UNLV falter in second half, opens Players Era Festival with loss to Maryland

UNLV men’s basketball won’t win three straight after a loss in the first game of its lone regular season tournament to fall to .500 at 3-3 on the year.

In the second year of the Players Era Men’s Championship UNLV opened play with a, 74-67, loss to Maryland Monday, Nov. 24 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It’s the first game from the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the program since 2022 against Washington State and it had won its last four contests in the building.

“Towards the end there, our numbers caught up to us,” head coach Josh Pastner said. “Not having the size that we needed inside there.”

Additionally, UNLV is still in search of a power conference win after claiming one in four of the last five seasons. Last year was the lone caveat.

The last time it happened came as a four-point win on the road against Creighton back in 2023.

“We want to do well because we want to win at the highest level,” Pastner said. “That’s important to us. We’ve just got to keep competing and getting after it. This is a great tournament, we’re very honored, excited and enthused to be a part of it.”

Monday night served as the first session of the annually scheduled tournament with a back-to-back which concludes tomorrow. The Rebels will jump back into action against the Alabama Crimson Tide Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 9 p.m. from the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

“I just keep going back to we just got to get healthy,” Pastner said. “We’ve got another great opportunity tomorrow versus Alabama. Our guys fought, played hard and competed.”

Maryland doubled its three-point shooting performance from the first half in the second half to right some wrongs on the way to the comeback victory. UNLV allowed six threes in the second 20-minute period as it lost the frame, 44-37.

At one point of the second half, the Rebels found themselves down 11 points after a 19-8 run by the Terrapins.

“We’ve gotten better at it,” Pastner said. “We really have. I think we can be a really good defensive team once we get our main guys back as well too so we’ll continue to improve on that.”

Despite the loss, UNLV led for more than half of the 40-minute ball game; it was the team’s defense early that catapulted it in front of its Big Ten opponent.

The Rebels forced 15 turnovers in the first half on the way to 11 steals for the game. In total, the team would turn 20 turnovers into 25 points on the other end.

Before halftime, UNLV had a 16-6 run while holding its opponent without a point for nearly four minutes in the midst of that stretch.

“The zone gave us some good minutes,” Pastner said. “It was good for us but I felt offensively obviously, missing some open shots and some looks.”

Junior guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn led the team with 17 points in the loss. He pulled off a highlight reel play in the second half when he turned down a breakaway layup and opted for the behind-the-back pass to teammate Naas Cunningham for the two-hand dunk.

Gibbs-Lawhorn shot 6-for-16 from the field on the way to a team-high 17 points while UNLV shot 22-for-60 or 37% as a team.

“We just haven’t shot the three-point shot well this year,” Pastner said. “Which has been really disappointing because I know we’re a good shooting team. Six games in it just hasn’t been that way. I do believe at some point we’re due for a breakout on that in three-point shooting.”

Senior forward Kimani Hamilton was the only other player in double-figures with 11 points in 31 minutes. He fouled out of the game for the second time this season.

After picking up his second foul in the first half, Pastner was assessed a technical foul after reacting to the defensive lapse by his upperclassman.

“I wasn’t even talking to the official at all,” Pastner said. “I was mad at Kimani for fouling because we had [the opposing player] in a trap. You guys know how much I’m on him about not fouling so I’ll just leave it at that.”

Junior forward Ladji Dembele returned to action after missing the last 10 days on the heels of re-aggravating a foot strain. It was a cold start for him with an airmailed three-point attempt and an early traveling call.

By the final horn, he went scoreless on just one miss to go along with four rebounds and three fouls.

“Ladji had been out 10 days,” Pastner said. “They did clear him today to play limited minutes. Ladji is a good player but I thought obviously he wasn’t in basketball shape.”

Sophomore forward Jacob Bannarbie was a late scratch from the game which forced freshman forward Tyrin Jones into the starting lineup for the first time in his collegiate career.

“Right as we were about to tip-off I had to make a change and put Tyrin into the starting lineup,” Pastner said. “So we were really thin not having Jacob and/or [sophomore center Emmanuel Stephen.”

Jones posted nine points, eight rebounds and three blocks while battling foul trouble. In a brief scare late in the game, he went down after colliding heads with Maryland’s Darius Adams.

While being slow to get up and leaving the court to go to the locker room briefly,Jones would return to action and finish the game soon after.