Rice’s team with little to look forward to

In a season when Dave Rice welcomed a recruiting class ranked among the top five nationally, when UNLV’s basketball team was at least expected to hover in the neighborhood of the top in what has proven to be a second-rate Mountain West, things have sunk this low for the Rebels when talking positives:

As the third week of February looms, at least that 3-point streak remains intact.

On a night when the Rebels honored the Hall of Fame coach who brought UNLV its national championship in 1990, the current team continued its forgettable season with a 53-48 loss to Boise State before 13,675 at Thomas & Mack Center.

The Rebels are now 14-12 overall and 5-8 in conference, seemingly destined to finish no better than seventh in conference, which would mean playing on the first day of the league tournament here in March.

That would mean having to win four times in as many days to secure an NCAA Tournament berth.

That would mean, at least for the team that we saw Wednesday night, doing the near-impossible.

As ugly as the play on the court proved to be, the video tribute to Jerry Tarkanian beforehand was touching. So was the chair left vacant on UNLV’s bench and the neatly folded white towel that rested on it. So was the emotion felt by all those in attendance for the first home game since Tarkanian’s passing last week.

The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.

We saw that first hand throughout the state in remembering a coach who unified a community and left a college basketball legacy unmatched in these parts and many others.

Whether it was five of his former players getting tattoos in honor of their coach or the lights on the The Strip going dark for three minutes, Las Vegas both individually and collectively paid tribute in different and yet remarkable ways.

There was nothing special, however, in what the Rebels and Broncos offered once things tipped off.

It got to the point where UNLV fans actually had a Twitter dialogue during the game about what would be better for the Rebels — losing by one and extending their NCAA-record for making at least one 3-pointer in every game since the line was adopted in 1986-87 or winning and having the streak end.

Yes. Where we have landed as the third week of February looms.

Tarkanian must have been looking down on the debacle being played out and felt sorry for his old team, perhaps lending a bit of help as Jelan Kendrick banked in a 3-pointer with 12:12 to play.

“Obviously, it was a very special night for the (UNLV) family, honoring Coach Tarkanian,” Rice said. “It has been very sad the last week. We lost a great coach and an even better man that meant a lot to so many people.

“We’re obviously very disappointed with the outcome. The guys fought. We never gave up. We kept trying. We just weren’t able to make quite enough plays down the stretch. It was a very physical game. They were able to knock us off the block and push us out. We just have to find ways to get the ball in the basket.”

This was a mess all the way around. The teams combined to shoot 3-of-36 from 3-point range. Boise State shot 38 percent for the game and the Rebels 30 percent. The Rebels were outrebounded 47-36. It was just bad basketball.

UNLV isn’t good enough to miss the layups and transition opportunities it did and beat anyone decent. It isn’t good enough to emerge from a halftime locker room up five and be outscored 12-2 to begin the final 20 minutes.

At home, no less.

How in the world does that happen?

The Rebels now face consecutive road games against New Mexico on Saturday and Utah State on Tuesday. They need to be all sorts of better at everything to have a chance against either, much better than they showed on the night a state, a city, a university, a basketball program and its fans remembered Jerry Tarkanian.

“It’s really disappointing,” UNLV guard Cody Doolin said. “Regardless, it was a special night and something as a player I will never forget. It was quite an experience, having a lot of ex-players here and honoring a legendary coach. It was special. Unfortunately, we didn’t come out with a win.”

I’m not sure how many of those they have left in them this season.

Oh, but wait.

They’re young …

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on “Gridlock,” ESPN 1100 and 100.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.