Guard EJ Harkless scored 20 points, all after the first half, but UNLV was beaten by San Jose State in overtime Wednesday night in San Jose, California.
UNLV Basketball
The Lady Rebels still have some questions to answer as they prepare to defend their conference title.
The Rebels finished nonconference play 11-1, but they haven’t forgotten the Mountain West preseason poll which ranked them sixth.
Mark Warkentien was at UNLV when the Rebels won the 1990 national championship. He was later named NBA Executive of the Year with the Denver Nuggets in 2008-09.
Fifth-year guard EJ Harkless scores 19 points and UNLV finishes the non-conference season 11-1.
UNLV is looking for a positive response after its late collapse against San Francisco, but will have to do it without the experienced Eljah Parquet and Isaiah Cottrell.
A short-handed UNLV women’s basketball team lost to Oklahoma State, its lone nonconference Power Five opponent, on Sunday in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
UNLV built an 11-point lead Saturday over San Francisco at Thomas Mack Center, but fell 75-73 to lose for the first time this season.
UNLV almost fell to Division II Hawaii Hilo, a needed wake-up call ahead of its lone Power Five matchup of the nonconference season Sunday against Oklahoma State.
Elijah Parquet, EJ Harkless and Luis Rodriguez had played a total of 294 games before joining the Rebels. Parquet and Harkless also have NCAA Tournament experience.
UNLV coach Kevin Kruger and the legendary Jerry Tarkanian have something in common. In the past 32 years, they are the only two coaches who have led the Rebels to a 10-0 start to a season.
UNLV will put its best start since 2010-11 on the line against Washington State in the first game of the Las Vegas Clash Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden.
Senior Luis Rodriguez led the UNLV men’s basketball team to a ninth consecutive win to start the season, as the Rebels took down Hawaii at the Dollar Loan Center.
UNLV senior guard Justin Webster has been a consistent player off the bench and will face Hawaii — where he played two seasons —Wednesday at Dollar Loan Center.
UNLV’s lockdown defense and a barrage of 3s were too much for San Diego to handle, and the Rebels moved to 8-0 with a win in their first true road game of the season.