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For only the 15th time in 66 years of the UNLV men’s basketball program, the Runnin’ Rebels lost their season opener and for the first time they lost to a team from the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
UNLV was stunned at home inside the Thomas & Mack Center by Southern, 85-71, Wednesday, Nov. 8 in the season opener for the program. Prior to this outcome, the Rebs were 7-0 against the SWAC including a 10-point win over these same Jaguars last season.
“Not the result we wanted obviously,” head coach Kevin Kruger said. “Just a little too timid but still got a positive outlook for this group.”
A quick turnaround is ahead for UNLV as it prepares to wrap up a two-game homestand to start the year when it hosts Stetson. That game is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 11 from the Thomas & Mack Center with tip-off set for 4 p.m.
Kruger’s third year will continue with a roster split down the middle consisting of returners and newcomers.
“We’ll go watch the film and get into practice tomorrow,” Kruger said. “We’ll be a different team on Saturday, that’s for sure.”
Southern took control of the game with a 16-0 run in the first half on the heels of switching to a full-court trap defense. UNLV was forced into 11 of its 13 turnovers in the first half before tightening up the ball-handling in the second half.
Last season, the Rebels won the turnover margin by 10 while forcing the Jags into 28 total turnovers.
“We just took it for granted,” sophomore forward Isaiah Cottrell said. “We worked on it, we knew it was coming but when gametime came around we couldn’t execute what we needed to do.”
UNLV went through stretches of three-plus minutes and five-plus minutes without a point, lending to the lopsided loss. In the first half, Southern went up by as many as 21 points.
With tempers reaching a boiling point on opening night, the Rebel bench was assessed a technical foul down 16 points with 2:05 left to play before halftime.
“Turnovers, turnovers,” Kruger said. “Turnovers and then our closeouts. We talked about that, that was an emphasis the last week and a half was us taking away their catch-and-shoot three opportunities and protecting the ball.”
The Jaguars would go up by as many points as 26 in the second half but the home team would cut into the lead and trim it to as little as 15. However, the Rebels would never scratch closer than 13 points.
Cottrell hit back-to-back three-pointers in the first three minutes of the game on his way to seven first half points in 14 minutes of action. Those 14 first half minutes accounted for more than the nine minutes put up in the only game for the Las Vegas native after suffering a lower leg injury, forcing him to miss the remainder of the season.
By the final buzzer, Cottrell led the team in scoring with 18 points with eight makes from the free throw line on 12 tries. He also added seven rebounds and four blocks.
Senior guard Luis Rodriguez scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half. Additionally, they all came in the last 11:28 of regulation.
Freshman guard Dedan Thomas Jr. needed time to settle into his college debut working through some early turnovers to finish with 14 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals. All five of his turnovers came in the first half.
“We were sped up across the board,” Kruger said. “We were sped up and that’s what you have when you’re timid, when you’re overthinking sometimes you can get a little sped up and I think that was our issue in the first half.”
Senior forward Jalen Hill was the final UNLV player in double-figures with 11 points to go along with six rebounds, a steal and a block. More than halfway through the second half, Hill tweaked his ankle and was seen visibly limping to the Rebel bench.
UNLV already entered the game light in the roster department with junior guard Shane Nowell missing the game with an ankle injury. Additionally, senior transfer Kalib Boone served a one-game suspension but the program denied to comment any further on the reasoning for the suspension.
Considering all the storylines coming in, the Rebels’ bench was outscored 43-5 by the Jags’ second-unit.