Bellfield, Rebels hope for repeat against Louisville
After an aggressive dribble drive, UNLV guard Oscar Bellfield floated down the right side of the lane and banked in a shot that was the highlight of his freshman year.
He recalls the moment as if it happened yesterday. The opponent he shot down, Louisville, will be at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday.
Bellfield’s layup with 16 seconds remaining lifted the Rebels to a 56-55 upset of the 18th-ranked Cardinals on Dec. 31 at Freedom Hall, where Bellfield and his teammates celebrated on the floor after the buzzer.
“It’s an experience I will always keep in my head,” Bellfield said. “On New Year’s Eve, it was a great feeling.”
He said others mention the play to him “quite a bit.” But he rarely has watched the replay of his shot.
“How many times? Maybe six,” he said, smiling. “Not that much.”
The 6-foot-2-inch Bellfield scored over 6-9 Samardo Samuels, who returns as a sophomore to lead 16th-ranked Louisville (4-0) against UNLV (4-0) in a 1 p.m. game that is the most anticipated one on the Rebels’ nonconference schedule.
“There will be a lot more energy in this whole building,” Bellfield said after Thursday’s practice at the Thomas & Mack. “We know that they’re ready to come after us after last year.
“Especially the big games, those are the games that people definitely get hyped for, and we’ll come out ready to play.”
Bellfield scored eight points against the Cardinals last year. Departed senior Rene Rougeau had a game-high 17, and guard Tre’Von Willis, now a junior, scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half.
The Rebels were 12-2 when they left Louisville on New Year’s Day, but that win did not springboard them to the NCAA Tournament as expected.
Instead, UNLV stumbled down the stretch to finish 21-11, and its season ended in Lexington, Ky., with a National Invitation Tournament opening-round loss to Kentucky.
“It’s a learning experience, and we learned from last year, and hopefully we can do a lot better this year,” Bellfield said.
After their loss to the Rebels, the Cardinals went 23-3, won the Big East Conference and went into the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed.
Bellfield suffered a hamstring injury in early January and scored in double figures only twice in UNLV’s final 18 games.
“I just really never got my confidence back, I guess you could say,” he said.
Confidence is no problem now for Bellfield, the Rebels’ second-leading scorer at 9.5 points per game.
“It contributed to a really good freshman year that he had,” coach Lon Kruger said of Bellfield’s winning shot at Louisville. “He’s a guy who likes the ball in late-game situations, and he has no problem attacking.”
Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.
