Developing defensive toughness easier said than done for UNLV

Boise State is one of those basketball tonics that can cure the common cold, or in the case of UNLV, a midseason week to forget. The Broncos on the road are almost always a willing participant in a home team's desire to right its recent wrongs.

The Rebels received a boost of hope with first-place New Mexico losing Tuesday, then played with a renewed sense of energy 24 hours later, blasting Boise State 75-58 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

It was an expected win against a team that is now 1-9 on the road this season and played very much like an eighth-place side here.

It was also exactly what UNLV needed.

So began a stretch of four Mountain West Conference games that will end the regular season and dictate where UNLV sits once the league tournament begins here March 8. The Rebels were heavily favored Wednesday and will be against visiting teams in Air Force on Saturday and Wyoming on March 3.

But not until we see the Rebels at Colorado State next Wednesday will we know if the road woes that continued to plague them in losses to Texas Christian and New Mexico last week still remain.

Not until we see them defend someone good away from home.

It is what will possibly keep the Rebels close enough to share a conference title -- assuming TCU can oblige by upsetting New Mexico on Saturday -- and definitely what will allow them an opportunity to win games in the NCAA Tournament.

It's not as easy to simply say UNLV needs to be tougher defensively.

It's not known if it can be.

"It's a very difficult thing, extremely difficult," Rebels coach Dave Rice said. "I think it's one thing you have to recruit. I believe you can make guys tougher. I don't believe you can make them tough. It's about having guys who hate to lose, and that's a thing you need to recruit.

"Kids are different. One might hate to lose, and another might want to win but doesn't really hate to lose. Hating to lose is something you have or don't. It's like being able to shoot the ball or not, a characteristic you have to identify in the recruiting process."

UNLV defended well for stretches Wednesday, trapping ball screens and handoffs and pretty much proving itself the better, deeper, more conditioned side. But it also allowed 13 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points. That's where the toughness part comes in. That's where it needs to be a whole lot better.

Some teams take years to develop a culture of defensive toughness, of having a roster full of kids who will dig deep and fight over screens and slide over to take charges and simply refuse to give in at that end of the court, no matter the score or altitude or travel nightmares or anything.

Justin Hutson helped develop such a culture as an assistant at San Diego State and could do the same thing here in time. He has seen it grow and prosper firsthand. He helped write the blueprint for the Aztecs.

The toughest kid in this sense on UNLV's team today is Bryce Jones, who's sitting out a transfer year. The second toughest might be Katin Reinhardt, a UNLV signee still in high school.

You get the idea.

"Take a look at (former San Diego State player) Lorrenzo Wade versus someone else," Rice said. "Or (former Brigham Young player) Jackson Emery. He was tough. He took it personally when someone scored against him. It literally bothered him to no end. You don't teach that. Bryce Jones is tough. We're not going to make him tougher. He's just tough."

He also won't be eligible until next season, so if UNLV is to prove that level of toughness, it will do so with the current group. One impressive thing about the Rebels has been their ability to smoke teams at home, to run people out of the building, to play as elite teams should against inferior opponents. It should serve them well here during the conference tournament.

But next week at CSU?

In the second week of March on a neutral NCAA court?

That's where we will ultimately discover how UNLV's season will be judged. It's all about toughness at the defensive end.

Will it have enough?

"Great question," Rice said. "I don't know. It's a game-by-game basis."

Critical games still loom, and the tonics for that common cold won't be as easy to find as the Broncos were here.

In those times, we'll see if the Rebels can tough it out.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.