Rebels drop second straight

UNLV has lost two games in a row for the second time this season, falling 68-58 at San Diego State on Saturday.

Billy White had 19 points and five rebounds against his hometown school to lead the Aztecs. He was hampered by an injured ankle during the first meeting.

Kawhi Leonard had 13 points and 14 rebounds for San Diego State.

Tre’Von Willis led the Rebels with 17 points, but struggled offensively all day. Anthony Marshall had 12 before fouling out.

UNLV made just 3 of 17 from 3-point range and just 35 percent of their field goals overall.

White and D.J. Gay combined to make 17 of 21 free throws for a San Diego State team that ordinarily struggles mightily from the line.

Even Brian Carlwell, who shoots below 50 percent for the year, made both of his tries.

San Diego State blocked a total of nine shots, led by four from Malcolm Thomas, who also had four steals.

Top scorers struggle

Tre’Von Willis and Chace Stanback went a combined 5-for-22 from the field.

It will be very tough for the Rebels to win any game in which neither of their top two scorers are able to find any success.

Willis scored 17 points on 5 of 15 shooting, but Stanback failed to make a field goal in seven attempts. He did make all four of his free throws to finish with four points.

It was the first time this season Stanback was held without a field goal. His 0-for-7 performance came on the heels of back-to-back tough games against BYU and New Mexico.

The sophomore is now 5 of 25 from the field in his last three games.

Going big

Lon Kruger is still experimenting with different lineups in the absence of injured forward Derrick Jasper.

In the wake of Wednesday night’s rebounding disaster, that meant going to a bigger lineup for a stretch in Saturday’s game.

Kruger had Darris Santee and Matt Shaw play together for a short time.

That combination of centers doesn’t congest the lane on offense too much because Shaw is very comfortable stepping out and playing on the perimeter.

It does give the Rebels some size on the defensive end. New Mexico controlled the offensive glass on its way to a road win over UNLV on Wednesday.

Big crowd

The attendance at today’s game at Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl is 9,224. It is a large crowd for a San Diego State game, helped a great deal by a large contingent of UNLV fans.

We know that’s the attendance because a man in a suit walked up and down the aisles of the media section with “Att: 9224” written on a piece of notebook paper.

Thanks, sir.

Overkill

Plenty of arenas have public address announcers that go a little overboard when calling a basket for the home team.

San Diego State’s guy went a bit too far.

Whenever Kawhi-I-I-I-I Leonard or Billy-y-y-y-y White scored a basket, you had to cover your ears in the arena. It got to be a bit ridiculous.