Prepared Rebels play smart; athletic department should follow suit

The effort by UNLV's basketball team Wednesday night against Arizona was as impressive as the ticket pricing for the game was brainless. The strategy during the game was as terrific as the promotional push was dreadful before it.

UNLV did more than its share to shove Arizona to the edge of defeat. Too bad more people weren't inclined to attend. Too bad the local buzz surrounding the nation's 19th-ranked team visiting the Thomas & Mack Center was that of an electric razor on failing batteries.

Arizona won 52-49 before an announced gathering of 13,676, but not before UNLV showed what its coaching staff can do with ample time to organize a game plan that nearly proved good enough to beat more talented and explosive players.

If the Rebels have defended better under Lon Kruger than they did in the first half Wednesday, such a time can't be immediately recalled. If this is the kind of intensity we can expect when UNLV is at its most stingiest stages this season, opposing teams will find creating offense more difficult than Roger Clemens forming a believable excuse to that certain report.

One thing that stood out as much as how impressively the Rebels frustrated Arizona's leading scorers were all the empty seats around the View Level. Maybe the holidays would have kept people home regardless. Maybe not even the most inviting ticket prices would have torn Christmas shoppers away from the mall.

Premium pricing for highly regarded opponents happens everywhere. It's hardly a new concept to charge a bit more for your fans to watch one of the nation's best programs. It's a reality of college athletics.

But if Mike Hamrick is indeed the one who sets single-game prices, the idea of charging $36 for Plaza Level and $18 for View (each of which includes a $2 processing fee, a hilarious truth in itself) on a Wednesday night in late December suggests the UNLV athletic director pursue a winter session course in Economics.

Make up in volume what you lose in cost. At least try to do so. Try to create the most electric atmosphere possible on the chance your team plays its heart out and nearly upsets a top-20 program.

Number crunchers hate to hear this, but environment in a tight game like this is as important as dollars, if not more so. Would the end-zone areas of the View Level be that pathetically empty had UNLV charged $12 a seat way up high? Would more people have come out if there had been any semblance of a ticket promotion for the game?

We'll never know.

We know this: UNLV went small for even itself and aggravated and disrupted and confused the Wildcats for 36 minutes. The Rebels aren't near as good as Arizona. They were going to get beat on the boards regardless of the outcome.

But in making the decision to wreck the rhythm of Chase Budinger and Jerryd Bayless outside while daring Jordan Hill to beat them inside, UNLV gave itself the best possible chance.

Bayless averages 20 points and Budinger 17, but they combined for just 14 on 4-for-20 shooting. Even the most impressive freshmen nationally get rushed at times, and Bayless looked every bit the part when defended by UNLV junior Wink Adams.

It was that part about Hill that ultimately stung the Rebels. The 6-foot-10-inch sophomore went for 16 points and 19 rebounds because UNLV has no one near his ability near the basket.

The Rebels also didn't finish. Four minutes is too long a stretch to play poorly in a one- or two-possession game against anyone (never mind Arizona), and UNLV shooting 0-for-7 after taking a 48-44 lead sealed its fate.

"A tough loss, but we'll get better from it," Kruger said. "As disappointed as we are, we feel like we made progress the last 10 days and now need to keep it going. Our effort was great. Credit Arizona. They're very good defensively.

"Our defense has just gotten better and better. We need to be more physical on the boards. We need to work harder at that and have the five guys out there committed to it. We're pretty much committed to playing this way -- put a smaller lineup out there and create offense from defense and make their big men cover us out on the floor. We've got a ways to go."

Not as far as those pricing tickets do in the old common sense department. Of course, these are the same people who on Dec. 8 charged $35 a seat to watch UNLV whip a bad Fresno State team at the Orleans Arena, where the announced crowd of 4,924 was reportedly a laughable estimation.

Brainless.

Ed Graney's column is published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.