Boring is beautiful to Kruger

There were no dramatic moments Saturday as UNLV’s Lon Kruger secured the 400th win of his college coaching career.

It was 40 minutes of mostly boring, one-sided basketball. And that was exactly the way Kruger wanted it.

“It’s not a big deal,” Kruger said of the coaching milestone he reached after the Rebels crushed Colorado State 68-51 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

It would have been a surprise if there had been any suspense. A blowout was expected, and UNLV delivered it quickly for a crowd of 12,946.

The Rebels’ Wink Adams outscored the Rams 19-16 in the first half.

Adams, who finished with 23 points, six assists and five rebounds, said getting Kruger to 400 was more important than his humble coach would admit.

“It is a big deal,” Adams said. “Coach will never hype it up, but we wanted to get Coach his 400th win.

“He didn’t say anything about it, but we all knew that we dropped one at Utah, and we had to win today to make it special for him.”

Bouncing back from Wednesday’s loss at Utah, UNLV improved to 18-5 overall and remained in second place in the Mountain West Conference at 7-2.

Kruger is 400-272 in 22 years as a college coach. He is 82-39 in four years leading the Rebels, including 48-12 the past two seasons.

The 54-year-old is a long way from catching Bob Knight, who resigned last week at Texas Tech with a men’s Division I-record 902 career victories.

“I’m at 400, and I’m already old,” Kruger said jokingly.

Kruger earned win No. 1 while coaching Texas-Pan American in 1982. His first victory came over Air Force, and he will go for No. 401 on Tuesday, when UNLV hosts the Falcons.

Kruger’s achievement was a mere formality Saturday. Colorado State (6-17, 0-9) is in a rebuilding phase, and first-year coach Tim Miles has few capable workers on his construction crew.

Adams, held to 11 points in Wednesday’s loss, scored 15 points in the first 12:30 against the Rams. He shot

7-for-10 from the field, including 4-for-7 on 3-pointers, to carry the Rebels to a 31-16 halftime lead.

“Wink came out with a determined effort on the offensive end,” Kruger said.

UNLV, which opened the second half with a 20-10 run, led by as many as 26 points.

Rebels senior Curtis Terry had 11 assists, and junior Rene Rougeau had 17 points.

Rougeau said he and his teammates tried to make a statement after struggling to defeat Colorado State 65-62 in the teams’ conference opener on Jan. 5.

“We definitely got up for this game,” said Rougeau, whose six rebounds helped the Rebels to a 42-39 edge on the boards. “It didn’t matter about their record.”

Junior guard Marcus Walker’s 24 points, 17 of them coming in the second half, led the Rams.

“I think we definitely made him work for all his points,” Rougeau said of Walker, the Mountain West’s scoring leader.

The game was a display of pitiful 3-point shooting, with the exception of two players. Adams and Walker combined to make 8 of 16 3-pointers — the other 15 players who attempted 3s shot a combined 3-for-30.

Colorado State’s Andre McFarland, a freshman forward from Durango High School, missed his only two field-goal attempts and scored one point. He did grab six rebounds in 26 minutes.

Adams hit two 3-pointers and Rougeau scored on a layup as UNLV went up 8-0 and led the entire way.

“We had to come out hot,” Adams said, “and I was able to knock down some shots.”

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2907.

UNLV 68

Colorado State 51

COLO. ST. Min FG-A FT-A R A PF TP

McFarland 26 0-2 1-2 6 0 1 1

Aguilar 18 0-3 0-0 5 0 0 0

Walker 36 8-18 4-5 7 2 2 24

Nigon 17 0-2 0-0 2 0 1 0

Gardner 10 0-2 0-0 1 0 0 0

Clayman 19 1-6 0-0 1 1 4 2

Cohen 9 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0

Simmons 22 1-4 0-0 2 2 2 2

Woodard 24 3-10 2-2 5 1 2 9

Creason 16 5-7 3-4 5 1 1 13

McGinley 3 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0

TOTALS 200 18-55 10-13 39 7 14 51

Field goals–32.7%. Free throws–76.9%.

Three-point goals–5-20 (Walker 4-9, Woodard 1-3, Simmons 0-1, Cohen 0-1, Nigon 0-1, Gardner 0-1, McFarland 0-2, Clayman 0-2). Team rebounds–4. Blocked shots–5 (Aguilar 2, Nigon, Simmons, Creason). Turnovers–16 (Woodard 5, Nigon 3, Gardner 2, Walker 2, Clayman, McFarland, Aguilar, Simmons). Steals–None.

UNLV Min FG-A FT-A R A PF TP

Bailey 22 2-7 0-0 7 0 1 4

Darger 29 4-11 0-0 5 1 1 8

Adams 32 9-14 1-2 5 6 0 23

Rougeau 26 8-15 1-2 6 1 1 17

Terry 22 1-3 2-3 1 11 2 5

Rutledge 9 1-3 0-0 1 0 1 3

Wallace 17 0-4 1-2 2 0 0 1

Hoffman 3 0-1 0-1 2 0 1 0

Cage 5 0-2 1-2 2 0 0 1

Lawrence 15 0-2 0-0 3 2 1 0

Shaw 20 1-5 4-4 3 0 3 6

TOTALS 200 26-67 10-16 42 21 11 68

Field goals–38.8%. Free throws–62.5%.

Three-point goals–6-26 (Adams 4-7, Rutledge 1-2, Terry 1-3, Hoffman 0-1, Lawrence 0-1, Cage 0-1, Bailey 0-2, Shaw 0-2, Wallace 0-3, Darger 0-4). Team rebounds–5. Blocked shots–3 (Rougeau, Shaw, Bailey). Turnovers–6 (Terry 2, Rougeau, Shaw, Adams). Steals–12 (Adams 2, Rougeau 2, Terry 2, Shaw, Rutledge, Lawrence, Wallace, Darger, Cage).

A–12,946. Officials–Stanley Reynolds, Darron George, Doran Gotschall. Technical fouls–Colorado State: None. UNLV: None.

Colorado State 16 35 — 51

UNLV 31 37 — 68