UNLV set to renew rivalry with BYU
On one of the biggest sports weekends of the year, the Rebels are set to host one of their most anticipated games in quite some time.
The basketball rivalry with Brigham Young has been intense for several years now and it only gets bigger today with the Cougars ranked and UNLV hoping to jump back into the rankings and stay in the race for the regular-season conference title.
A sellout crowd is fully expected and from the looks of things in the arena well before tipoff, it will be packed and extremely noisy inside the Thomas & Mack Center today.
The Rebels and Cougars already squared off once this season, with BYU holding serve in Provo. UNLV came out of the game confident, however, as it led late in the game and felt it should have won.
The story has been different in Las Vegas. UNLV has won six straight meetings at the Thomas & Mack and will need to do so again if it wants to harbor any hopes of winning the league.
Injuries
UNLV will be playing its second straight game without forward Derrick Jasper, but the Cougars got some bad news of their own on the injury front this week.
Backup center Brandon Davies, one of the team’s most athletic big men, is out after having an appendectomy.
He is an important player for the Cougars, especially against UNLV because of the Rebels edge in athleticism.
Starters
Kendall Wallace continues to start in the spot left vacated by Derrick Jasper.
Brice Massamba gets the nod at center.
The other three positions are filled as usual by Chace Stanback, Oscar Bellfield and Tre’Von Willis.
