Kruger stresses defense

He has been busy this week calling attention to the Rebels’ defensive weaknesses, and his message is getting across.

"Coach has really been on us about playing hard defense," senior Rene Rougeau said. "When we play good defense, that’s when we’re at our best."

UNLV (13-2, 1-0 Mountain West Conference) is riding an eight-game winning streak into Saturday’s test at Texas Christian (10-5, 1-0).

But Kruger is hardly content, especially after the Rebels survived a scare in a 60-58 victory over New Mexico on Saturday. He was unhappy with his team’s numerous defensive breakdowns, and he communicated that point with emphasis.

"We’re working on things in practice that we need to do in the game. This whole week has been about defense, a majority of the time," sophomore guard Tre’Von Willis said.

UNLV has been defending well in most games, as it has allowed more than 66 points just once during its winning streak.

But the Lobos’ guards repeatedly burned the Rebels with dribble penetration, freeing forward Daniel Faris to work the baselines for several easy baskets.

"That dribble drive starts all that. We’ve got to do a much better job of guarding the dribble," Kruger said. "We’ve obviously worked on that a lot.

"I thought against New Mexico, we didn’t do what we typically do defensively. They kind of did what they wanted to do, and they were way too comfortable."

UNLV’s perimeter defense should get a boost with senior guard Wink Adams’ return to the starting lineup. Kruger said Adams, almost fully recovered from a lower abdominal injury, "looks like his old self."

Adams is normally the Rebels’ strongest on-ball defender, but he seemed to play at half speed against New Mexico.

In Adams’ absence, Rougeau and Willis helped UNLV turn in a quality defensive effort in a 56-55 victory at Louisville on Dec. 31. The Cardinals shot just 29.6 percent from the field.

What happened against New Mexico was a step back.

"All five guys were not on the same page, and all five of us have got to be on a string," Willis said. "If one man gets beat, somebody has got to help. We want to get in passing lanes. We let them pass the ball around and run their offense.

"If you’re a player, you should want to play defense and stop people."

Rebounding has been one of the Rebels’ shortcomings all season. Senior forward Joe Darger helped in that area by grabbing a season-high 10 rebounds against the Lobos, who still finished with a 41-38 rebounding edge.

Junior forward Darris Santee had just one rebound in each of the past two games.

Rougeau, the team leader in rebounds at 7.9 per game, said it’s up to the seniors to make sure the defensive intensity never drops.

When the defense does break down, Kruger is quick to point it out.

"We’ve got to play hard-nosed defense," Rougeau said. "We shouldn’t have to need Coach getting on us. We can prevent that from happening. We’ve got to be able to do that on our own."

• NOTES — Adams had his best practice Wednesday since suffering an abdominal injury Dec. 23. "Everything feels back to normal. No pain," he said. … Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com made UNLV the first team out in his mock NCAA Tournament bracket this week. Lunardi had Louisville as a No. 4 seed. "It’s only the beginning of January. We can’t be worrying about that right now," Rougeau said. "We’re just worried about winning."

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.