For his participation in Thursday’s Mountain West Tournament, Khem Birch was rewarded with an ice bath and some painkillers. The 6-foot-9-inch UNLV junior forward is fine with that. Because it means he has to prepare to play another basketball game. Rest? That can wait.
Basketball
A week after being suspended from team, Bryce Dejean-Jones returned to score 22 points off the bench as UNLV held off a late charge to defeat Wyoming 71-67 in a Mountain West tournament quarterfinal at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The San Diego State coaches probably were wrapping up their scouting report of Colorado State when Spencer Butterfield made it as valuable as a counterfeit $100 bill.
In a tough spot, it always helps to have experience. Junior forward Roscoe Smith realizes the predicament — and opportunity — in front of UNLV. The Rebels must win three games in three days or there will be no NCAA Tournament trip at the end of a failed season.
Amanda Marcum was a Maxim magazine cover girl before she met basketball coach Andy Enfield. Along with Florida Gulf Coast, she was one of the stars of last year’s NCAA Tournament. She won’t be going back after Colorado knocked Southern Cal out of the Pac-12 tournament.
Not long after last season ended, Mike Moser announced his intention to transfer from UNLV to play his senior season elsewhere. He knows it was the right decision.
Most people outside of Muncie, Ind., and Las Vegas get the answer wrong to the obscure bit of college basketball trivia. Dick Hunsaker is proud to correct them.
A movie once was made on the idea that a mirror has two faces, that the relationship between mind and body can take different forms, that what we see on the outside might not necessarily be a person’s true character.
The WAC moved into The Orleans on Wednesday morning, but nobody not on the conference payroll can guess the nine basketball teams. The answer is: Utah Valley, Texas-Pan American, Missouri-Kansas City, Idaho, Chicago State, Grand Canyon, Cal State Bakersfield, New Mexico State, Seattle U.
Andy Enfield took over a Florida Gulf Coast team in 2011 that was eligible for Division I postseason play for the first time and just a season later had that same program in the Sweet 16. But it’s not always that easy.
Diontae Jones scored only six points in the Division I-A state title game. But the senior forward for the Clark boys basketball team still found a way to have a major impact.
There were questions nationally entering the West Coast Conference basketball tournament about whether Gonzaga deserved a bid to the NCAA Tournament should it fall short of securing an automatic berth at Orleans Arena. The Bulldogs erased all doubts Tuesday night by earning an automatic berth.
Loyola Marymount basketball coach Max Good was fired, ending his six-year run with the Lions, during which he went 77-117.
ODDS TO WIN 2014 AAC TOURNAMENT
Anthony Bennett’s rough rookie season hit a new bump. The Cavaliers’ first-year forward will miss at least three weeks with a strained left knee, the latest setback for the No. 1 overall pick out of UNLV who has been a major disappointment for Cleveland.