Rebels”class’ time ending

Using practice as his classroom, UNLV coach Lon Kruger has had a lot of time lately to teach his players the fine points of basketball.

Kruger enjoys going to the chalkboard, and he gets involved in the intense practices he runs, but he's ready to start grading more tests.

Because of a quirky Mountain West Conference schedule, the Rebels have played only three games in the past 23 days. There are pros and cons to getting so much time off.

"It's really unusual," Kruger said. "At this time of the year, players would rather play games, of course. But it has given us a chance to keep working on cleaning some things up and keep fresh legs.

"I always feel like our teams are in the best shape physically in late January."

UNLV, 13-4 and 2-1 in the Mountain West, is well rested for its stretch of three games in the next eight days.

The Rebels host last-place Wyoming (6-10, 0-4) on Wednesday before going on the road to face first-place San Diego State (14-4, 4-0) on Saturday and second-place Texas Christian (11-6, 3-1) on Jan. 30.

If the Aztecs lose at Brigham Young on Wednesday, UNLV could get an opportunity to take a share of the lead in a conference race that figures to be tight down to the wire.

"We definitely feel like we're in the running," Rebels junior Rene Rougeau said. "There is not one team that is just standing out. San Diego State is undefeated, but they are destined to fall soon."

UNLV is a serious contender partly because Rougeau has stepped up as a team leader. He had 15 points and seven rebounds last Tuesday in a 70-41 victory over BYU.

No Mountain West team has been a bigger bust than Wyoming, which is coming off an ugly 70-43 loss at San Diego State on Saturday. The Aztecs took a 19-0 lead as the game quickly turned into a laugher.

The Cowboys finished 17-15 last season, but their transition to new coach Heath Schroyer has been rough.

Junior guard Brandon Ewing is the league's No. 2 scorer at 16.9 points per game, and he's the leader in assists with 4.5 per game, but Wyoming has few other offensive threats and ranks last in the league in scoring defense.

The Rebels barely escaped with a victory at Colorado State on Jan. 5 and played poorly in a loss at Air Force on Jan. 12, but found their rhythm in the blowout of BYU.

"It's not going to be pretty and perfect every night," Kruger said. "It was kind of a weird feeling coming out of Air Force. We had won five of our last six, but hadn't played the way we wanted to at Air Force or Colorado State.

"So it seemed like we were kind of on the fence and capable of doing either against BYU, and obviously, what we did was good to see."

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