Guards shred Rebels defense

A hand in his face or not, there was no stopping Kansas State's Jacob Pullen. After dropping his seventh 3-point shot of the game, Pullen spun around and smiled.

There was nothing Oscar Bellfield -- or any other UNLV defender -- could do.

"I was laughing because (Bellfield) said, 'Damn, it's a long night,' " Pullen said. "If they had been shooting like we were, I would have said the same thing."

Pullen scored 28 points as the Wildcats shot down the Rebels 95-80 on Saturday before a crowd of 8,320 at the Orleans Arena.

Kansas State hit 14 of 23 3-pointers to deal 18th-ranked UNLV its first loss. A lopsided game turned into a laugher as the Wildcats (9-1) opened a 23-point lead on Pullen's last 3 with six minutes to go.

The Rebels (7-1) offered little resistance to the Wildcats' backcourt of Pullen and Denis Clemente, who made three 3-pointers en route to 22 points.

"We knew coming in that we definitely needed to stop Clemente and Pullen, and we didn't do it," said junior guard Tre'Von Willis, who led UNLV with 17 points. "We let them do what they wanted to do, and that's not normally how we play basketball.

"There were countless mental breakdowns we had on both ends of the floor."

The 95 points were the most the Rebels have surrendered in coach Lon Kruger's six seasons, a span of 173 games.

"Hopefully we'll come out of this and learn a lot and get better as a result of it," Kruger said.

UNLV trailed 42-34 at halftime and quickly unraveled with a flurry of turnovers that led to easy transition baskets for Kansas State.

The Wildcats blew it open with a 25-11 run in the first six minutes of the second half. Curtis Kelly's three-point play and a 3-pointer from Clemente put Kansas State up 67-45 with 14:02 remaining.

Kelly's basket came after a bad pass by the Rebels' Kendall Wallace, and Clemente's 3 was the result of a Willis turnover.

"When you have plays like that," Willis said, "it's devastating."

There were several similar plays, as Kansas State scored 26 points off UNLV's 16 turnovers.

The Wildcats' guards were quicker and their big men stronger.

"We just got outmuscled," said Rebels forward Chace Stanback, who had 12 of his 14 points in the second half. "We could have defended better."

UNLV's defense had been limiting opponents to 37.7 percent shooting from the field, including 27.4 percent from 3-point range. Kansas State shot 57.1 percent (28-for-49) and made 60.9 percent of its 3s.

Pullen, a 6-foot junior, made a variety of contested shots but also got loose for too many open looks.

"He can beat you off the dribble and shoot the 3 well," Kruger said. "We guarded him a few times, but you've got to fight harder and try to do more to keep him from shooting it like that."

Kruger altered his starting lineup for the first time this season. Freshman guard Anthony Marshall made his first career start in place of Stanback, and Marshall scored nine of his 11 points in the first half.

Bellfield said "a lot of heads were down" in the locker room after the Rebels took a thorough whipping.

"It's a learning experience, something we probably needed," Bellfield said. "We've got to dig deep down. We've got to bounce back."

UNLV has three opportunities in the next week to heal its wounds. The Rebels play at Southern Utah on Tuesday before hosting Weber State on Thursday and South Carolina-Upstate on Saturday.

"They jumped on us from the start, and they kind of never looked back," Willis said. "I hate to lose. This is going to stick with me until we play the next game."

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.