Plenty for Rebels basketball to be happy about so far
Happy New Year to all Runnin' Rebel fans. We hope 2012 will be great for everyone.
We were pleased with our 124-75 win over Central Arkansas last week. We were proud of our 40 assists and 82 points off the bench. Our next game was at Hawaii on New Year's Eve, which was the first of three games, over a period of 20 days, away from the Thomas & Mack Center.
We were happy with our effort against Hawaii. We knew it would be a challenge as Hawaii had recently beaten nationally ranked Xavier and Clemson from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Warriors are playing good basketball and are a balanced team, with good inside players and outstanding shooters. It is always difficult making the trip to the Islands, but we were able to come away with a hard-fought 74-69 victory.
As they have done all year long, a number of guys stepped up and contributed from our bench. I want to make sure we give proper recognition to Carlos Lopez and Quintrell Thomas for the job they did playing extended minutes after Brice Massamba was injured when he took a forearm to the temple early in the second half at Hawaii. Justin Hawkins, Kendall Wallace and Reggie Smith continue to play well off the bench.
This period of time gives us an opportunity to play games and also to have a good number of practices. Practice time will be important for us as we get closer to league play.
We have a challenging game tonight at Cal State Bakersfield. The Roadrunners are 4-1 at home this year and lost a one-point game to New Mexico State on Monday night. They are an athletic team and have added a number of junior college players to their roster. We always understand the difficulty when we go on the road.
Tonight's game will be the 18th and final nonconference one on our schedule this season. Of those 18, nine have been played away from the Thomas & Mack Center, including three at Orleans Arena. It has been a difficult schedule, including the travel, but we think it will prepare us well for a competitive Mountain West Conference race.
We are pleased with the progress we have made as a team. Our players continue to stay focused and committed to continuing to get better.
UNLV men's basketball coach Dave Rice writes a weekly column for Rebels Report.
