UNLV Runnin’ Rebels Move Off Campus For ‘Clash’ Against Washington State At MGM Grand Garden Saturday; Rebs Win Tenth Straight With 74-70 Decision Over Cougars; Indiana/Arizona Draws Sellout Crowd Of 13,357
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher/Writer
The DJ at the MGM Grand Garden Arena played Thunderstruck and the music rocked the venue on the Strip near the Tropicana Boulevard intersection.
It’s a four-team doubleheader includes a UNLV vs Washington State first game that’s part of what Las Vegas hoops promoter Brooks Downing calls “The Clash.”
It’s impossible to identify fans by their logo gear because red is the color for all four teams Saturday afternoon. Indiana plays Arizona at 4 PM.
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UNLV is on a mini-tour of arenas in the Las Vegas Valley with the 10-day National Finals Rodeo taking over the Thomas & Mack Center this week. UNLV visited Henderson Wednesday to easily dispatch San Diego by 17 points at the Dollar Loan Center arena in suburban Green Valley Ranch.
The MGM Grand Garden is among MGM Resorts International’s roster of sports venues. It’s a utilitarian arena without the frills of T-Mobile Arena on the west side of the Strip, but it’s still useful to host events like bdGlobal’s “The Clash” hoops event.
UNLV is unbeaten at 9-0, but this 4-4 Washington State hoops squad jumped out to a 13-4 lead as the Cougars played well against the Runnin’ Rebels’ vaunted nasty defense, which would force 22 turnovers in this game.
Then UNLV ripped off your basic 18-0 run and seized a 22-13 lead over Washington State midway through the first half.
UNLV is a defensive stalwart that has a trio of six-foot-three to six-foot-six inch players who spark the offense: sophomore Keshon Gilbert, fifth-year player EJ Harkless and all-purpose senior Luis Rodriguez. The Rebs were leading 33-30 at the half and enjoyed a 64-54 advantage with about seven minutes left in the second half. Jackie Johnson III, pictured below, is also a sparkplug off the bench.
There wasn’t a giant showing of UNLV fans at MGM Grand Garden today because this game is not part of the Rebels basketball season ticket deal with the university. The get-in price was $49, plus there’s another $20 for parking and gas.
The quartet of college basketball teams was part of a busy sports Saturday as the final day of the 10-day National Finals Rodeo was wrapping up at Thomas & Mack a mile to the west down Tropicana while Las Vegas-based UFC was staging its final PPV fight show event of the year at T-Mobile Arena only a mile to the west on the other side of the Strip.
The Cougars pulled within six points at 69-63 with less than a minute and a half to go.
But UNLV eventually polished off Washington State to win, 74-70, before Arizona and Indiana took the floor. Gilbert led UNLV with 23 points, while Harkless scored 20.
I felt like we played a lot of that game at Wazzu’s pace and their temperament, but I thought we did a good job of creating enough momentum swings in our direction to where we had favor in the way the game was going. It was a little more up and down which our guys do better at. When the game is moving, we are able to get turnovers, run and get good offensive looks that way. Washington State shot the ball really well and they do a really good job of finding the open guy and when you’ve got that many that can make plays and shoot it and make some of the shots they did today, that’s what’s probably going to happen — UNLV coach Kevin Kruger
The Runnin’ Rebels are 10-0. They play San Francisco at Thomas & Mack Center Dec. 17 at 2 PM. Here’s the ticket deal UNLV is pitching.
Indiana and Arizona fans came and it was a marquee matchup of two well-known college basketball programs. The event sold out for that game at 13,357 at the MGM Grand Garden. Tenth-ranked Arizona defeated Indiana, 89-75.
