UNLV Rebels face a lot of challenges against Duke

UNLV’s 97-73 loss at Arizona State last Saturday contained as many laughs as a horror movie, but for the Rebels’ coaches and players, the video revealed hopeful areas for improvement.

“There were seven specific things that we highlighted that we worked on since the ASU game that we felt were the reasons that we came out with such a bad performance,” coach Marvin Menzies said. “Not taking anything away from ASU’s performance that night, but we could’ve played better, and there were reasons why we didn’t.”

So this week has been about addressing those reasons, and Saturday’s game against fifth-ranked Duke (9-1) at sold-out T-Mobile Arena will show whether any progress was made by the Rebels (5-3), who are 20½-point underdogs.

The 2:15 p.m. game, televised on ESPN, is the programs’ first meeting since the Blue Devils won 79-77 in the 1991 NCAA semifinals. That Duke victory avenged UNLV’s 30-point win in the championship game a year earlier.

It’s a long time to wait for a rematch, but UNLV’s players have downplayed the game’s importance.

“Our main focus in the locker room is to treat it like a regular game, focus on the task at hand and not everything else that makes it bigger than what it is,” Rebels forward Dwayne Morgan said.

Though Menzies mentioned seven areas UNLV worked on in preparation for Duke, here are three key ones to watch in the first college basketball game ever at the new Strip arena:

1. Guarding off the dribble.

Duke is the best dribble-drive team the Rebels will encounter. The Blue Devils have a host of guards who can beat even the best defensive teams, so UNLV could be in for a long day.

UNLV had so much trouble guarding Southern Utah on dribble penetration Nov. 30 that the Rebels switched to zone. This has been a lingering problem for the Rebels, going back to even the Lon Kruger days.

2. Handling ball screens.

When Duke’s Grayson Allen comes off screens, he has four options and is capable of taking advantage of all of them.

The Blue Devils often like to hand the ball to him at the top of the key.

UNLV can’t afford to be sloppy in its assignments, and must be disciplined in guarding ball screens against a Duke team that is among the nation’s best in this area.

3. Keeping Morgan in the game.

Morgan has a penchant for getting in foul trouble, being called for at least three fouls in every game this season. He has had at least four fouls four times.

The 6-foot 8-inch forward must stay out of foul trouble because he is one of the few UNLV players athletic enough to guard 6-5 Luke Kennard, who leads Duke with 20.4 points per game. Kennard (6.2 rebounds) is capable of going inside or stepping out and making 3-pointers (25 of 61).

UNLV won’t go against a more talented team than Duke, which has been beset by injuries, but is getting players back in the lineup. So the Blue Devils are becoming even more dangerous.

They seem to have it all, with five-time national champion coach Mike Krzyzewski the famous face of the program.

“It’s the team that growing up you watch on TV all the time,” UNLV guard Uche Ofoegbu said. “For you to be able to play against them here on the big stage in Vegas on the Strip, being on ESPN, that’s real big for us.”

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.