High-Energy UNLV Arena Thundered With Hoops Life For Rivalry Game, But Rebels Lose To Rival Wolfpack, 87-70

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

LVSportsBiz.com photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell

 

It was like the movie, Awakenings, the beast of Thomas & Mack Center and its legions of red-clad UNLV hoops fans coming back to full-throated life and filling the campus arena with thunderous Rebel chants Tuesday evening.

 

There must have been 11,000 fans or more for the UNLV-Nevada, Reno rivalry basketball game, an impressive gathering when you consider it was two to three times the size of the small crowds that have been coming for Runnin’ Rebels basketball games this season. For the record, the UNLV stats sheet handed out after the game said attendance was 15,786 — but the actual number of people through the turnstiles and sitting in the Thomas & Mack red seats looked closer to 11,000 or 12,000.

 

The powerful nationally-ranked Wolfpack from up north in Nevada toyed with the Rebels in the first half, but UNLV did have a nice run mid-way through the first 20 minutes only to see Nevada lead by 22, 48-26, at the break. UNR, a Top 10 senior-leaden team in the country, cruised to an 87-70 win over the young UNLV team.

 

“Great atmosphere,” coach Marvin Menzies told LVSportsBiz.com of the crowd that rocked the Mack in the first half. “I wish we gave them more to cheer for.”

 

 

 

It was the first UNLV hoops game of the season for Rebels fan Rafael Romero-Salas, who brought his two sons, 10 and nine years old, to a Rebels game because he knew the Las Vegas-Reno rivalry game would have a high-energy buzz to the building that he knew his kids would enjoy.

 

“I know no one has been watching the previous games, but it’s a game with Nevada Reno, a rivalry game,” said the 45-year-old Romero-Salas. “I wanted to go to a game with a big crowd so (my sons) would be interested.”

 

Tonight, there was a buzz in the building Las Vegas has not seen this season, as Menzies is trying to coax as many wins out of a young, work-in-progress club as possible.

 

But the first half was a rough time for the inexperienced Rebels, which were 0 for 12 from three-point land at halftime and were down 48-26 after the first 20-minute stanza.

 

The Nevada-Reno squad was too powerful, too agile and too experienced for the Runnin’ Rebels, as 6-foot, seven-inch Jordan Caroline and the six-foot, seven-inch Martin twins led UNR to its 20th win in the season.

 

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The game’s fate was never in question in the second half. But UNLV Athletic Director Desiree Reed-Francois must have relished seeing the season’s biggest crowd and loud noise and partial ovation for the Rebels dance girls who won a recent national championship.

 

The Runnin’ Rebels dropped to 5-3 in the weak Mountain West Conference, 11-9 overall, while rival UNR is 7-1 in the MWC, with its sole season loss to New Mexico.

 

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