Presents keep coming for Rebels fans
Call them post-Christmas stocking stuffers for Rebels fans -- three newsy gifts guaranteed to bring smiles to the faces of those who sleep with visions of renewed UNLV basketball greatness dancing in their heads:
■ UP, UP AND AWAY! -- A pair of pre-Christmas home-court routs lifted UNLV in the two weekly national rankings released Monday, with the Rebels moving up two spots to No. 19 in The Associated Press poll and up to No. 20 from No. 23 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll.
The Rebels (13-2) beat Louisiana-Monroe 81-63 on Dec. 19 and California 85-68 on Friday to run their current win streak to four games.
UNLV returns to nonconference play Wednesday when it hosts Central Arkansas (5-6) at 7 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Center.
■ SHARPER THAN A RED RYDER BB GUN -- Chace Stanback was named Mountain West Conference player of the week after averaging 22.0 points per game while leading the Rebels to their two easy wins.
The 6-foot-8-inch swing player from Los Angeles posted career highs of 29 points and eight 3-pointers in UNLV's win over Louisiana-Monroe. He followed that by scoring 15 points, including nine on three 3-pointers, in the Rebels' runaway victory over California.
For the week, Stanback was 16 of 25 (.640) from the field, including 11 of 16 (.688) from 3-point range.
The conference honor was the second of Stanback's UNLV career.
■ MELE KALIKIMAKA -- UNLV's game at Hawaii on Saturday will be televised locally on KLAS-TV (Channel 8) beginning at 5 p.m.
The game will be presented by the Findlay Automotive Group.
KLAS-TV will pick up the existing local Hawaii feed and broadcast it back to Las Vegas, which means the home team's announcers. But, as any UNLV fan will attest, they'd take a broadcast with even Chris Berman announcing if it meant getting to see their beloved Rebels.
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