Rebel Report Card: How the Rebels fared against Utah State

BACKCOURT: B

For better or worse, Rashad Vaughn got very aggressive on Saturday night and it paid off as UNLV sweated out a 79-77 overtime victory over Utah State. Vaughn got up 24 shots, including 11 3-pointers. The star freshman finished with 31 points and the Rebels needed every one. He is a dynamic scorer and even though some of his attempts were questionable on Saturday night, UNLV is better when he is hunting his shots. Vaughn, who also had nine rebounds, was huge down the stretch and the Rebels would have likely had very little chance without his heroics. UNLV went with a four-guard starting lineup on Saturday as Vaughn was joined by Cody Doolin, Patrick McCaw and Jelan Kendrick. McCaw was largely quiet, but his off-balance floater in the closing seconds of regulation forced the overtime period. Doolin had five assists and zero turnovers, plus he made the game-winning free throws in overtime after an inexplicable foul by Utah State. Kendrick made a couple important plays, but didn’t make much of an impact on the stat sheet in 28 minutes. The backcourt should get the bulk of the credit for UNLV committing just four turnovers in an overtime game. That was huge.

FRONTCOURT: C+

Chris Wood was literally all by himself in the frontcourt on Saturday night as UNLV coach Dave Rice went with a four-guard starting lineup. Wood’s game was like a microcosm of his season. He had some brilliant moments, including a coast-to-coast drive in the first half and a sensational dunk in the overtime session. He finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, which would look good for most players. He’s not a normal player, though. Those numbers just aren’t good enough.

BENCH: C+

Goodluck Okonoboh tried to give it a go off the bench, but he was clearly still feeling the effects of the foot injury that forced him out of the New Mexico game. He didn’t attempt a field goal, had just two rebounds and blocked only one shot in 20 minutes of action. Jordan Cornish was the star off the bench. He finished with 11 points, though he did badly botch a pair of fast breaks. Cornish hit all three of his free throws and went 2-for-3 from 3-point range. Dwayne Morgan went 3-for-4 from the field and scored six points.

COACHING: B+

Dave Rice’s team remained calm despite facing adverse conditions at the end of both regulation and overtime. The Rebels took their time and got good shots instead of forcing bad 3-pointers on several possessions. UNLV also got a huge break from another team making a terrible decision for a change as Utah State’s David Collette committed an insanely silly foul at the end of overtime. Rice’s four-guard starting lineup resulted in the team committing just four turnovers in the game. Give him credit for the team refusing to panic late. Perhaps it’s a sign of the team starting to mature.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj.