First conference road test shows glaring problems for UNLV men’s basketball

First Mountain West road test of the season may have provided a glimpse into how the UNLV men’s basketball program will fare against the top half of the conference.

Tuesday marked the first road loss of the season for the Runnin' Rebels as they were beaten by the Wyoming Cowboys, 98-66, from Arena Auditorium. That brings an end to three straight wins for the program in the series as it's just its second loss in the last six meetings.

The loss ends a season-long three-game win streak for UNLV as it has finally been knocked from the rank of the unbeatens in the conference after starting Mountain West play 2-0. Before tip-off the team was one of the four undefeated teams in the conference.

As the two-game road trip continues for the Rebels, the program will look to lock horns with the Colorado State Rams Friday, Jan. 9 from Moby Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

With that, UNLV will look to improve on its 7-7 overall record.

After posting a dominant defensive win over Air Force in its last conference showing, the Rebels didn’t lead for a single second in its road contest against Wyoming.

UNLV went without a field goal for nearly six minutes in the first half. To make matters worse, the team did it again in the second half for nearly six minutes and 40 seconds.

Wyoming went up by 24 points before halftime in a game where it led by 38 points before the final buzzer.

The defensive pressure by the home team forced the Rebels into five turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game. In total nine of the team’s 12 turnovers in the game came in the first half.

While being sped up on one end of the floor, UNLV failed to register a fast break point in the loss.

It was a cold night in the office for the Rebel offense to the tune of 6-of-20 from the field in the first half Tuesday night. By the final horn, the team shot 38% from the floor while allowing its opponent to shoot 55% from the field.

As a team, UNLV tallied just five assists on 18 made field goals.

Nothing was easy for the Rebels in enemy territory with misses on 16 of their 25 layup attempts. In addition, the team missed 20 of its 45 free throw chances.

Fifty-seven total fouls were called in the game.

Leading scorer Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn was handcuffed for a vast majority of the night. About midway through the second, he had just five points on 1-of-5 shooting along with a 2-for-4 mark from the charity stripe.

Gibbs-Lawhorn accumulated 10 points before fouling out of the game in 33 minutes of action.

Freshman forward Tyrin Jones was a spark plug with 16 points, eight rebounds, three steals and four blocks, three of which came in the first half.

Senior forward Kimani Hamilton scored 14 of his team-leading 19 points in the second half even amidst appearing to tweak his hamstring at one point after halftime. Despite leaving the game briefly following the discomfort, he’d return to complete the contest.

Guard Al Green and Naas Cunningham both returned from the flu and combined for 12 total minutes.