By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
So much for thinking UNLV men’s basketball team would ride a host streak all the way to the Big Dance.
The Runnin’ Rebels’ topsy-turvy uneven season came to screeching halt in the Mountain West Conference tournament Thursday afternoon when Boise State upset UNLV, 67-61, on the Rebs’ home court. The MWC announced attendance at 8,189.
UNLV finished 17-15 in coach T.J. Otzelberger’s first season in Las Vegas. He replaced Marvin Menzies last year after Menzies was fired by Athletic Director Desiree Reed-Francois the day after UNLV bowed out of the Mountain West tourney in 2019.
It was an uneven season for the UNLV’s hoops team. The Rebs shocked college basketball with a stunning 66-63 upset over Top 10 ranked San Diego State in Southern California Feb. 22 and they blasted a highly-respected Utah State squad, 70-53, on Jan. 1 at Thomas & Mack Center.
But on the flip side, there were some uninspiring losses like a 74-66 defeat to Pacific at home on Dec. 18, which prompted Otzelberger to criticize the team’s effort and prompted him to quip that if he had any college basketball eligibility he would put on a UNLV uniform and lace up the sneakers and go out on the court himself to play.
The UNLV team played in front of some small crowds at the start of the season as the Rebs won only four of their first dozen games. The Runnin’ Rebels had commenced — under Otzelberger — a journey to rekindle relevance, if not some degree of stature, in both Las Vegas’ hot sports market and on college basketball’s national landscape.
There seemed an increased spark of interest in the community for UNLV hoops as bigger crowds came for home games later in the season such as the UNLV vs UNR showdown won by the Reno university, 82-79, in overtime.
Then UNLV went on a five-game winning streak to end the season thanks to playing shorter players, including victories over the then number four-ranked San Diego State Aztecs and a 10-point triumph on Feb. 26 over the same Boise State team that knocked out the Rebs today.
UNLV picked a poor time to shoot poorly as the Runnin’ Rebels made only 18 of 57 field goal attempts, including nine of 27 from three-point land. UNLV shot a season-low 31.6 percent for the game. And the Rebs made only 16 of 26 free throws, too. It added up to a six-point loss to a team that UNLV beat by 1o points on Feb. 26.
UNLV’s small-ball style was handicapped by the loss of guard Elijah Mitrou-Long, who was injured in the final game of the regular season, a 92-69 win over San Jose State Saturday. He did not play Thursday. He posted this item on Twitter Thursday.
Guard Bryce Hamilton led UNLV with 24 points in the loss, while guard Amauri Hardy chipped in with 14 points though he made only one three-point field goal out of seven tries from three-point land. Fellow guard Jonah Antonio had 13 points on four-of-nine shooting from the three-point strip and one made free throw.
Boise State was led by RJ Williams with 23 points and now plays San Diego State in a Mountain West tournament semifinal Friday. Utah State plays Wyoming, which beat Nevada-Reno Thursday night, in the other semifinal.
The UNLV basketball brand, so well-known 30 years ago, seems like it made a small comeback with a late-season winning streak. But there’s so much distance to cover in the upcoming seasons under Otzelberger.
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