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By Dan Behringer, LVSportsBiz.com Betting Writer
In case you’ve settled down for a long winter’s nap, it’s time — make that, past time — to wake up and pay attention to the UNLV Rebels basketball team.
They’re playing winning basketball. As in undefeated.
And more often than not of late, they’re a winning bet.
They’re also threatening to break into the national rankings.
On Wednesday night at the gloriously named Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, UNLV dispatched Hawaii, 77-62. If you took out a loan for a few dollars to bet on the Rebels, it was a shrewd investment. The Rebels handily covered -8.5 for the game. They led at halftime 41-22 and easily covered the first-half line of -4 or 4.5. The total went over 129.5.
That brings their record to 9-0 on the still young season.
They have covered their last four games and are 5-3 ATS.
“Any time you lose 23 points per night with (former Rebel Bryce Hamilton), most of the time you don’t replace that with 23 per night,” coach Kevin Kruger told reporters after the game. “So it really has been that way. We’ve had a number of different leading scorers, we have guys who’ve filled into roles pretty well.”
And they are attracting national attention. In the latest AP Top 25 poll, they received 14 votes — more votes than Texas Tech, West Virginia, Marquette, Xavier, New Mexico, Memphis, Michigan State, Missouri, North Carolina, and Kansas State.
The last time the Rebels were ranked in The AP poll was the 2012-13 season, in which they climbed as high as No. 18 in the rankings.
Can the early roll continue? Or should you go back to that long winter’s nap? You’ll find out soon. They next play the Washington State Cougars (4-4) on Saturday. Tipoff at the MGM Grand Garden Arena is at 1:30 p.m.
No line yet on that game.
Elsewhere:
— Thursday Night Collapse: Yes, that was the Las Vegas Raiders who were leading the beaten-up Los Angeles Rams, 16-3, in the fourth quarter on Thursday Night Football. And yes that was Baker Mayfield, cast off by the Carolina Panthers days earlier, who led a highly improbable comeback to defeat the Raiders, 17-16.
If you saw Raiders bettors tearing up their tickets in disgust, that would be understandable. The line was Raiders -6.5 and bet up as high as Raiders -13.5 before kickoff.
Yet it’s a familiar scenario. The Raiders dropped to 0-4 this season when leading by double digits at halftime — the most losses in that situation by any team since at least 1930.
Mayfield’s winning 98-yard touchdown march was the longest go-ahead TD drive in the final 2 minutes of a game over the past 45 NFL seasons.
“I’m just sick about it,” Maxx Crosby of the Raiders said. “It’s tough. We played good football for most of the game but just didn’t close the game. … It’s all self-inflicted.”
The Silver and Black now get time off before they face the New England Patriots on Dec. 18. They are -1.5 with the total at 45.5 for that game.
— Return to the win column for the VGK? After a 5-1 thrashing by the New York Rangers on Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena, the Vegas Golden Knights next face the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday.
The loss to the Rangers was not pretty as the Boys with Golden Helmets saw the visitors ring up four goals in a little more than five minutes. It was their third straight home loss.
“We were not a very mature team tonight when it came to how to get your game back in the third period,” coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters. “Sure enough, it’s gone, gets away.”
But oddsmakers think the VGK (now 19-8-1) are likely to get back in the win column at home vs. the Flyers (9-13-4-1) since they are -265 for the game. The total is 6.
Puck drop is a 7 p.m.
We wouldn’t advocate a side here, but we do remember a Golden Knights-Flyers game from almost exactly a year ago at T-Mobile Arena. The Flyers were also heavy ‘dogs in that game and beat the Golden Knights, 4-3, to snap a 10-game losing streak.
— UFC 282 showdown: Jan Blachowicz squares off with Magomed Ankalaev in the light heavyweight championship event of UFC 282 on Saturday at T-Mobile.
Ankalaev opened as a -200 favorite, according to Covers.com but has been bet up. At Draft Kings, Ankalaev (18-1) is around -240, and Blachowicz (19-9) +200 on the buyback.
— Play of the Week (8-5): We passed on several easy winners in college football last week and went with a NFL pick, the Kansas City Chiefs, -2.5. Bad decision — the Chiefs were smoked by the Bengals, 27-24. That gave us two straight losses and our record for the season tumbled to 8-5. With a limited college card this weekend, we’re doing what any savvy bettor should do occasionally — taking the week off. Back next week with a Play of the Week.