3 takeaways from UNLV’s 101-75 loss to No. 21 UNR
Three takeaways from the UNLV basketball team’s 101-75 loss to No. 21 UNR on Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center:
1. A major evaluation needs to take place.
Rebels coach Marvin Menzies has chosen to play the long game of recruiting mostly three- and four-year players (Brandon McCoy being the notable exception), which is the opposite of what UNR’s Eric Musselman has done. The payoff has been more immediate for the Wolf Pack, but if Menzies’ approach is correct, that will change over time.
It’s difficult, however, to ignore what also has happened at New Mexico, where Menzies protege Paul Weir has taken a team torn apart by a coaching change and in his first season has the Lobos tied for third in the Mountain West.
Which leads to the next, more perplexing issue. New Mexico plays hard. Every game. Who can make that claim about this season’s UNLV team? No one knows which Rebels squad is going to show up, and this is a team getting worse when it’s supposed to be peaking. UNLV has lost four consecutive games.
Menzies very well could win the long game and set up the program for years of sustained success, but that doesn’t mean a serious evaluation shouldn’t take place now.
“Every great job comes with a challenge,” he said. “If you don’t challenge yourself, how do you improve? So our backs are against the wall a little bit. I’ve got to dig down into my bag of tricks and see what we can do to finish this thing strong.”
2. Confidence can’t be good.
UNLV came out energized against the Wolf Pack, taking a 10-7 lead by the first media timeout, but then it all fell apart.
This was the third time in the past four games that the Rebels haven’t played well, and with only Saturday’s trip to Utah State remaining on the regular-season schedule, these performances can’t be good for the team’s psyche.
“I don’t think they have any quit in them,” Menzies said. “I don’t think they’re going to pack it in. We’ve lost some games against some good teams, and we knew we were going to face the tough part of our schedule here.
“There are no excuses. You have to power through this time of year, especially when you’re a young team.”
3. Seventh place is not much of a goal.
If the Rebels beat Utah State, they will get the seventh seed in next week’s conference tournament at the Thomas & Mack. A loss drops them to the eighth seed.
The main distinction is being No. 7 means a victory Wednesday would pit the Rebels against No. 2 Boise State in the quarterfinals, a team UNLV matches up well against. A No. 8 seed means a potential quarterfinal game against rested and top-seeded UNR.
Even so, it’s difficult to imagine Menzies using the difference in seeding as part of his pregame motivational speech. The overall premise remains the same: Win four games in four days. Something that hasn’t happened in Mountain West history.
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Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.
