Season about to get real for UNLV

A friend happened past shortly before UNLV met Cal Poly (Slow) in basketball Tuesday night and offered this assessment of the Rebels:

"I don't know how (Dave Rice) is doing as the head coach, but I know his players look like they know what they're doing."

Five wins into a new era, there are worse fates.

Good teams handle inferior ones, especially at home. Good teams don't allow the style of those inferior sides -- physical, intense, patient-- to influence their own execution. They play through it. They adjust without overreacting.

UNLV is good today with a chance to be better next month and great in March.

The Rebels ripped Cal Poly 75-52 at the Thomas & Mack Center, ripped the Mustangs like they did Canisius and Morgan State and Grand Canyon, ripped their way to a 5-0 start that has been as predictable as it has been uncomplicated.

Call it good scheduling. New coach. New voice. New system. What these first five games have done for UNLV is allow the Rebels to gain confidence without fear of paying for any stretch of mistakes with a loss, although nearly blowing all of an 18-point lead against UNR certainly had Rice's heart beating faster than normal, which means I'm guessing he added a 10th "really" to his postgame comments about how well the other team is coached.

"We're getting better each day," guard Anthony Marshall said. "When we're playing well at both ends of the floor, we're going to be a tough team to beat."

They outscored the five opponents by an average of 83-62, with only the UNR game in doubt over the final minutes. They have played fast and run teams out of the building, played slow and eventually allowed skill to take control, played close and survived.

This was a good game to play this early. UNLV is the first of four opponents to score more than 60 on Cal Poly. To reach 75 says a lot about UNLV's ability, as does scoring 46 second-half points against a team that has made it a habit of holding others in the 50s for entire games.

"Our guys were really aggressive," Rice said. "Our defense is something we can always count on. It was certainly a quick turnaround for us, having played on Sunday, but we talk about discipline all the time, and we were really patient on defense. A lot of teams this year are going to be concerned with our transition game, so it will be incumbent upon us to be patient defensively."

But the trip to Cupcakery is nearly over. The Rebels have done well to devour those teams they should, and yet now is when we will discover how much upside they truly own.

The game against Cal Poly was termed a second-round matchup of the Las Vegas Invitational, which makes zero sense given it's not a tournament and Tuesday's outcome wasn't going to change what awaits UNLV this week: A game against Southern California on Friday at Orleans Arena and a potential matchup against top-ranked North Carolina on Saturday.

Southern California lost to Cal Poly 42-36 in a game Jimmy Chitwood was used as a picket-fence decoy three times and Norman Dale picked up a technical trying to protect a drunk Shooter Flatch.

The Trojans then needed to rally past that colossal power Morgan State on Tuesday, beating a team by three that the Rebels handled by 37. The Trojans are physical, can be absolute lock-down defenders in the halfcourt and execute on offense like it's 1954 all over again. They're either not very good at scoring or just worried coach Kevin O'Neill will act like a nutcase after each missed shot, of which there are several.

It figures that the UNLV we have seen thus far will beat Southern California and that O'Neill will scream his head off during timeouts and that North Carolina will take down a South Carolina team that has already lost to Elon and Tennessee State.

It figures the Rebels will get their shot at the best.

"It seems," Rice said, "that our guys like challenges."

Good. Here they come. North Carolina (probably). At UC Santa Barbara. At Wichita State. At Wisconsin. Illinois at the United Center. California here.

So far, everything has fallen into place. UNLV is 5-0 and should be. The Rebels are good. They have a chance to be great.

Now, beginning this weekend, it starts for real.

Now, things get fun.

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.