Rattled Rebels aim to regroup at first-place New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Playing with emotion is one of Mike Moser's better attributes. Off the basketball court, however, emotions played with him the past few days.

As Moser reflected on Tuesday's fiasco in Fort Worth, Texas, the sophomore forward summed up his thoughts on UNLV's most stunning loss of the season.

"Bad, sad, frustrated, irritated, bewildered, shocked and just about everything you could feel," he said.

Squandering an 18-point second-half lead in a 102-97 overtime loss at Texas Christian is obviously not sitting well with the Rebels, who held a team intervention to sort out their problems.

If 11th-ranked UNLV (22-5, 6-3) does not regroup and show resiliency against first-place New Mexico (21-4, 7-2) today, hopes of even sharing a Mountain West Conference regular-season title will get buried in The Pit. The game tips at 10 a.m. as a split-national telecast on CBS.

"It's definitely the most important game of our season so far," Moser said. "I feel like every road game tests your toughness, and we haven't been tough yet."

But the Rebels' players and coaches have been tough on themselves after falling to 2-3 on the road in league play. The team practiced in the new Mendenhall Center for the first time Thursday, after meeting to watch the horror film from the collapse at TCU.

"I guess we thought we were better than we were for a little bit and thought we didn't have to play anymore. At least that's the attitude I kind of got when I watched the film," Moser said. "They wanted it more than we did, unfortunately. This is not going to happen again. We vowed that nobody is going to want a game more than us, and we've just got to go prove it and play like that.

"We really called each other out. We've all talked as a team and everybody has kind of admitted their faults, and we all plan to change. It's a family here, and we're going to do it together."

The Lobos are dealing with no such negative issues after extending their winning streak to six games with a 77-67 victory at San Diego State on Wednesday. Sophomore guard Kendall Williams scored 21 points and senior forward Drew Gordon totaled 17 points and 17 rebounds.

The last time New Mexico coach Steve Alford walked off the court feeling bad, sad, frustrated or irritated was after an 80-63 setback at UNLV on Jan. 21. But his team bounced back.

"I've always thought that Coach Alford's teams are very, very tough, and they have taken on his personality," Rebels coach Dave Rice said. "It's a terrific opportunity for us and a huge challenge."

UNLV has been up to the task in the series by winning three straight, including 77-74 in overtime in The Pit on Feb. 23, 2011. Junior forward Quintrell Thomas played a major role in the Rebels' win with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

But Thomas said "complacency" has hindered the team recently, especially on the defensive end. UNLV let its guard down Tuesday, when Hank Thorns made eight 3-pointers to rally the Horned Frogs.

"One of the things we've always been able to rely on is our defense and rebounding. I would consider that being equivalent to a running game in football," Thomas said. "But when we didn't have that going and we weren't making shots -- and on top of that Thorns is hitting those 3s -- it was just the perfect storm."

The Rebels allowed TCU to grab 19 offensive rebounds, a stat Rice repeatedly called "absolutely inexcusable" this week.

"It's the most disappointed that I've been this year in terms of our effort," Rice said. "We just have not played hard on the defensive end for long enough periods of time, particularly on the road, and that's critically important for us.

"When you become better offensively like we have, I think the danger is guys thinking that we can just outscore teams, and we can stay in the game or we can lose a lead and then we'll just make stops down the stretch and make a play and we'll win. That's truly playing with fire."

UNLV's slow fall from grace -- its lofty ranking and potential NCAA Tournament seeding also are in jeopardy -- would become more sudden with a loss to the Lobos.

"It can happen quickly," Rice said. "One day you're beating San Diego State and getting ranked close to the Top 10 and you're back in first place, and 48 hours later it changes."

Moser said post-TCU practices were "50 percent defense, 40 percent rebounding and the rest was just running."

"It's going to be another test for us on the road to stay together and see what we're really made of," Moser added. "We keep getting opportunities. You've got to go beat New Mexico."

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