Where has this been all season? Rebels play complete game in blowout of Air Force in tournament opener
UNLV coach T.J. Otzelberger said Tuesday he wouldn’t know how his team would respond to an ugly loss to Wyoming in the regular-season finale until Wednesday’s game.
It didn’t take long for him to get his answer.
The seventh-seeded Rebels played perhaps their most complete game of the season in an 80-52 blowout of 10th-seeded Air Force in the first round of the Mountain West basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center.
“When we’re at our best, we’re getting stops and getting out and running,” Otzelberger said. “We were fortunate for that to be the case today.”
Guard David Jenkins
Jr. scored a game-high 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting on 3-pointers, and guard Bryce Hamilton had seven points, four rebounds and two assists during a 23-2 first-half run. He finished with 18 points and seven rebounds.
UNLV (12-14) will play second-seeded Utah State (18-7) in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Here are three takeaways from the win:
Air Force (5-20) led 14-12 in a game played at their preferred pace for the first nine minutes.
That’s when Hamilton and center Mbacke Diong took over.
Diong got the run going with a putback basket, a steal and fast-break dunk and then a basket in the post. Hamilton then made plays on both ends.
During a span of 8:50, a two-point deficit became a 19-point lead that was never challenged.
Otzelberger credited Diong’s breakaway with sparking the team, but Hamilton’s contributions were vital to sustaining the momentum.
“I was happy to see him (Hamilton) do that,” Otzelberger said. “We needed that. That run was the one that separated us and gave us some cushion, and then we didn’t look back.”
Diong finished with 16 points and eight rebounds on 7-of-10 shooting.
Otzelberger has been harping on his team’s inability to defend the 3-point line for much of the season.
The Rebels, who were ranked 320th of 340 teams in that area, seemed to finally get the message.
Air Force missed all nine 3-point attempts in the first half and finished 2 of 18 after making 24 3s in two regular-season meetings.
UNLV not only stayed with the shooters but also harassed passers to keep them from delivering the ball in shooting position.
“We’ve talked quite a bit about our team’s inability to guard the 3-point line and pressure the basketball, and today was as fine an effort as we’ve had in those categories all season long,” Otzelberger said.
UNLV’S reward is a matchup with Utah State. The teams split two games in January at the Thomas & Mack, but the Aggies finished 6.5 games ahead of the Rebels in the conference standings.
Otzelberger hopes the momentum his team gained from playing well Wednesday while Utah
State had a bye makes a difference.
“It does help at this time of year to get that game under your belt, especially as well as we played, shared the ball and defended with intent,” he said. “We’re excited to get that one, build our confidence and our togetherness and nerves out. We know what the challenge is (Thursday).”