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A pair of missed free throws late in regulation derailed a chance for the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels to make serious ground in the Mountain West standings.
UNLV was shocked by a last-minute comeback effort from Nevada – Reno Saturday, Feb, 17 from the Thomas & Mack Center in the nightcap of a basketball doubleheader. The loss snaps a streak of five straight wins for the program and ends a stretch of four straight wins over its in-state rival.
“Tough way to finish,” head coach Kevin Kruger said. “Really good 36, 37 minutes then just a tough way to finish and come out on the short end.”
Entering play, the top eight teams in the Mountain West were separated by just three games in the standings. Moreover, the top seven teams were split by just two games. Heading into the game, UNLV was favored by a point and a half while entering fourth in the conference while hosting No. 7 UNR. Prior to tip-off, this year’s Rebels were one game out of first place in the loss column.
As of now, the team sits in the seventh spot in the conference with a 14-10 overall record and 7-5 Mountain West mark. With a chance to restart the win streak, UNLV will travel to Colorado for a date with the Air Force Falcons, who earned their lone conference of the year inside the Thomas & Mack Center by 32 points in late January
“There’s more games left,” fifth-year forward Keylan Boone said. “It hurts but we just gotta keep it going.”
That game is slated for Wednesday, Feb. 21 from Cadet Field House in Colorado. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.
Freshman guard Dedan Thomas Jr. had all things go south with a pair of free throws late in regulation that ultimately kept his team behind the eight-ball. Thomas clanked two free throws with a chance to tie the game and take the lead.
Several times this season, the Las Vegas native missed clutch free throws late in games with it hanging in the balance. Prior to his misses, he was 6-for-6 on the night.
“We can always cherry-pick this play, that play,” Kruger said. “We can do that with every player, at any point of the game. But since he’s such a good player and he’s going to have such a great career, of course there’s a little more attention on him. Again, these are just regular growing pains. The best of the best don’t make every shot.”
Thomas was the man relied on most times when the going got tough for the Rebels. Moments before his missed free throws, the Liberty product drilled the go-ahead bucket after the Wolf Pack had briefly stolen the lead.
At one point of the second half, Thomas scored or assisted on seven straight points for the home team which included scoring five straight himself. His 19 points shared for the game-high to go along with a game-high eight assists.
The back-and-forth affair produced five ties and 12 lead changes while UNLV led for more than 30 minutes of the 40-minute ballgame. After being tied at 20 apiece, the Rebels went on a 7-0 spurt capped off by a three-pointer from Thomas.
UNR would respond with a 9-0 run just before halftime forcing its opponent into three straight turnovers. As it had all night long, UNLV jumped back on top and eventually went up by 11 points which served as the largest for either side.
“[We were] playing inside out,” Boone said. “We’ve got good big men, we’ve got post players that can make something happen and playmakers as well so we were able to play the outside game after that.”
Similar to the prior run, the Wolf Pack used an 8-0 run to get back into the game and trim the deficit to a point. Soon after they would take their first lead since late in the first half. Things continued to slide downhill after the Rebels committed a turnover immediately coming out of the timeout to try.
UNLV was up nine with about five and a half minutes left in the game and up seven with less than three minutes left. Over the final 5:30 of the game, UNR outscored UNLV, 16-4, en route to the win.
“We just kind of got timid,” Kruger said. “We had just fouled too much. I think we just need to keep that aggressiveness and that same level of intensity. But again when you foul on multiple possessions, when you foul multiple times on possessions sometimes that can happen.”
Boone chipped in with 15 points with three made threes in just under 29 minutes of action.
Junior forward Rob Whaley Jr. reeled off eight straight points in the first half on his way to 11 points on the night. He shot 5-for-6 from the field while tallying two blocks on the other end.
Whaley dealt with foul trouble for a good portion of the game and would close the night with four fouls. In total, 42 fouls were called on the day with both teams shooting at least 23 free throw attempts.