Northern Colorado’s win at Wyoming gets UNLV’s attention

UNLV coach Marvin Menzies probably won’t have any difficulty motivating his players when they open Mountain West basketball play Dec. 30 against Boise State.

Getting their attention for opponents such as Northern Colorado is more of a challenge, but Menzies received a big assist Tuesday night when the Bears won 91-84 at Wyoming.

“You can always talk to your team about how good the competition is and show them film, but the fact of the matter is where are their results?” Menzies said. “They’ve had a couple of very close losses, and they’ve had a couple of very good wins. So I think that there’s enough out there for our guys to be on full alert.”

UNLV (10-2) ends its nonconference schedule against Northern Colorado (9-3) at 7 p.m. Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center. A victory by the Rebels — a 13-point favorite — would equal their victory total from last season.

The game will be streamed online by Stadium on Facebook Watch. Fans need to follow the Live: Stadium College Basketball page to view the game.

UNLV is coming off an uneven but dominant performance Wednesday over Mississippi Valley State. The Rebels beat the lowest-rated (No. 351) team in Kenpom 95-63, and they will need a better performance against Northern Colorado, which is No. 171. UNLV is No. 70.

Andre Spight, a 6-foot-3-inch guard, leads the Bears in scoring, averaging 17.7 points.

He’s shooting 38.5 percent from 3-point range. Teammate Jordan Davis, a 6-2 guard from Canyon Springs High School, averages 15.6 points.

Spight scored 24 points and Davis 13 against Wyoming. The Bears jumped on the Cowboys, scoring the first 15 points — all on 3-pointers.

“Northern Colorado, fortunately, is a team that has a similar style to Boise State in reference to being able to shoot the 3-ball, spread the floor, a lot of ball screens,” Menzies said. “A lot of sets and actions that are similar to Boise State, so it’s a good prep for us before we play Boise State. They’re a good team, so we’ve got be ready for them on Friday.”

UNLV doesn’t want to learn the hard way when Northern Colorado visits. Wyoming should serve as plenty of warning.

Rebels guard Jovan Mooring hadn’t seen video of the Bears when asked about them Wednesday night, but he knew they had beaten Wyoming.

“Coach has been drilling us about how good they are,” Mooring said. “Statistically speaking, they’re pretty good, so I think the team that’s coming in on Friday is going to be pretty complex to play.”

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