Most of a 10-point lead had vanished over the previous five minutes and UNLV stared at a 66-65 lead with 8:40 left against Southern Utah. For this particular Rebels team, it was the perfect test.
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While the Rebels will cite various statistics to paint a picture of some improvement on the field, such development isn’t near the level it needs to be for sustained success.
Never in its history has the Fremont Cannon deserved to be painted blue as it does now, the result of a 45-10 victory by UNR on Saturday that saw the Wolf Pack outcoach, outplay, and outwork UNLV in every imaginable way.
If you think about those No. 2 pencils used for grade-school exams, you get the idea how thin a margin for error UNLV’s basketball team has.
The Rebels hung in for a half before Boise State flexed its muscles for a 42-25 victory Friday night. But there remains more hints than not that things are moving, slowly but surely, in the right direction.
When the entirety of Sam Boyd Stadium exhaled late Saturday afternoon from the sheer lunacy that had just transpired, UNLV’s football team had earned itself a three-overtime win against favored Wyoming because of a simple but significant element.
The struggles most expect from the inaugural season of the Marvin Menzies Era showed in several forms for the Rebels, who opened with a 76-68 loss to a South Alabama.
Wyoming is another example that winning can be created different ways at different places. That perhaps more important than anything else for a new coach, understanding one’s culture stands above all else.
How much — and early — a UNLV fan base that can be as unrealistic as it is passionate buys into the newest version of the Rebels is anyone’s guess, but never underestimate how a team might respond to the perception of those who watch it.
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.