3 takeaways from UNLV’s loss to San Diego State
Three takeaways from the UNLV basketball team’s 64-51 loss to San Diego State on Tuesday night at the Thomas & Mack Center:
1. THIS ISN’T A TYPICAL SAN DIEGO STATE TEAM
That was evident even before the teams tipped off, given the Aztecs’ struggles leading up to the game. They hadn’t won a road game until Tuesday.
And they didn’t play particularly well against UNLV, at least not offensively in shooting 41.5 percent. Jeremy Hemsley was held to four points on 1-of-10 shooting, 12 points below his season average.
UNLV had its moments, taking a 25-18 lead with about seven minutes left in the first half before the Aztecs rallied to take a three-point advantage into halftime. San Diego State turned up its defense in the second half, and UNLV scored just 20 points.
“It’s a big missed opportunity,” UNLV guard Uche Ofoegbu said. “Every conference game you don’t win puts us back in the standings. Obviously, we wanted to build off the New Mexico win (a week earlier). We came up short. I’m not even going to say it’s mostly on them because we had a lot of mistakes that hurt us.”
2. JOVAN MOORING MUST PLAY BETTER
Mooring was in foul trouble almost from the start, picking up two fouls in the first four minutes. As the starting point guard, Mooring being sent to the bench helped throw the Rebels’ offense out of rhythm.
He picked up his third foul seven seconds into the second half and his fourth 1:07 later. Mooring fouled out with 6:21 left.
Mooring had four turnovers and one assist in 18 minutes.
UNLV coach Marvin Menzies was asked what he would tell Mooring after a night like this.
“You let us down,” Menzies responded. “You let us down because you weren’t disciplined enough to play smarter basketball and not foul. We needed you on the floor, son.
“I don’t want to hear, ‘You didn’t foul,’ because you reached. A reach can be perceived as a foul by officials sometimes. Even if you got all ball, it doesn’t matter whether you fouled or not. You reached. It’s undisciplined. But we don’t win at The Pit (in New Mexico) without him, either. You love him, you teach him and be ready for the next game.”
3. PERSPECTIVE IS IMPORTANT
Better Aztecs teams than this one have come into the Thomas & Mack, but San Diego State is still expected to contend for the Mountain West tournament championship.
And to that end, Menzies didn’t want to make more of this loss than necessary.
“I don’t think anybody’s frazzled,” Menzies said. “I think San Diego State’s a better team, and they beat us. Come on, call it what it is now. It’s San Diego State. A pretty good team. Top 25 team defensively in the United States, and they proved it. We scored 51 points.”
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.
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