Stanback doesn’t use ailing knee as crutch

Tony Snell is a good basketball player for New Mexico. He is one of those long, wiry wings who prefers to discover a home beyond the 3-point line and fire away. He doesn't attack much, doesn't score off the bounce near as much as the catch.

But on Saturday, he twice went by a UNLV defender as if driving against air, as if alone in a gym and practicing for a dunk contest.

It's obvious: Chace Stanback is hurting.

Basketball is a cruel game this way. It has no sympathy for an ailing right knee, no mulligans for those wincing through a 35-second defensive stance. It couldn't care less how often a player follows a practice or game by sitting in a whirlpool or connected to a stim machine.

Stanback's career as a Rebel has dwindled to four Mountain West Conference games and whatever the league tournament and NCAAs offer, a journey that offers not just a hint of light at the end of the tunnel but rather a blinding one.

It's not cracking up to be the healthiest of endings.

For some time now, he has chosen to grin and ice it.

"It's bothering me, but that's no excuse," Stanback said. "If I'm out there, I have to do all I can do and not let anyone get past me. I definitely feel a step slower now than the start of the season, but I still have to play better. I won't use my knee as an excuse."

Numbers are not the sole gauge of a player's production, but they usually can paint a fair picture of it. The Rebels would not have beaten North Carolina without Stanback, would not have earned a second overtime before defeating UC Santa Barbara without him, would not have escaped Boise State in overtime without him.

But signs have come the past six games that suggest a knee Stanback chose not to have scoped before the season is rearing its aching head more and more.

He has shot just 15 of 45 from the field since that win at Boise and offered eight or fewer attempts three times. He struggles to move defensively, to stay in front of whoever he is assigned. He took four shots Saturday at New Mexico in just 23 minutes. He took two at Wyoming on Feb. 4.

His scoring average has dipped from a season-best 15.5 points on Dec. 28 to 13.1 today.

"There is no doubt he has been affected by" the knee, UNLV coach Dave Rice said. "It's important for us to manage it so that we can get the most out of Chace as we can, because he's so important to our team."

Here's the thing about Stanback: He could come out tonight when Boise State visits the Thomas & Mack Center and score 25 points or more, because when his feet are set and he shoots in rhythm, he can have all-conference efforts. He has had several over nearly three seasons here.

On any night, he can fill a stat sheet with the best of the Rebels.

But when things get tight a few weeks from now, when UNLV faces elimination in a conference tournament game or one far more important on a neutral court in the NCAAs, Rice might have to decide between the risk-reward scenario of playing a senior with vast experience who isn't 100 percent over someone who is, between someone who is smart but can't get over a screen or defend the dribble over someone who lacks as much experience and savvy but can.

"It's a feel situation for me," Rice said. "I have a lot of confidence in Chace. He understands our system at both ends of the court. Being a (senior) gets him more of a benefit of doubt with us. If the best thing for him is to take parts of practice off to be closer to 100 percent for games, that's what we will do.

"He's a very technically sound defender who right now is affected by the health of his knee, no doubt."

Stanback chose rehabilitation over surgery on a knee that he says has bothered him for more than a year now. Wear and tear. Years and years of playing.

Rice could sit him an entire week, and nothing guarantees it would make a difference. So the senior plays through it. Refuses out of most practice drills. Sees the blinding light and wants like anything not to hobble to the finish.

He will play more than 100 games for UNLV and likely start near as many when the final seconds of his college career expire, a former UCLA transfer who never has been big on words or offering excuses when his body won't allow him to do what his brain wants.

He isn't offering any now, either.

"It's my responsibility to be better," Stanback said.

It might hurt a bit to do so, but his is a stand-up approach.

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.