Villains in striped shirts least among Rebels problems

Tim Miles has this routine with his Colorado State basketball team following road losses where the Rams might have felt -- I'll offer the G-rated version -- slighted by officials.

He shows players tape of the game's final five minutes and together they chart mistakes made by themselves, the opponent and the three villains (people) wearing whistles.

"Most often, we find we wronged ourselves more than being wronged by officials," Miles said. "If we limit the (mistakes) we make, (officiating) doesn't matter."

This just in: Road teams in college basketball rarely receive the benefit of calls.

The sky is also blue and the Packers just had a pretty big win.

It wasn't the happiest group of Rebels departing the Marriott Center on Saturday after UNLV lost to Brigham Young 78-64 and tweets and texts and Rebels fans in attendance and on message boards poured out frustration with how they thought the game was called.

"What can you do?" one UNLV follower in Provo, Utah, asked afterward.

My response: "Don't shoot 18 of 60."

Psychologists have studied it. Stats have been compared and contrasted. There is a new book out called "Scorecasting," that in part investigates why the home team receives a more favorable whistle. Opinions are plentiful and yet fairly consistent -- you usually have to outplay a team by 10 points to win by five when visiting another's arena.

"You can't overthink it as the (visiting team) or kids are going to react negatively," Texas Christian coach Jim Christian said. "Just play. Just go out and play as hard as you can."

UNLV's season has followed a traditional pattern when it comes to being on both sides of a whistle, and the Rebels have, at least statistically, fared better than most teams on the road.

In 12 home games, UNLV has been assessed 220 fouls as opposed to 264 for opponents while attempting 314 free throws to the 246 visitors have shot.

On the road, UNLV has been called for 161 fouls to 150 for opponents and shot 162 free throws to 176 for the other guys. On Saturday, UNLV shot 26 free throws to 25 for BYU, which had just two fewer calls against it.

You can't expect a much better fate away from home, especially when UNLV is not built for getting calls on offense. Aggressive teams that attack the rim can often at least stay even on fouls in another's arena. That's not this team.

The Rebels aren't physical and more and more have become a side that settles for jumpers when perplexed in running its zone offense, which seems to happen every time it sees, well, a zone defense.

The Rebels waited too long Saturday to attack BYU's zone, and the few times they tried early resulted in turnovers. They still fall into a bad habit of standing for long stretches. Any opposing coach who doesn't at least show zone against UNLV at this point should be fired before game's end.

Part of the issue is the team's makeup -- its bigs are works in progress at best, capable of producing a memorable statistical effort every now and then but rarely one that makes a great difference in winning. You can throw the ball inside to them, but there is no certainty something good will happen.

A much bigger issue is shooting. UNLV hasn't done it very well in some time, making 41.3 percent in conference play. The Rebels are 40 of 164 on 3-pointers in league for 24.4 percent, which would be sad if not so laughable.

It's a good thing UNLV still defends better than most, or that 5-4 Mountain West Conference record entering tonight's game at TCU would be worse.

Some players (Tre'Von Willis, Oscar Bellfield) have been streaky with their shots. Some (Chace Stanback, Anthony Marshall) have been statistically consistent inside the 3-point line. One (Derrick Jasper) has lost all confidence, attempting just seven shots in his last 133 minutes of play.

None is reliable from distance.

The Rebels at 17-6 with an RPI of 28 are in the NCAA Tournament today, but on what line of the bracket and how much could they be expected to advance if the shooting woes continue? It's a far bigger problem than anything to do with calls at home or on the road.

"We're sitting there at halftime on Saturday at San Diego State and they had one foul called against them," said Christian, whose team shot 15 fewer free throws than the Aztecs and lost 60-53. "It is what it is. Life on the road."

So you expect it, deal with it, don't complain about it and overcome it.

A good way for UNLV to start tonight: Don't shoot 18 of 60.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," FOX Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him at twitter.com/edgraney.