Offense sputters as UNLV loses MW opener to San Diego State
Nothing about the way San Diego State played Saturday surprised UNLV basketball coach Kevin Kruger. He knew the Aztecs would defend. And defend well. Knew they would be physical.
Ferocious on the offensive and defensive glass.
“A tough battle. A tough defensive battle. You know you’re going to get into that with San Diego State,” Kruger said after a 62-55 loss. “With the best defensive performance that we put together this season, we would have loved to end up with a win and a better flow offensively. But that’s what San Diego State will do to you.”
The Rebels (8-6, 0-1 Mountain West) shot 29.7 percent against the Aztecs (9-3, 1-0) and endured a five-minute stretch late in the second half without a field goal, squandering an equally impressive defensive outing at the Thomas & Mack Center.
They limited San Diego State to 33.8 percent shooting and 20 percent from 3-point range.
But the Aztecs controlled the backboards en route to a 56-41 rebounding advantage and 16-5 edge in second-chance points, giving them a greater margin for error without point guards Trey Pulliam and Lamont Butler.
“That’s a good defensive team, and those guys crash relentlessly,” said UNLV senior center Royce Hamm, who had five points and 14 rebounds. “If you don’t put your body on the guy and try to go get the ball, they’re coming. They’re crashing.”
The Aztecs are indeed one of the country’s best defensive teams, ranking 16th among 358 teams in defensive efficiency — allowing 0.851 points per possession. They stayed true to their identity Saturday, containing UNLV ballhandlers and funneling drives to the sideline or baseline where a help defender would await.
Sure enough, they would swiftly recover to challenge shots on the perimeter and at the basket.
UNLV did much of the same, but simply could not score enough to take advantage. Leading scorer Bryce Hamilton made 6 of 19 field goals and scored 15 points. Junior wing Donovan Williams had a team-high 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
Hamilton shouldered the blame afterward and said “we were very stagnant on offense. I put a lot of that on myself.” But Kruger is putting the onus on all the Rebels to play offense the way they did at the conclusion of the nonconference schedule: pass, cut, screen and relocate.
Yes, UNLV missed a prime opportunity to secure a signature victory over a perennial conference championship contender. Yet Kruger remains confident that this group can regroup and improve after experiencing the rigors of Mountain West play for the first time this season.
“It’s another opportunity for our guys to see how much more stubborn we have to be and how much more deliberate and intentional we have to be in the things that we talked about,” Kruger said. “It’s one of those things that until you probably go against it in conference play, it’s a little different. … We’ll just continue to watch film and work on it.”
Senior wing Matt Bradley led the Aztecs with 17 points.
Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.