Let’s run, but defend on other end, too

UNLV has built a seasonlong marketing campaign around its basketball team, one meant to excite fans and define how the Rebels are expected to play under first-year coach Dave Rice, one that summons images from the past of fast-break madness and transition baskets in bunches.

It's a smart concept, because "Let's Run" is sure to create interest and sell tickets.

But to win games and live deep into March, the Rebels need to think more in terms of "Let's Defend."

"I think that's getting lost a little bit in the campaign, that fact that our defense is going to fuel a lot of our running," Rice said. "What it truly means to be a Runnin' Rebel is to guard.

"To be really efficient in transition, it's a lot easier to run when you're not taking the ball out of the net every time."

Rice inherited a type of talented roster not normally awaiting a first-time head coach, one with four returning starters off an NCAA Tournament team and even more skill having sat out last season and awaiting eligibility this one.

More than anything, he inherited a group expertly taught at the defensive end.

Lon Kruger was never going to win any awards for imaginative postgame quotes, but there is no denying his teams at UNLV were more than capable of frustrating others. They were great at causing havoc.

The goal of any defense is to take opponents out of their comfort zone, to not allow them open passing lanes or the ease of swinging a ball from one side to the other. If you deny the first option enough, you can win a lot of games.

Few teams in the Mountain West did such things better than UNLV under Kruger. Few were tougher to score against in the half court.

"The biggest thing we saw when arriving was a group of players trained incredibly well defensively by Coach Kruger and his staff, a group that is collectively 100 percent committed to guarding," Rice said. "We now also have guys teaching defense to players who want to defend, and that can be an unbeatable combination."

Brigham Young was more solid than spectacular when Rice was on its coaching staff, a team that almost always ranked among the league's best in rebounding and field-goal defense and steals. No one runs like the Cougars in Provo, and you can be sure countless transition baskets from Jimmer Fredette at one end were the result of stops at the other.

But while they were sound in a man-to-man approach, the Cougars were also forced to help defensively more than an athletic UNLV side. The Rebels should once again be able to attack defensively as they want to offensively. They can take more chances than others.

Teams that can't defend don't advance far in the NCAAs. Many don't make the NCAAs. The Rebels don't have to resemble an amoeba attack that equals UNLV 103, Duke 73 to win big, but they can't get so caught up in running for scores that they forget to first get stops.

"It's pretty much the same philosophy now as it was under Coach Kruger," junior guard Anthony Marshall said. "We just need to translate the same pressure and intensity we had then to now. (Kruger) really stressed the little things in defense -- vision, seeing your man and the ball, closing out, which foot goes where when you close out. He was really serious about the little things. From the minute we all arrived here, it was all about defense.

"It's basketball. The (new staff) is teaching us many of the same things but just in different ways. The important thing is that we as players have the same passion for playing defense."

If there has been an interview since being named coach in which Rice hasn't mentioned at least one member of, if not his entire staff, I haven't heard or read it. He constantly deflects credit.

He did so again here, reminding that the team's defensive coordinator is assistant Justin Hutson, who was in charge of San Diego State's defense last season.

The only Mountain West team with better defensive numbers than UNLV in 2010-11? San Diego State.

"We want to push the ball," Rice said. "We brought this program a running mentality from Day One. That part is going to be really fun. But we know where everything starts."

A fun marketing concept to sell tickets: "Let's Run."

A vital one to win games: "Let's Defend."

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday on "Monsters of the Midday," Fox Sports Radio 920 AM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.