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 Coming off a miraculous late-game rally in an overtime win over
Utah State on Saturday, the Runnin' Rebels got an even bigger win
(and a rare one on the road) over in-state rival Nevada on Tuesday
night.
UNLV, which led for most of the game but fell behind late, used a
16-5 run in the final minutes to snare its first true road win this
year, a 67-62 decision over Nevada before 7,578 fans at Lawlor
Events Center.
"We had four of these games in nonconference that all went our way,"
Rice said. "We were 4-0 in close games, and then we start (Mountain
West) conference play and have five games that go right down to the
wire and we lost all five.
"It's important to have them get a reward. Utah State, we were down
five with 1:05 left and we won, and this is a reward for always
staying together and bouncing back and getting a victory."
Tuesday's game was a mirror of the first time the teams met three
weeks ago in Las Vegas.
In that game, Nevada made the big plays late, namely a last-second
jumper shot by guard Marqueze Coleman to give the Wolf Pack a 64-62
win, its third straight in the rivalry series. On Tuesday, Nevada
went cold late, shooting 2-for-17 from the field to close the game.
UNLV rose to the occasion, making winning plays.
"The first thing we talk about when we talk about David Carter's
Wolf Pack team is toughness," Rice said. "They are a tough group.
They're physical. They're really tough. I told our group that the
first game, the toughest team won, and that was the Wolf Pack, and
whoever is toughest in this game will win. We were just slightly
tougher than they were and made some plays down the stretch."
Said Carter: "They made the plays this time and we didn't."
UNLV (12-9, 3-5 Mountain West) led for most of the game -- Nevada
didn't hold its first lead until 5 minutes, 50 seconds remained --
but the Rebels trailed 54-51 with 4:36 left. That was when Nevada
went cold and UNLV surged to take control of the game.
With UNLV leading 57-56 and 1:40 left, Christian Wood hit a huge
3-pointer late in the shot clock to give the Rebels a two-possession
lead.
"It was as big a play as there was the entire game," Rice said.
Wood, a lanky forward, finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Center Goodluck Okonoboh added 13 points, nine rebounds and five
blocks, and guards Rashad Vaughn (10 points), Jelan Kendrick (nine)
and Patrick McCaw (eight) all chipped in for UNLV, which shot 49
percent from the field.
Okonoboh, a true freshman who is battling a foot injury, had a few
big blocks down the stretch.
"Goodluck played great today," Wood said.
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Nevada (6-13, 2-5) lost its fifth straight and 13th in its last 17
games. A change to the starting lineup made the team more
competitive of late, but the Wolf Pack still fell short of snapping
its skid.
Despite battling foul trouble, Nevada center AJ West had 15 points
and 15 rebounds (10 on offense), and the new starters, guards Eric
Cooper Jr. (16 points) and Tyron Criswell (15), were effective.
However, Nevada shot 35.7 percent from the field, turned the ball
over 13 times and hit only 17 of 27 free throws.
"I would say we're real close to being an unbeatable team," said
Criswell, who made his second career start for Nevada. "In the
clutch, we just need to be more efficient, take care of the ball
more and resist fouling. We're sending the opponent to the line a
lot late in the game. Those are the three big things. If we clean
those things up, we should be fine in a long run."
Said Carter: "Both teams competed. It came down to the last few
possessions, and we had bad possessions down the stretch that led to
some easy baskets for them."
Nevada was attempting to won four straight over UNLV for just the
second time in the 79-game history of this series. The Rebels, who
historically dominate this series, didn't let that happen.
"We've been in so many close games that even though a lot of the
games we've been losing, we've been learning a lot about how to
close out games," Okonoboh said. "I'm going to be honest, I knew we
were going to win that game.
NOTES: Nevada played without starting F Robyn Missa (leg injury) and
reserve wing D.J. Fenner (illness). ... The Wolf Pack fell to 5-5 at
home, including a 1-3 mark in Mountain West games. ... UNLV improved
to 1-5 in true road games. ... After starting his first 51 games at
Nevada, G Michael Perez came off the bench for Tuesday's game and
shot 2-for-2 from 3-point range. He was 1-for-17 in MWC play
previously. ... Nevada governor Brian Sandoval, a graduate of
Nevada, was in attendance and sitting in the first row.
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