What’s the UNLV motto that’s powering Josh Pastner’s Rebels basketball rebuild?

Josh Pastner’s voice was understandably hoarse as he spoke into the mic during his postgame radio show Tuesday night.

The UNLV basketball coach had just teetered on the edge of receiving a technical foul for nearly the entire 40 minutes of his team’s 86-76 upset victory at Utah State because of his consistently boisterous reactions to the officiating.

As Pastner attempted to summarize how the Rebels (10-8, 5-2 Mountain West) accomplished the stellar second-half comeback, it was easy to guess the two words he was going to wear his temporarily impaired vocal abilities out to say:

Grit. Toughness.

Anyone who has listened to Pastner speak for more than five minutes since he was hired to take the helm of the UNLV program in April has likely heard the motto come out of his mouth.

“You guys know I’m a broken record. I repeat myself over and over and over,” Pastner said. “We’re trying to rebuild the program …

“In year one — it’s establishing grit and toughness. Grit and toughness. Every second I’m trying to boil it out of our guys for them to understand that. And they’re understanding it.”

It’s almost better described as a mantra. One that can start to feel like part of a salesman’s shtick amid the roller-coaster experience of Pastner’s first year in Las Vegas, especially when the experience reaches dismal lows like the team’s 98-66 loss at Wyoming on Jan. 6.

But now the Rebels have won three straight games and six of eight. UNLV handed Utah State its first home loss of the season after entering the game as a 16-point underdog and returned victorious from a game in Logan, Utah, for the first time since 2016.

All of which Pastner credits to grit and toughness.

So maybe he’s on to something.

Tactical toughness

Junior transfer guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, who led five UNLV players in double-figure scoring with 21 points, said the win didn’t start out as the Rebels’ most ideal showing.

Described by Pastner as UNLV’s tone-setter, Gibbs-Lawhorn was one of three starters with three fouls in the first half. That period also saw the Rebels go 5-for-13 on layups and send the Aggies to the free-throw line 22 times.

Still, UNLV made key adjustments that allowed it to come back from down 14 points in the final 13 minutes.

“Playing with four fouls, you got to be smart. You have to be careful. But you can’t lose that aggression, you can’t lose that integrity,” Gibbs-Lawhorn said. “We didn’t play a perfect game tonight.

“As a matter of fact, the first half really wasn’t our best game at all. If we keep these things together, keeping working, keep staying on each other, working on each other and having intense practices, then the ceiling is as far as the moon.”

Pastner shifted his offensive plan to get the ball in the hands of Kimani Hamilton and Tyrin Jones as the Rebels made their late push. UNLV also improved its presence in the paint in the second half with help from Emmanuel Stephen, who led the team with eight rebounds. The Rebels also shifted to zone defense and showed glimpses of better execution in the press break in the waning minutes.

“It was really, really hard to do, but we toughed it out,” Pastner said. “It was not pretty, but we found ways to make plays. And their defense makes it hard on you.”

Mental grit

The Rebels also had to play a mental game, an area where Pastner hopes his team will have an edge all season.

After Jones went down hard in the first half with what appeared to be a serious knee injury, Aggies fans taunted him by repeatedly chanting “Get up, Tyrin.”

When Jones returned to the game with tape on his knee, he nearly doubled his first-half production for a stellar second half and finished with a career-high 20 points.

In what Pastner described as another example of mental fortitude, international transfer Walter Brown adapted for his best game as a Rebel, scoring 10 points in an increased 20 minutes after 11 minutes and two points in conference play prior to Tuesday.

“I don’t know if people realize how hard it is to win on the road at Utah State,” Pastner said. “This place is one of the hardest environments to win out on the road.

“Credit to our young men.”

Pastner believes his motto of grit and toughness was the key to success that aided the storied teams led by Jerry Tarkanian, Dave Rice and Lon Kruger.

If it’s not clear already, Pastner believes his team can succeed in the Mountain West if it keeps exhibiting those traits.

“Yes, you have to have talent to win, but talent is secondary,” he said. “When you have the talent, it’s about grit and toughness.

“To win in this league, it’s about grit and toughness.”

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Callie__Fin on X.