UNLV needs extra dose of defense

The diagnosis is simple.

The cure might not be.

UNLV basketball finds itself in a position today where it can roll into The Pit and encounter a sizzling New Mexico team and play over-the-top well and still lose. That’s how good the Lobos are right now.

The part about UNLV playing over-the-top well is probably a stretch.

The best road to progress has nothing to do with freedom for the Rebels, but rather discovering how to defend with intensity over 40 minutes. Great teams don’t lose at Wyoming this season and certainly don’t blow 18-point leads with 14 minutes left at Texas Christian and lose in overtime.

UNLV isn’t great right now.

Away from home, it hasn’t been close.

“A lot of emotions (following a 102-97 overtime loss at TCU on Tuesday),” Rebels coach Dave Rice said. “Mad. Mad at myself for not doing a better job and disappointed with our players. They all took responsibility. I would describe them as determined right now. We need to go (to New Mexico) and play well, because if we don’t, it will be virtually impossible to win.”

There is as much stress in this game as UNLV has known all season, given a loss would drop the Rebels two back of the first-place Lobos in the Mountain West Conference race with four regular-season games remaining.

Translation: A loss would all but end UNLV’s hopes of even sharing the title.

Here’s the problem away from the Thomas & Mack: The offensive system Rice has installed is both exciting to watch and potentially devastating to opponents when the Rebels are running and shots are falling. It can suffocate teams in an instant.

But when a quick shot is missed and then followed by another and another, UNLV loses focus at the defensive end. It becomes, as it did at TCU, lackadaisical. It doesn’t get to shooters quick enough. It doesn’t put a body on anyone.

It allows inferior teams back in games and good players (see Thorns, Hank) to gain confidence. Suddenly, the Rebels don’t have the energy of a home crowd to feed off and can’t create enough of their own defensively to maintain leads.

Clock management becomes critical, and it’s something Rice needs to do a better job at away from home when his team has gained an advantage on the scoreboard.

That’s not to say UNLV needs to become Air Force and embrace 25 seconds of false motion each possession, but it needs to be more deliberate in its approach when up big on the road. It needs to play smarter.

The Rebels don’t guard the 3-point line well some days, another sign of being a step slow (lazy?) when things aren’t going well on offense. When you allow good shooters to find a rhythm early (Thorns, Joe Ragland of Wichita State, Ben Brust of Wisconsin), you risk them hitting shots late that even the best defense can’t stop.

“One of the byproducts of how easily we score sometimes is that we fall into the trap of thinking we can just outscore anyone,” Rice said. “We’ve had games where we have been very good at both ends of the floor this season. (Tuesday) wasn’t one.

“It’s very hard to win a game, particularly on the road, when you give up 19 offensive rebounds. There have been times when we have played well enough on the road, but not for extended periods of time.”

They would be smart to begin those extended periods today.

This is the New Mexico that was a preseason favorite to win the Mountain West, the New Mexico everyone thought they would see from the season’s outset, the New Mexico with the most depth of any conference team and far better than the side that lost to New Mexico State and Santa Clara in November.

This is a healthy New Mexico, a talented New Mexico, a confident New Mexico.

“To some degree it’s impossible, but we try and treat every game the same in terms of preparation and what meaning it has,” Rice said. “That said, the reality is that our guys know how big this game is. At the end of the day, you play 14 conference games and each is going to count as a win or a loss. But our guys understand the magnitude of this one.”

If they do, then creating defensive focus over 40 minutes shouldn’t be an issue. It’s their best (only) chance at success today.

It’s the cure that could return UNLV to a tie for first place.

Or the issue that could ruin any championship plans.

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.