3 takeaways from UNLV’s 78-76 win over Colorado State

Three takeaways from UNLV’s 78-76 victory over Colorado State on Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center:

1. Issues still remain.

Give the Rebels credit for never giving up despite being behind nearly the entire second half, but the opening part of Mountain West play was supposed to be the easy section for UNLV.

Colorado State had lost seven of eight games before this one, including to the likes of South Dakota. UNLV has had its own tough defeats (see a 25-point loss to Bucknell), but if the Rebels are to do much of anything in conference play, they need to play better than they did against the Rams.

UNLV made 33.8 percent of its shots that included 23.5 percent from 3-point range. But most of the Rebels’ troubles came from inside where they missed 18 of 28 layups.

“I thought we had great shots that didn’t go in, especially around the basket,” UNLV coach Marvin Menzies said. “Even at the end, we had three bunnies that didn’t go in. We played hot potato rather than being focused on contact.”

UNLV ultimately won on a tip-in that didn’t fall. Colorado State’s Nico Carvacho’s hand went through the basket, resulting in the winning goal-tending call.

Miss that many gimmes against UNR, and the Rebels aren’t in the game at the end.

2. Adjusting defensively.

UNLV threw one post player after another for most of the game at Carvacho, and it didn’t matter which player got the assignment. Carvacho, who entered the game averaging 13.9 points and 12.4 rebounds, went for 28 and 20 against the Rebels.

But when it truly counted, the Rebels didn’t let Carvacho beat them, holding him scoreless over the final 6:59.

“We threw some different defenses at them,” Menzies said. “I think the doubles made him think a little bit. He’s good. Even with the doubles, he made the right pass and got to the reverse side and scored. He was too comfortable in the first half.”

3. Shuffling the lineup.

Menzies doesn’t change starting lineups often.

He made one all of last season, putting Tervell Beck in for Kris Clyburn for the final 13 games.

Against Colorado State, Menzies went to a three-guard offense after going with a two-guard, three-forward look for almost the entire season. Sophomore Amauri Hardy received his first career start, sharing the backcourt with seniors Clyburn and Noah Robotham.

UNLV started freshmen Joel Ntambwe and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua in the frontcourt, with sophomore Mbacke Diong coming off the bench for the first time this season.

Diong, however, was in the game down the stretch, finishing with 10 rebounds and what was credited with the winning tip-in.

More Rebels: Follow all of our UNLV coverage online at reviewjournal.com/Rebels and @RJ_Sports on Twitter.

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.