What the UNLV Rebels said after their loss to Oregon on Saturday

What the UNLV basketball team said following its 83-63 loss to Oregon on Saturday in Portland, Oregon:

Coach Marvin Menzies

“We had only four turnovers in the whole first half, and we knew that would be critical against a team like this. You’ve got to take care of the ball. We only shot 29 percent in the first half, and we were down four (points) because we took care of the ball. They executed the offensive game plan the right way, and we got to the free throw line, which is what we thought we could do. We were hustling. We stayed together. We didn’t let the lead (by Oregon) deter us from fighting. There was some good togetherness and fight in that first half. Not that they weren’t together in the second half, but we got hit with the buzz saw in the second half. Their length and athleticism really hurt us.”

“I think we had five turnovers in our first seven possessions in the second half. You just can’t dig a hole like that against a quality team like this. That’s where we’ve got to put better stretches together. The first nine minutes or so of that second half were horrendous. It was frustrating. They fought, but they didn’t handle that pressure the way I would’ve liked and the way they did the first half.”

“This team is going to continue to get better throughout the season. I feel like we made some progress, but not enough to beat Oregon tonight, even without (Chris) Boucher.”

Guard Jovan Mooring

Oregon’s pressure defense “is what they use to speed the game up and get teams out of their rhythm, and they started it in the second half. We hadn’t seen it in the first half. They got a run from it, and we weren’t able to recover.”

Forward Tyrell Green

“I felt like we got better in some things, but we still have to work on a lot of things. I feel like we had a lot of defensive lapses in the second half that kind of made them get their run. We have to watch the film and get better from that.”

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