Darger keeps absorbing, making big shots

Joe Darger this college basketball season has been asked to be the bug that can stop a windshield wiper, the kindergartner who can tame a middle school bully, the Razor scooter that can halt a Hummer.

It's enough to give a guy his share of bruises while also ruining his shooting rhythm.

"Maybe about 10 percent," Darger said.

He wouldn't admit to it being more. It's amazing he conceded anything.

UNLV continued its extraordinary journey Tuesday night toward what would be a second straight NCAA Tournament berth, beating San Diego State 68-58 and more than securing the notion the Rebels should finish no worse than second in the Mountain West Conference.

It's a truth that more than ever demands UNLV receive the kind of contribution Darger provided against the Aztecs. If the Rebels have any chance at turning heads in March, there can't be one game in which offensive numbers come solely from guard Wink Adams.

Conference tournament and NCAA games are routinely tight. Possessions are valued more. Nerves are frayed. A six-point deficit late in an elimination game feels more like 12, which makes a shooter who can stretch leads unbelievably valuable. Darger has that ability. Whether he'll have enough legs over the next several weeks is debatable.

He has been asked to play bigger than his 6-foot-7-inch frame suggests is fairly achievable, the effect of being on a team that was small in November and has since shrunk with player dismissals and departures.

It has been Darger's nightly duty to knock bodies with bigger and stronger players, his specific assignment to gain proper defensive position and not allow easy baskets and rebound before he even thinks about sprinting the floor and finding an open space to shoot.

Try doing it for one half. Darger has done it for 27 games.

"It's hard to say it hasn't had some effect on (his offense)," he said after scoring 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting. "But I also know it's about defense, defense and rebounding."

Darger is one of several Rebels to fight a flu bug in recent days, and his numbers in the previous four games (8.2 points per game, just 14 3-point attempts) suggested all these months of playing center in a small forward's body were finally paying him back.

He had scored at least 13 in a stretch of 10-of-16 games before managing double figures just once from Feb. 6 to 23.

But just when the junior appeared on his way to another ordinary evening, he struck the final nail in San Diego State's coffin and allowed UNLV to pull away in a game it couldn't lose and still legitimately whisper of at-large NCAA hopes.

His 3-pointer pushed UNLV's four-point lead to seven with 6:26 left and his next 3 made it a 10-point game with 5:31 remaining. They were big shots, huge, the kind that win games in March.

"Joe played great," Adams said. "We're going to need everyone to step up like that."

Opinions will vary, but I believe it's best for UNLV that Brigham Young won at New Mexico on Tuesday and further pushed the Lobos away from second place, thus creating more distance between the league's top two teams and its other seven, strengthening the premise the Cougars and Rebels are deserving of NCAA bids today.

"Every game is big now," Rebels coach Lon Kruger said. "We'll play every one like it's the most important one left. They go by very quickly at this point. San Diego State is really good, and to get a win against them at this point in the season is big. To be in this position with three games remaining, you couldn't ask for anything more.

"The best part about this group is that it understands there are three games remaining and will focus only on playing the next game."

There are a lot of best parts about a team that could lose four starters off a Sweet 16 roster and legitimately enter Selection Sunday with a win total in the 25 range.

Joe Darger is a big one; a kid whose selfless reaction to playing a difficult role has far outweighed a handful of selfish acts to touch the Rebels this season.

"I'm going to keep trying to do what's best for this team," Darger said. "My teammates found me tonight, and I was able to knock down some shots."

It's important he doesn't stop now. March is for stretching leads. Summer is for rest.

When the latter arrives, he'll deserve every second.

Ed Graney's column is published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.