Halftime speech by Rice inspires UNLV in rout of Prairie View

Dave Rice has a reputation of being a soft-spoken coach, but there are rare times he lets his inner Bobby Knight come out.

Derrick Jones Jr. saw that side of Rice for the first time during halftime on Saturday after the UNLV men's basketball team walked into the locker room tied with Prairie View A&M.

"That was a first for me," the freshman forward said.

After what Rice called one of the worst halves of the season, the fifth-year coach let his Rebels have it, and his team responded by starting the second half on a 20-4 run, eventually routing the Panthers, 80-62, in front of an announced crowd of 10,858 fans at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"I've seen that side (of Rice)," Ben Carter said. "It was exactly what we needed. Good teams respond, and that's exactly what we did."

Jones provided the spark Rice shouted for. After scoring two points in the first 20 minutes, Jones ended up with 14 points, and his acrobatic dunks and driving layups in the opening minutes of the second half gave the Rebels a jolt. UNLV went up by as much as 20 points.

Patrick McCaw recorded a team-high 18 points with five 3-pointers, and Stephen Zimmerman Jr. scored 10 before leaving with a sprained right ankle at the 4:46 mark of the first half.

Rice sounded confident during the postgame interview that Zimmerman's injury isn't long term.

Jordan Cornish broke out of a 0-for-15 slump from 3-point range to start the season as he connected on a 3-pointer and recorded 10 points.

Depth is now an issue for the UNLV. With Goodluck Okonoboh announcing his plans to transfer on Friday, Jerome Seagears sitting out Saturday because of the flu and Zimmerman hobbled, the Rebels were forced to rely on their bench players.

Tyrell Green played 15 minutes and scored nine points after only seeing the floor for two minutes the six games prior. Jalen Poyser also saw 11 minutes of action.

The game was decided early in the second half, and the only intrigue was "What athletic play would Jones do next?" Jones played as if he wanted to dunk over two Panthers each time he attacked the rim.

The first half provided more dialogue between UNLV (6-1) and Prairie View A&M (0-5), a small school outside Houston and a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

It seemed the Rebels were ready to take over midway through the first half after climbing back from a 11-17 deficit to take a 24-21 lead with seven minutes left.

The momentum, however, stopped once Zimmerman limped into the locker room and didn't return.

Each time the Rebels scored, the Panthers had an answer. It didn't matter if McCaw hit a 3-pointer — he had four in the first half — Tevin Bellinger would get an open lane for a layup, or Admassu Williams had an easy look for a basket.

There were 10 ties and 12 lead changes in the first half, which ended in a 42-42 knot. UNLV gave up 28 points in the paint in the first 20 minutes.

Bellinger led Prairie View A&M with 18 points, and Williams chipped in 12.

Prairie View A&M doesn't strike fear in many opponents, but this matchup had the makings of a trap game with the Rebels coming off a long road trip in Hawaii for the Maui Invitational and two big games looming versus Oregon and Wichita State.

The Rebels now get a few days off after playing four games this week. UNLV returns to the court against No. 21 Oregon on Friday at the MGM Grand Garden.

UNLV participated in the MGM Grand Showcase last season in a loss to then-No. 14 Utah, 59-46.

Carter, a Las Vegas native, will face his former Duck teammates. The 6-foot-9 redshirt junior transferred back home after playing two seasons in Eugene, Oregon.

"Just another ball game," Carter said about playing Oregon. "Obviously, I've been looking forward to it."

As for Okonoboh's departure, Rice said he is not aware of reports stating Okonoboh was close to buying a plane ticket home after the loss to UCLA on Monday.

"I'm not aware of any of that," Rice said. "I don't know anything about that. I just know he was at every team meeting and was on every bus on time."

Gilbert Manzano can be reached at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com.