Last-minute collapse folds UNLV in Jack Jones Classic loss to Tennessee State

UNLV’s men’s basketball program suffered another massive letdown after picking up a potential resume-building win as this “roller coaster” of a season gets ready to speed up.

As part of the Jack Jones Classic, the Runnin’ Rebels were beaten, 63-60, by the Tennessee State Tigers Saturday, Dec. 13 from Lee’s Family Forum. This year’s team is now 0-4 in neutral site games this season.

“We could never pull away,” head coach Josh Pastner said. “We were up 29-20 in the first half, I thought we were right there ready to pull away.”

Moreover, despite being winless in four neutral site games this year, UNLV is now 2-6 in the state of Nevada this season. Overall, the team is 4-6 with the start of Mountain West play on the horizon.

Conference play begins with a Saturday, Dec. 20 meeting with Fresno State. Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m.

While that will mark the start of Mountain West play, the team has not played its final non-conference game. That contest against the Bulldogs will be the beginning of a three-game homestand which will house the team’s final non-conference game as the second showing of the home stretch.

“Our team is a roller coaster,” Pastner said. “We can beat anybody on any given night and we can lose to anybody on any given night. We’ll figure it out, it’s just part of the deal.”

Even with the loss, the Rebels got the free throw miss it needed but a missed three-pointer by senior forward Kimani Hamilton spoiled all chances of heroics. He played the role of hero in the team’s one-point road win at Stanford when the program was last seen.

“We wanted to go with a ball screen for [junior guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn],” Pastner said. “Get him just to drive it because they had been fouling and get him to the free throw line.”

UNLV shot 19 more free throws than Tennessee State but still would connect on only 19 of those 32 attempts. More mistakes followed late in regulation when Gibbs-Lawhorn committed his fifth turnover of the game after a timeout with 22.4 left in regulation.

“Eighteen turnovers just kills you,” Pastner said. “And then they have 13 offensive rebounds, second chance points and they beat us in points in the paint. I just thought they were the more physical team.”

Gibbs-Lawhorn was a big catalyst in the Rebels’ success for most of the game. He battled foul trouble in the first half but still tallied 11 points before halftime. He finished the game as his team’s lone double-digit point scorer with 13 points on 50% shooting while suffering from cramping late in the contest, a misfortune that limited him to just 23 minutes.

“I’ve got to watch the film but him cramping during that stretch hurt us,” Pastner said. “Obviously, not having a true point guard again as you can tell is a glaring issue with us. We struggle at times not having a true point guard in there offensively.”

Despite the loss, UNLV led for more than 26 minutes and only trailed for 23 seconds in the first half.

“You’ve got to make layups and free throws,” Pastner said. “Unfortunately, we’re one of the worst three-point shooting teams in America and I didn’t see that coming.”

In the second half, the Rebels had a scoreless stretch of more than three minutes which ultimately came as part of an 11-1 run by the Tigers. Just before the final horn, TSU held UNLV without a point for another three-plus minute stretch.

While competitive in that first half and even taking a four-point lead into the halftime break, the Rebels were held to just 10-for-26 from the field in the first 20 minutes.

“We weren’t really good offensively,” Pastner said. “We missed so many layups, free throws, short shots. We just kept missing and missing and missing – we couldn’t score.”

It was the team’s defense that allowed the team to stay the course en route to the three-point loss. UNLV forced 18 turnovers in the loss but could only turn those mistakes into 14 points the other way.

Sophomore forward Jacob Bannarbie made his return to the court after missing the last four games with a calf injury. In his return, he chipped in with six points and seven rebounds in 10 minutes of on-court action.

Senior guard Howie Fleming Jr. also returned to the court for Pastner and company after missing the team’s last contest with an eye injury.

While the program is getting healthier than it’s been all season long, it is still without guards Myles Che and Mason Abittan in addition to forward Ladji Dembele.

“Playing 10 guys in double-digit minutes is a lot,” Pastner said. “We played eight last game versus Stanford and then we add two guys back [...] We’ve got to get our rotations set, we’ve got to get our guys set.”