3 takeaways from UNLV’s 86-78 victory at UNR

RENO — Three takeaways from the UNLV basketball team’s 86-78 victory over UNR on Wednesday at Lawlor Events Center:

1. UNLV is dangerous when Jovan Mooring has it going.

Mooring began hitting his shots early, and that usually bodes well for the Rebels. Other than Mooring, they don’t have a lot of shooters who can stretch opposing defenses.

UNLV is 9-1 this season when he scores at least 15 points, with the only defeat coming at home to New Mexico when the Rebels squandered a late lead. They are 8-6 when Mooring doesn’t hit that mark.

He scored a career-high 31 points against UNR, making 11 of 20 shots that included 6 of 12 from the 3-point line.

“Jovan, he was JoJo tonight,” UNLV coach Marvin Menzies said. “He made shots. Too many circus shots, but we’re going to work on keeping him in his box. But he can make those shots, and that’s the thing about it. It’s a rare thing when you’ve got a guy who can shot fake and get to the line like that, but he’s got a good level of concentration and he plays through (the contact). I thought defensively he was really, really good as well.”

Just as important as the scoring and defense was the intensity Mooring provides.

“I owe it to my teammates,” Mooring said. “They were collapsing their defense on our bigs, and it opened space on the floor. Our guards did a great job of getting to the paint. Guys were finding me, and I was able to feed off that.”

2. Losing Caleb Martin is a huge blow to UNR.

The Wolf Pack’s leading scorer — he averages 19.8 points — is out indefinitely with a sprained left foot. His absence hurt UNR, which shot 38.2 percent overall and 28.6 percent from 3-point range.

Martin is shooting 50.5 percent, including 46.9 from the 3-point line.

“It’s a little bit of an asterisk not having Caleb there,” Menzies said. “He’s a phenomenal player, an NBA player, but that’s the way the ball bounces sometimes. Hopefully, he’ll get healthy.”

UNR coach Eric Musselman talked about the Wolf Pack being in danger of not making the top five of the Mountain West standings and having to go through a play-in game. At 9-2 in league play, that is highly unlikely.

No question, though, not having Martin changes the dynamic in the Mountain West, making Boise State (10-2 MW) the new favorite. UNR, which is ranked No. 23 in both polls, appeared to be a lock for an at-large berth should the Wolf Pack fall short in next month’s conference tournament. Now that’s not so certain, which again would make the Mountain West a one-bid league.

3. Shakur Juiston was overshadowed, but shouldn’t be overlooked.

Even without Caleb Martin, UNR put a frontcourt on the floor that included Jordan Caroline (18 points, seven rebounds) and Cody Martin (16 points). But Juiston got inside all night against the Wolf Pack, finishing with 19 points and 12 rebounds.

Underscoring his dominant inside play, Juiston made 9 of 11 shots.

He also helped the Rebels win the rebounding battle 45-32.

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.