Sluggish Rebels flawless in their deficiencies vs. No. 14 Badgers

MADISON, Wis. -- It was good of UNLV's basketball team to make the trip, to travel the 1,700 or so miles into the freezer box that is this city during the holidays, to show up at the Kohl Center on Saturday and offer 343 other Division I-A basketball teams a perfect blueprint of how not to have a prayer against Wisconsin.

Notes of thanks should be in the mail soon.

The Rebels were flawless in their deficiencies.

They never gave themselves a chance against the 14th-ranked Badgers and might not have had one even if they played with some level of defensive discipline, which they didn't.

That the Rebels lost 62-51 means little. You have to outscore Wisconsin by 12 to win by two, and UNLV wasn't good enough from the start.

The Rebels never led. They weren't any sort of threat.

They again started sluggish against a competent team on the road, an inexcusable truth for a side that arrived here Thursday and knew well the difficulty of playing Wisconsin, when your possessions are limited and the only thing 15 turnovers and countless missed layups get you is a quiet plane ride home.

The Rebels weren't just out of sync most of the first 20 minutes. They were wildly confused defensively and sloppy with the ball. It was a mess.

The National Finals Rodeo for years now has removed UNLV from the Thomas & Mack Center for a December stretch. But three of the six games the Rebels have played off campus came at Orleans Arena. Too much is being made of UNLV's time away from home.

It's not the travel. It's the opponents, and in terms of Wichita State and Wisconsin, the Rebels weren't up to either challenge.

UNLV seemed to have enough energy against North Carolina, and why a lack of it even is whispered about 18- to 21-year-olds playing a nationally ranked opponent such as Wisconsin is unacceptable.

If not being ready to play such a significant game is an issue, it's on the coach to recognize and fix it.

"There are no excuses," said the coach, Dave Rice. "We have to play better, we have to execute better, we have to be tougher. We need to be more aggressive and play with more confidence."

Say what you want about how Wisconsin plays, that it's a boring style and deliberate and painful to watch. Great teams can play fast and slow, and the Rebels hardly were close to that defending the Badgers and a swing offense that pulls big men away from the basket and posts up guards and back-screens you to death and has 7-footers who can shoot the 3.

No one frustrates opponents like Wisconsin over a 35-second shot clock, and the Rebels were that with a capital F. They were a step or three slow to the boards and shooters all day, which was fine with Wisconsin reserve Ben Brust, who made all seven of his 3-point attempts and totaled 25 points.

It's becoming a bad habit for the Rebels, allowing another's guard to have a career shooting game. If many defensive adjustments have been made to that end, they're not apparent.

"It's my fault," Rice said. "I need to make better adjustments."

It's true that successful offensive trips can fuel defensive intensity, but the Rebels couldn't finish enough chances at the rim to create much of anything. You can't miss layups and turn over the ball and get beat on the boards, and expect anything other than what UNLV received here.

Anthony Marshall played 27 minutes for UNLV, and you hardly knew he was on the floor. Oscar Bellfield played 34 and shot 3-for-12. Mike Moser (four points, 11 rebounds) played 27 and yet still is hurting with a sprained wrist, so when does playing him and watching him struggle become more of a detriment than sitting him and allowing the injury to heal?

It was bad from the tipoff. My guess is Rice -- and most others, for good reason -- would have taken a 9-2 record at this point before the season, but the Rebels also weren't in a game on a day Wisconsin's best player, point guard Jordan Taylor, shot 0-for-10 and an announced crowd of 17,123 came alive only when the Badgers' football team was introduced at halftime and a fan played a game of "The Price Is Right" during a timeout.

Libraries are more intimidating than this atmosphere, and yet UNLV was outplayed, outcoached and outclassed in every manner. It's one game, one loss. But it was an ugly one.

"We didn't do what we needed to do," Moser said. "Very frustrating. I feel we definitely came out with a lack of energy. We just didn't have it in the first half. I don't know why, but we better figure it out."

I don't know why, either, but 343 other teams are better for it today.

In terms of how not to play Wisconsin, the Rebels were perfect in their (non) execution.

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.