Okonoboh playing through pain for Rebels

There are days when Goodluck Okonoboh’s right foot feels fine and he can run, jump and do everything you would want a 6-foot-10-inch basketball player to do.

Then there are the moments of pain, the debilitating kind of pain that feels like someone is stabbing your foot with an ice pick and trying to take a step is a huge challenge.

That is Okonoboh’s world at the moment. The UNLV freshman center has plantar fasciitis, an injury that normally requires weeks of rest and therapy through stretching and other exercises.

Yet despite the pain, Okonoboh refuses to stay off the court for an extended period, and he will return to the starting lineup today when the Rebels (12-9, 3-5 Mountain West) look to close out January with a third straight win when they host Air Force at 7 p.m. at the Thomas &Mack Center.

Okonoboh said he hurt the foot late in the Rebels’ 53-47 loss at San Diego State on Jan. 17. He missed the New Mexico game Jan. 21, then came off the bench in wins against Utah State on Jan. 24 and UNR on Tuesday.

“I can tell when it’s hurting because it starts to throb,” Okonoboh said. “I’m not able to do everything I want. But I just want to play. I’ll have time to rest later.”

It’s something coach Dave Rice is monitoring closely. He knows he has to be careful so that Okonoboh’s condition doesn’t deteriorate to the point in which he is forced to the sidelines for an extended period.

Rice said sitting Okonoboh for a couple of weeks was a consideration. But after talking with the player and trainer Dave Tomchek, Rice decided to allow Okonoboh, the Mountain West’s top shot-blocker at 2.9 per game, to remain in uniform.

“I’ve always deferred to the medical staff and how a player feels,” Rice said. “We missed him against New Mexico, and he was great the other night against Reno. His physical presence was a big factor in the outcome.”

Okonoboh had 13 points, nine rebounds and five blocks in 26 minutes in UNLV’s 67-62 victory at UNR.

“He’s a tough guy,” Rice said. “He takes pride in getting through it.”

Okonoboh said coming off the bench for the past two games allowed him to see what adjustments needed to be made before he checked in.

“You see how the game’s unfolding,” he said. “It’s good to see those things, and I think it gives me an edge.”

The Falcons (9-11, 2-7) also have player issues. Leading scorer Max Yon still is gone from the team because of personal reasons, and senior forward Kamryn Williams is out with a ruptured Achilles tendon.

But Air Force broke a five-game losing streak Wednesday with a 66-52 win at San Jose State, with freshman Matt Mooney scoring a career-high 20 points against the last-place Spartans.

The Falcons still run a good portion of the deliberate Princeton offense that former coach Joe Scott installed in 2000, and their back-door cuts and constant motion and effective use of screens to get people open on the perimeter could cause problems for the young Rebels.

“We have to play every one of their guys as a shooter,” Rice said. “We have to get out on their shooters because they’ve got a lot of people who are capable of making shots.”

■ NOTES — The Rebels will black uniforms tonight after the Falcons’ new blue uniforms from Nike did not arrive in time. Air Force will wear gray. ... UNLV leads the series 31-10, but the teams have split the past four meetings.

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.