3 takeaways: Rebels fall to Rams without injured point guard — PHOTOS

It took UNLV longer than usual to enter the media room after a 61-53 loss to Colorado State on Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

An upset win was within the Rebels’ grasp. UNLV (14-13, 8-8 Mountain West) trailed 27-26 at halftime, and the game was tied at 53 with three minutes to play.

But the Rams (18-9, 12-4) ended the game on an 8-0 run.

“There was disappointment in the locker room because of the investment put in to get ready for a very good Colorado State team,” UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said. “But the most important thing is, I’m so unbelievably, incredibly proud of them for taking that (preparation) and for giving it every single thing they had out there, trying to make it work in a number of situations that were new.”

It was the Rebels’ first game without sophomore point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. since he joined the team last season.

Thomas leads UNLV in scoring (15.6 points per game) and assists (4.7) and is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury.

In his absence, junior Jaden Henley assumed primary ball-handling duties, and sophomore Brooklyn Hicks got his first career start.

Senior guard Jailen Bedford had a game-high 17 points for UNLV off the bench, while junior center Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry added 16.

Senior guard Nique Clifford and sophomore guard Kyan Evans scored 14 each for the Rams.

Here are three takeaways from the loss, which snapped a three-game win streak for the Rebels:

1. Adjustment period costly

The Rebels could be without Thomas for the remainder of the season, and early minutes illustrated that the team needed some time to adjust without him.

A few possessions into the game, Henley and sixth-year guard Julian Rishwain failed to connect on a pass that resulted in a backcourt violation. Another turnover followed, this time on a bad pass from Hicks, as the Rams took an 8-2 lead. Cherry was later stripped of the ball while attempting to post up.

Within five minutes, Colorado State had capitalized on the Rebels’ mistakes for a 12-2 advantage.

Although a timeout briefly interrupted the 10-0 run, the huddle didn’t help UNLV much, as sophomore center Nikola Djapa made an emphatic dunk for the Rams on the first possession out of the break for a 14-2 lead.

“We just came out, not scared or anything, but we just came out and (it was our) first game without (Thomas), a great, great, great player,” sixth-year forward Jalen Hill said. “We just had to get our rhythm going.”

2. Free throws

Fouls and subsequent free throws made all the difference in the outcome.

Colorado State only got two free throw attempts in the first half and made both of them, while UNLV had six attempts and didn’t make a single one.

By the final buzzer, the Rebels had gone 7-for-17 from the free throw line, while the Rams were 12-for-14.

Without the fouling, Kruger said the Rebels’ defensive effort should have been enough.

“(We were) holding them to what would have been in the 50s until we fouled a couple times,” he said, adding that he couldn’t think of a team in the league that wouldn’t be happy to limit the Rams to such low scoring.

Cherry, who struggled from the line in the first half, admitted that the team had already talked about its free-throw issues. He was 0-for-4 in the first half but turned it around in the second, making four of his five attempts.

“That’s definitely a big problem that we had tonight, for sure, and we talked about it,” he said. “We’ve got to take our free throws more seriously. We shoot them every day, but we’ve just got to take our time to knock them down. That’s really all you can say.”

3. Season outlook

Colorado State is the No. 3 team in the Mountain West, and the loss essentially guaranteed that the Rebels won’t finish in the top five in the league standings to earn a bye in the conference tournament.

With four games left in the regular season, Kruger said he saw enough from his team to give him confidence that the Rebels will be OK if Thomas is out for a prolonged amount of time.

“We’ve just got to tighten up some things,” Kruger said.

With a bye off the table, the Rebels can count on playing in the opening round of the conference tournament March 12.

When asked what the team needs to do to click in time to make a run in the postseason, Kruger expressed confidence that the team isn’t too far off.

“I know this will sound interesting, but there’s a lot of things I think we are clicking on right now,” he said. “I mean, we gotta find something here where we get better looks for the team and put ourselves in better situations. … But I really just cannot short-sell how good the guys have been defensively and how locked in they’ve been on that side.”

Kruger added that he’s “not a moral victory guy,” but believes the loss gave the Rebels a lot to build on as they prepare to face San Jose State at 7 p.m. Tuesday in San Jose, California.

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.