Point (guard) of fact: Rebels need one

Well, at least UNLV’s basketball team can’t complain about not getting calls Friday night.

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 side that certainly won’t be confused with the better teams on UNLV’s schedule.

Many of the announced gathering of 9,981 at the Thomas & Mack Center began filing out with four minutes to play, perhaps accepting the fact such nights could prove a consistent theme over the next five months.

It’s not impossible, but closer than most believe, for a home team to shoot 34 free throws compared to nine for its opponent and lose.

And of those nine by the Jaguars, four came in the final 36 seconds when the Rebels were fouling to stop the clock.

“Obviously, we’re frustrated,” said Menzies, hired in April after nine seasons as head coach at New Mexico State. “I could go on and on about what we did wrong. But I was inspired by the pain (the players) felt. They really do play for Vegas. That’s not just a slogan. They are hurting. That’s good to see. It’s inspiring. I know they’re invested. They know they have to get better.”

It was after UNLV’s exhibition victory against Dakota Wesleyan when Menzies jokingly commented to reporters about the amount of questions he had fielded on the team’s point guard situation.

Reason: The Rebels don’t have one.

UNLV guards were overwhelmed by South Alabama for most of the evening, which obviously doesn’t bode well for when the Rebels play far better defensive teams that can lock them down over 40 minutes.

Those trying their hand at the lead guard spot — players like sophomore Jalen Poyser and junior Jovan Mooring — combined for eight of UNLV’s 16 turnovers.

When calm was needed, chaos ensued. When someone needed to get the Rebels into any sort of set as they tried rallying in the final minutes, no one appeared capable.

When an extra pass or two was paramount, someone instead shot ill-advised attempts.

It’s much like the situation with the school’s football program, where the most important position in terms of leadership doesn’t at this time own a player who excels at such a strength.

The Rebels have different guys who play quarterback, but none are very good at it. Their best quarterback is probably freshman Armani Rogers, who is redshirting.

UNLV’s best point guard is probably Jordan Johnson, who is sitting out a transfer year from Milwaukee.

South Alabama returned its top four scorers from last season and of the six players who received the most minutes Friday, there were three seniors and three juniors. So it isn’t surprising that the Jaguars were far more physical (seven blocks) and handled the intensity of a Division I game better than UNLV.

The Jaguars played harder. I’m not sure yet if a UNLV team with so many new faces understands that and why. That sort of knowledge comes in time and, well, through the pain of losing winnable games.

But if those in charge of running the team are going to struggle, others better have productive nights to create a chance for success.

One of UNLV’s best players, sophomore guard Kris Clyburn, didn’t. He shot 3-of-12 and scored 13 points.

Another, senior forward Christian Jones, did. He finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, and could have had even better numbers had he been more aggressive on those (many) trips South Alabama either didn’t bring a double-team or was late doing so.

“We were trying to get back in it, but we would score and then they would score,” Jones said. “We needed stops. It just didn’t happen. We score, they score. We score, they score.”

Added Clyburn: “It was tough. (Menzies) made sure we kept our heads up and now we go into the next practice like nothing happened. We need to rebound better and we need to finish. Just get back in the gym. It was our first game. Everyone had the jitters.”

UNLV just wasn’t good enough offensively. It shot 37 percent for the game, was 2-of-15 on 3-pointers and had poor-to-awful shot selection for long stretches. It rushed. It panicked. It played as you might expect a team that hasn’t been together for very long and was anxious to begin a season.

The last thing a team that lacks great point guard play should do is try and go too fast. UNLV made too many mistakes at one end and didn’t force enough at the other, where South Alabama only had nine turnovers.

“We had me-shots, which is surprising because they’re not selfish kids,” Menzies said. “That’s the ironic part. We’ll figure it out. We’re going to be much better. If there is any consolation, we can only go up from here. We didn’t show what we can do.”

They showed one thing: There is a reason he has fielded so many questions about point guard.

Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.