it a whole lot when I was at Georgia Tech, so I have great familiarity with it,” Pastner said. “That said, we have to get ready to compete.”

It might be easier to do if so many players weren’t sick.

But this is the type of season it has been for UNLV. Injuries mounted early. Pastner compared things Friday to existing within choppy waters, hoping to soon see calmer seas and then maybe even reach land.

“We’ve just got to figure things out,” Pastner said. “Someone can say, ‘Coach, I can play,’ but he hasn’t practiced in three days. It has just been one of those years.

“I just told our staff we have to get to games healthy. You don’t get credit for having good practices. We have a quick turnaround. We (play) Saturday, Tuesday and then Friday over the next seven days. We need to get healthy in order to give ourselves a chance to compete and try to win games.”

UNLV’s next three games are against Air Force and then road contests against Wyoming and Colorado State.

Season-ending injuries

Pastner confirmed Myles Che and Ladji Dembele are unlikely to play this season while dealing with foot injuries. Che’s absence has taken from UNLV its starting point guard and has mostly put the onus on Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn to handle such duties.

And he has done so quite well.

Gibbs-Lawhorn leads UNLV in scoring (17.3 average) and is second in assists.

Pastner said the junior is playing the best basketball of his life.

“Dra has had to adjust on the fly,” Pastner said. “We’ve been teaching him a lot with film. We’ve just really been on him every step of the way.

“He has to keep it going for our team to be successful. Our guard play has to be elite. Our point guard play has to be really good for our team to be really good.”

They also need to remove themselves from the choppy waters.

“It’s all day-by-day,” Pastner said. “I don’t know who’s going to be out there (Saturday). Whoever it is has to get the job done and produce. Figure out a way to help us play at a high level and get us a win.”

Contact Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.