Offense stumbles, but UNLV manages road victory over San Jose State
After a road victory over San Jose State Sunday afternoon, UNLV men’s basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger mentioned that “you don’t get style points this time (of the year) in league play.”
Not that the Rebels would have earned any, anyway.
UNLV (10-11, 7-7 Mountain West) had one of its worst offensive performances of the Mountain West season but managed to escape Provident Credit Union Event Center in San Jose, California, with a 6764 victory. The Rebels struggled to move the ball against the Spartans (5-13, 3-13), who unveiled 2-3 and 1-3-1 zone defenses in addition to their man-toman.
In turn, UNLV forced some contested shots and flat-out missed some open ones, creating an opportunity for San Jose State to mount a second-half rally. Spartans senior Richard Washington missed an open corner 3-pointer in the final seconds,
though, that would have tied the game.
Rebels junior wing Bryce Hamilton led the way with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
“We’re lucky and fortunate to come out with the win,” Otzelberger said.
Three observations from the victory:
Own the glass
Shooting struggles necessitated that the Rebels dominate the glass, and they worked their way to a 5929 rebounding edge. Zone defenses tend to yield offensive rebounding opportunities, and UNLV secured 29 such boards that led to 20 second-chance points.
Hamilton had seven offensive rebounds. Senior center Mbacke Diong and freshman forward Devin Tillis secured five apiece.
“The coaches emphasized to go to the glass in this series,” said Diong, who finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds. “Even if you don’t get it, tip it to our guards.”
Scorers struggle
Hamilton, the team’s leading scorer, made 7 of 25 shots. Junior guard David Jenkins Jr., the team’s second leading scorer, shot 4-for-15 en route to 13 points.
Diong, who shot 6-for-9, was the only UNLV player to shoot better than 50 percent.
Otzelberger contended that San Jose State’s changing defenses forced the Rebels to take shots from different spots, perhaps disrupting their rhythm.
“We’re overall a pretty good 3-point shooting team in most cases, and we’ve usually been a reasonable finishing team around the rim,” he said. “Today, that certainly wasn’t the case on either front.”
Slow down the star
UNLV kept San Jose State senior wing Richard Washington in check for the second consecutive game. He scored 15 points on 5-for-16 shooting Friday and 10 points on 3-for-11 shooting Sunday.
Washington leads the Mountain West in scoring, averaging 19.7 points.