Improved UNLV needs to seize chance and not let go

UNLV needs to play basketball today as if it’s the one opening a jaw and showing teeth. It needs to clamp down and not let go.

The Rebels let one get away on Jan. 6 in Provo, Utah. They played well enough for stretches to beat Brigham Young. They just didn’t play well long enough. They couldn’t finish. They were Jimmie Johnson for the first 34 minutes and Dale Earnhardt Jr. the final six, unable to grasp an opportunity that hardly ever presents itself to opponents in the Marriott Center. They stalled with the checkered flag in sight and lost, 77-73.

It’s not often a team leads by six with less than six minutes remaining at BYU.

UNLV did.

"We had a high number of turnovers and got outrebounded," Rebels coach Lon Kruger said. "Hopefully, we’ve improved since then."

His team must prove it today if it is serious about playing the second half of the Mountain West Conference schedule with a legitimate chance at winning a title, if it wants to take from the Cougars the championship that most everyone since October has assumed they will earn.

The Rebels are different today than nearly a month ago. Chace Stanback was a talented sophomore then struggling to prove his gimpy ankle secure enough to consistently contribute. He shot 1-for-7 and scored three points in Provo but has since averaged more than 15 points and become the team’s secondary scorer.

UNLV is also now without one of its best rebounders (Derrick Jasper, knee) and yet has grabbed more rebounds than four consecutive opponents. The Rebels turned over the ball 15 times in Provo but have averaged fewer than 11 turnovers since.

The Rebels were good then.

They are confident and better today.

It’s a nice combination to own this time of year.

""I think it really comes down to there has been three weeks of natural progression," Kruger said. "Our guys are playing better, but BYU’s guys are playing better, also."

Big games usually offer intriguing subplots, and today is no different. Jimmer Fredette is the league’s best player, and should his BYU team roll on and win another regular-season crown, he will be named the league’s Player of the Year. He might even win it if the Cougars stumble to second place. He, too, is far different than the ill player with no energy UNLV saw early last month.

But in UNLV junior Tre’Von Willis, you have a player whose season has placed him into such conversation. Conference awards are pretty transparent when it comes to who receives them, meaning the Rebels probably need to win the league for Willis to have a chance at overtaking Fredette for the league’s top individual honor.

Willis took seven shots at Wyoming, and the Rebels won by 28. He is maturing as a person and player before the eyes of UNLV coaches and fans. He doesn’t balk when asked how important today is for UNLV. He doesn’t backpedal from the notion that a loss could and probably would end his team’s chances at winning conference.

"We need to be ready to take on the fights and realize how important each possession is," Willis said. "If we can win the rebound margin and take care of the ball and win the hustle points and bring energy to the table, we feel like we have a good shot.

"This game is so important. You play to (win the conference). That’s the goal. They’re coming into our building. We have to protect our home floor. We have to play as hard as we can."

It might be enough. It might not. UNLV could play well before what should be a sold-out Thomas & Mack Center crowd and still lose. The Cougars are that good.

But what the past three weeks have shown, if in fact there was any doubt, is that the Rebels are a different team than last season. A better one. They have already won road games (Colorado State, Texas Christian and Wyoming) in venues where they lost in 2009.

Today is the next step. It’s a big one. It would be silly to downplay the significance.

UNLV needs to bite hardest. It needs to clamp down for 40 minutes this time.

"We talk about competing to be the best player you can be each possession," Kruger said. "Good players focus on being good players every possession."

UNLV didn’t do that in Provo.

It can avenge that today.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618.