3 takeaways from UNLV’s 77-64 loss to Fresno State
Three takeaways from the UNLV basketball team’s 77-64 loss to Fresno State on Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center:
1. UNLV is at a tipping point.
The Rebels have lost their past two games by a combined 51 points, and they face a tough closing stretch. They play at New Mexico on Sunday, host UNR on Wednesday and finish the regular season March 3 at Utah State.
UNLV is tied with San Diego State and Wyoming for fifth in the Mountain West, and the top five avoid the first-day play-in games. The Rebels must put behind them the past two performances and find a way to return to the form in which they won five of six games.
Forward Brandon McCoy was asked after the game against Fresno State if there was time for the Rebels to find that spark again, and teammate Shakur Juiston jumped right in to say, “Yes.”
“Absolutely,” McCoy said, echoing Juiston. “It was a tough game, but I feel like we hit a wall like this earlier in the season, and we got back to it. We can easily turn this around. We’ve got the tools and the guys. We’ve just got to get back to the lab.”
The Rebels opened Mountain West play with three home losses before winning their next four games at the T&M, a streak that was broken Wednesday by Fresno State.
“They’ve got to play freer,” UNLV coach Marvin Menzies said. “We’ve got to get out and run. We stopped running a little bit, I don’t know why. That was something we were hanging our hats on earlier.”
2. The Rebels beat themselves.
UNLV shot 29.8 percent, and it wasn’t all because of the Bulldogs’ defense.
The Rebels missed 12 layups and a dunk. That’s 26 points right there in a 13-point loss.
Execution more than effort was the main problem.
“It’s not like we didn’t have good looks,” Menzies said. “We had wide-open shots. They just didn’t fall.”
3. Fans have checked out.
About 4,000 fans showed up Feb. 14 to watch UNLV beat Air Force 81-73. Maybe that many watched the loss to Fresno State.
One reason floated the first time was it was Valentine’s Day. A reason for Wednesday was the Golden Knights were down the street playing before another sellout crowd at T-Mobile Arena.
But the Knights show why they’re drawing and UNLV isn’t. Yes, much of the reason is the novelty of being the city’s first major professional team, but the Knights also are winning big, and the atmosphere inside T-Mobile is electric.
That used to be UNLV, but locals know this is no longer a program with legitimate hopes of making the NCAA Tournament. Until that happens, don’t expect much change in fan support.
More Rebels: Follow all of our UNLV coverage online at reviewjournal.com/Rebels and @RJRebels on Twitter.
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.
