Rebels blow second-half lead en route to first loss
The defense was swarming.
Until it wasn’t.
The basketball was moving.
Until it wasn’t.
UNLV’s men’s basketball team was unbeaten.
Until it wasn’t.
“It’s on us to see what adversity does to us,” Rebels senior guard EJ Harkless said. “We’re excited to see how we come back.”
The Rebels married their relentless man-to-man defense with crisp ball and player movement to build an 11-point lead over San Francisco on Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center, only to blow it in the final 12 minutes by abandoning their principles en route to a 75-73 loss — their first of the season.
Dons guard Tyrell Roberts buried the game-winning 3-pointer with 7.1 seconds to play, breaking free from Rebels guard Justin Webster to find space on the left wing.
UNLV sophomore point guard Keshon Gilbert missed the potential game-winner on the ensuing possession from the top of the key.
“The communication part of it, we’ve just got to be better down the stretch,” Rebels senior wing Luis Rodriguez said after tallying 17 points and seven rebounds.
“We definitely let this one get out of our hands, for sure.”
The Rebels (10-1) relied on a rugged, physical brand of defense to win their first 10 games, containing dribble penetration and helping accordingly to stymie foe after foe as their offense developed a rhythm behind Gilbert, Harkless and Rodriguez.
The trio powered UNLV to a 46-37 halftime lead, with Gilbert probing the paint in search of shooters and cutters, Harkless attacking the basket and Rodriguez scoring within the flow of the offense. Harkless scored a game-high 21 points.
San Francisco shot 38.2 percent in the first half, making 3 of 18 from 3-point range, but gathered 10 offensive rebounds and seven second-chance points to remain within striking distance. A second-half spurt powered the Rebels to a 59-48 advantage, but their offense began to stagnate amid an absence of ball and player movement — allowing the Dons to make their move.
As UNLV’s offense sputtered, San Francisco’s surged thanks to the patient approach the Rebels lacked late. Plus the exploits of Roberts, senior guard Khalil Shabazz and junior big man Zane Meeks, who scored 17 apiece.
The lead shriveled, and the Rebels pressed offensively, favoring isolation and shots off the dribble instead of the crisp execution they showcased in the first half. They had three timeouts for much of the second half, but Rebels coach Kevin Kruger elected not to call one until there were 12.9 seconds left, moments before Roberts made the go-ahead jumper.
“We’re always talking about it, when to call (a timeout) and when not to,” Kruger said. “We’ve been in these situations a couple times this year, gotten stops and just kind of let the flow of the game happen.”
Not Saturday.
The Dons (9-3) closed on an 11-0 run, and the Rebels didn’t score in the final 3:07, missing their final three shots and committing two turnovers in their final five possessions.
Kruger said the Rebels will regroup Monday and focus on “doing what we had done to get to this point.”
“A lot of things that we’d done to get to this point, we just got to tighten up a little bit,” he said.
The Rebels next play Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center against Southern Mississippi.
Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.
