UNLV looks to bounce back against San Jose State

UNLV was in a similar position not long ago, suffering a tough-to-explain defeat that cast a real cloud over its season.

The Rebels concluded their stay in Honolulu for the Diamond Head Classic with a 97-72 loss to Bucknell on Christmas Day. But UNLV, after a weeklong break, returned to the court and opened Mountain West play by winning three consecutive games.

Now the Rebels come off a 106-88 loss at Air Force on Wednesday, putting their season at a crossroads again when San Jose State visits the Thomas & Mack Center at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. AT&T SportsNet will televise the game.

Maybe UNLV (9-7, 3-1 MW) will draw on the experience from the Bucknell loss and have a similar response.

“I think any time you have a loss, you can take it one of two ways,” Rebels coach Marvin Menzies said. “You can use it to learn and grow, or you can let it drop you deeper into the rabbit hole. We’ve taken it and used it to our advantage before, so I’m optimistic that will be the case again.”

The Rebels probably will be without Mbacke Diong (sprained ankle) for the second straight game. They have been devastated by injuries up front, with Shakur Juiston (knee) and Cheickna Dembele (hand) out for the season.

Air Force took advantage by outscoring UNLV 56-29 in the lane. But the Rebels were equally short-handed in the second half Jan. 8 at New Mexico and outscored the Lobos by 18 points on the way to an 80-69 victory.

So UNLV, which has started a three-guard offense since opening conference play, has shown it can play well without those players. But what if Air Force exposed a real weakness that San Jose State (3-13, 0-4) and other teams can try to exploit?

“They just outplayed us physically inside and were more aggressive to the ball,” Menzies said of the Falcons. “They did a good job. They just beat us. So we addressed it in practice and in film. We’ve just got to get better in that area.

“When we get Mbacke back, that will obviously complement what we’re doing, but it’s not like we’re (also) getting back Shakur or Cheickna. That’s just one guy. We’ve got to play with what we have and try to get better and get all these guys more experience.”

Beyond the play inside, Menzies said other concerns emerged from the loss to Air Force that were addressed.

“I think our rotations off the ball on the weak side and guarding guys one-on-one were the two big things,” he said. “Obviously, there are some other scouting reports things we address. But going into the San Jose State game and (UNLV must do a) better job of guarding the ball and more ready to play our man defensive concepts.”

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