Rebels season underway
It was anything but an ideal start to the season, but UNLV holds a 43-26 lead over Pittsburg State at halftime of the season-opening basketball game at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The Rebels came out of the locker room ice cold, but a far-inferior Gorillas squad could not capitalize on it.
Kendall Wallace hit a pair of 3-pointers in the half and leads UNLV with eight points at the break. Justin Hawkins has seven. Oscar Bellfield and Chace Stanback led the defense with three steals, and Stanback has a game-high four rebounds.
Pittsburg State held the lead for much of the first 11 minutes.
UNLV finally secured the lead on a layup by Anthony Marshall, the first points of his collegiate career. At that point, it was 17-16 with 8:53 to play in the first half.
Pittsburg State scored on the other end to momentarily take the lead, but the Rebels turned up the defensive pressure and surged ahead to grab a 31-21 advantage at the final media timeout of the opening half.
UNLV is still settling on a rotation and has played 11 players in the first half.
Slow Start
There is not much of a crowd here at the Thomas & Mack for the season opener against the D-II school, but even the people that are here haven’t made much noise.
A lot of that may have been caused by the slow start.
Seven minutes into the game, UNLV had made just a pair of 3-pointers and trailed the Gorillas, 10-6.
No Difference
Lon Kruger was obviously not happy with the starting unit early in the contest.
A the first media timeout, the coach replaced all five starters with a unit featuring Steve Jones, Kendall Wallace, Anthony Marshall, Justin Hawkins, Darris Santee.
It didn’t make much difference.
Pittsburg State immediately ran a set play that resulted in an easy dunk.
Not-so-free throws
UNLV’s shooting woes extended to the free-throw line in the first half.
The Rebels missed their first four attempts, which included sharp-shooter Kendall Wallace missing the front end of a one-and-one.
Justin Hawkins finally ended the cold spell by making a pair from the line and he was greeted by a loud, sarcastic cheer from the audience.
The team had plenty of practice. UNLV attempted 29 free throws in the first half, making 18 of them.
The referees have been very liberal with the whistle, calling a total of 33 fouls in the half.
Great nickname
Pittsburg State’s nickname is the Gorillas, which is one of the better nicknames in college sports.
They don’t have a whole lot of supporters here wearing any logo gear, but we are on the lookout.
It would be nice to find out where to get a hat or t-shirt with the Pittsburg State mascot.
