Newly ranked UNLV goes for Mountain West clincher at Thomas & Mack

UNLV senior guard Justice Ethridge didn’t know what was happening. She wasn’t sure what people were talking about when her phone started blowing up Monday morning.

Then she saw the recently released Associated Press women’s basketball poll, which ranked UNLV at No. 23.

It’s the first time the program has been part of the AP poll since 1994. For Ethridge, who arrived at UNLV in 2018 after graduating from Centennial High School in Las Vegas, it’s a marker of just how far the program has come.

“This team is very special,” Ethridge said. “We’re doing some special things this year.”

The Lady Rebels (24-2, 14-0 Mountain West) get their first challenge since appearing in the poll against San Jose State (3-21, 1-12) at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The game will be played in the Thomas &Mack Center instead of Cox Pavilion, and a win for coach Lindy La Rocque’s squad will clinch the Mountain West regular-season championship outright.

The Lady Rebels, riding a 15-game winning streak, have already clinched at least a share of the conference title, holding a four-game lead over Colorado State, San Diego State and Wyoming with four games to play.

“We’ve put in a lot of hard work,” La Rocque said. “One of our first goals was to win the regular season, and we’ve given ourselves a little bit of cushion here to finish the job. But we want to do it on our terms, and so we want to win this game on Thursday — and every game after that for the most part.”

This season’s stretch run has been a little different than last season, when UNLV had to battle for the regular-season title with New Mexico. An 80-76 road win against Colorado State in the penultimate game of the regular season ensured UNLV won the championship, the first in La Rocque’s tenure as coach.

She described last year’s title celebration on the road as intimate and exciting, but La Rocque and her team are looking forward to the opportunity to share a championship-clinching moment with UNLV fans against the Spartans.

“There’s nothing better than defending your home court,” sophomore guard Kenadee Winfrey said. “You want to do that for all the fans that continue to show up, so being able to do that not only for them but for ourselves as well feels really good.”

La Rocque is even more thrilled to have the chance to win the title at the Thomas &Mack Center.

The Lady Rebels always try to get at least one late-season game at Thomas &Mack to help them prepare for the Mountain West tournament.

It’s just a coincidence that UNLV has a chance to clinch the title during the preplanned Thomas &Mack game, but La Rocque said she hopes this can be the beginning of a possible transition for the Lady Rebels into the historic stadium full-time.

“We want to play all our games in here in the future because we want to get more than 2,000 fans at our games,” La Rocque said.

In the meantime, La Rocque and her staff are trying to keep the team engaged and mentally sharp. UNLV hasn’t faced a real threat to its run so far this season, so it’s been important for the players to stay locked in, especially since the Lady Rebels will still likely have to win the conference tournament to receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

La Rocque said the coaches try to give players specific objectives to achieve during games, a sort of game within the game. She said there are certain mental aspects that are easy to focus on when a team knows it needs to win. However, a lack of urgency can creep in for a team like UNLV that has a significant safety factor in the standings.

Winfrey said the coaching staff’s approach keeps things engaging as the season progresses.

“If you’re not having fun, it’s hard to come back and practice and then win those tough games,” Winfrey said. “Teams that are having fun are the most connected, are the ones that win those tough games we’ve had.”

Contact reporter Andy Yamashita at ayamashita@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ANYamashita on Twitter.