3 takeaways from UNLV’s 74-58 win over New Mexico
Three takeaways from UNLV’s 74-58 victory over New Mexico on Tuesday at the Thomas &Mack Center:
1 Nick Blair was there offensively.
Blair, a UNLV junior walk-on who played at Bishop Gorman High School, has been getting more playing time recently and took advantage of it against the Lobos.
The forward scored 26 points for the Rebels (11-7, 5-1 Mountain West), making 4 of 6 3-pointers and 9 of 14 overall.
“When you’ve got a staff like we do and teammates like we do, you got out there confident,” Blair said. “I know my teammates trust me and the coaching staff trusts me, so if you’ve got everybody basically on the team knowing that you can shoot those shots, it’s not too hard to believe in yourself when you shoot those shots.”
It was his first double-digit game for UNLV, but Blair has become an increasingly important part of the rotation. Including the 29 minutes he played against New Mexico (9-10, 3-4), Blair was in for 71 minutes over the past three games, scoring 42 points.
Before the Jan. 16 trip to Air Force, he had played only three games and totaled 19 minutes and three points.
“Guys like that you’re really happy for them when they have success because he’s paid the price,” UNLV coach Marvin Menzies said. “He was still so positive (despite not playing earlier). He was great every day in practice. Whatever I asked him to do, he did with great energy and with great effort.”
2 Noah Robotham was there defensively.
His defense on New Mexico’s Anthony Mathis was a big part of the Rebels’ 80-69 victory two weeks earlier.
And Robotham, a senior walk-on who played at Gorman, came through again. He held Mathis to six shots and eight points.
Like in the first game, Robotham shadowed Mathis throughout, only occasionally through a switch finding himself on a different player.
Mathis made 3-of-14 shots, including 2-of-10 3-pointers, and scored nine points in the first meeting.
“On a shooter like that, you just need to make him a bit uncomfortable,” Robotham said. “My coaches draw up the game plan that put me in a position to be successful. I didn’t come to them and say, ‘I want to face guard Mathis for 40 minutes.’ They brought that to me. They told me the correct principles on how to play everything. All I did was watch his tendencies and see where he would have a tougher time going because he’s a good player.”
3 UNLV’s free throws were surprisingly not there.
The Rebels had been making those shots recently, shooting 73.8 percent in Mountain West play.
UNLV made just 10 of 23 in this game, and fortunately for the Rebels, the game wasn’t close enough for that to matter. But it’s not like New Mexico was hot from the line, either, converting just 8 of 15.
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.
