Lobos wanted it more

F or those who missed the entire first half of UNLV-New Mexico basketball on television Wednesday evening, those who sat clutching their remotes tighter and tighter as two Top 25 teams went at it but were nowhere to be found on the ol' tube, you can be certain one theme defined the matchup from its outset.

The Lobos wanted it more.

Which, for a UNLV team that entered tied for first place in its league 24 games into a season, is fairly disheartening.

Effort can be a difficult thing to define for those not employed to coach, but within a stat sheet often exists proof of which team played harder and with more purpose. New Mexico in beating the Rebels 76-66 before 18,044 at the Thomas & Mack Center was that team.

"They really outworked us," UNLV guard Oscar Bellfield said. "I guess they did want it more."

Much like it was impossible to predict how well the Rebels would play in routing Brigham Young on Saturday, gauging how they might respond to such a win was also difficult. UNLV didn't respond all that well.

It trailed 19-8 before those sitting at home realized CBS College Sports Network really wasn't playing some cruel joke and would stick with Utah-Texas Christian women instead of switching to one of the biggest Mountain West Conference regular-season men's games of the season. More on that ridiculous decision later.

One game after out-rebounding BYU, the Rebels were outclassed on the boards. New Mexico grabbed 45 to UNLV's 23. The Lobos had 17 on the offensive end. They had 19 second-chance points to UNLV's two. They were the first to reach most loose balls.

They made shots that didn't fall when UNLV won in Albuquerque on Jan. 9. When the Lobos ran that high pick-and-roll set over and over and over and swung the ball to open shooters this time, more often than not jumpers fell.

UNLV didn't defend particularly well in either game against the Lobos, but were exposed more here because New Mexico was far more efficient.

"They whipped us in every aspect of the game," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. "We could never quite get over the hump. The (BYU win Saturday and this loss) are totally independent of each other. We line up six more times and nothing that happened before will have an affect on the next game. We just didn't do what we needed to tonight. New Mexico played great."

How ironic. Two days after the Mountain West put three teams into the Top 25 rankings, after commissioner Craig Thompson spoke (apparently with a straight face, mind you) about the "unprecedented national television exposure" his league has supposedly received, not one person saw a minute of the first half between No. 15 and No. 23.

I don't know any CBS College Sports Network executives. I know whichever decided to stay with Utah-TCU women through four overtimes instead of switching to this game should be reciting the phrase, "Would you like fries with that?" today.

The league said it was strictly a network decision. Fine. But in this case, perception will outweigh reality, and the belief nationally by many today will be that this is yet another example of the Mountain West owning a weak television contract.

Fair. Unfair. It doesn't matter. It is what people across the country will think. When the New York Times labels a Mountain West game the nation's best on a particular night, better than a matchup between Duke and North Carolina, it's probably a good thing for those on the opposite coast to actually see more than a half of it.

UNLV has other issues. The Rebels now face the league's most athletic team at San Diego State on Saturday and follow that with a game at Utah on Wednesday, the same Utah that won here last month. Rebounding will be critical in both games. Second-chance points could again define a winner and loser. A game out of first place could become two or three by next week at this time.

The Rebels need to play as New Mexico did here Wednesday.

They need to want it more.

"We have to use this as a learning experience," Bellfield said. "It hurts. But we need to get over it and move onto the next game. We have to compete harder. This was real deflating, but it happened."

No big secret why.

The other guys played harder.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618.