Rebels basketball ready for challenge of Mountain West
We are pleased with the progress that our team made during our nonconference season. We played 18 games, and we made great improvement as a team from the first practice in October through our win at Cal State Bakersfield last week.
Our philosophy always has been to practice as hard as we possibly can, then try to win our next game. We don't ever concentrate on trying to make a goal of a certain number of wins, but rather just make improvements from game to game.
It was an interesting nonconference season. Of the 18 games, nine were played away from the Thomas & Mack Center, including the three games we played at Orleans Arena. We had some important wins that got us national recognition, and we want to use that experience as we head into conference play.
We have a tremendous challenge Saturday, when we open our Mountain West Conference season at San Diego State. The Aztecs are playing good basketball, and they have a tremendous home-court advantage. We certainly understand the challenge of what is ahead of us, and we will be ready to play. It will be a terrific environment and a high-level game.
Conference play is always interesting in the fact that you play teams twice in a season. Scouting is always important, and teams know each other so well. It is so important for players to continue to play hard, to stay together and to make big plays down the stretch in games. Coaches are often adding wrinkles to their game plans to gain an advantage.
One of our goals always will be to compete for a regular-season conference championship. We understand the importance of trying to qualify for the NCAA Tournament every year, but an important goal for us is to compete for a conference title. It speaks to the consistency of a program, because the regular-season champion is based on two months of playing.
One game does not make or break a conference season, but certainly every game is important. Our guys are excited about the challenge of playing at San Diego State.
UNLV basketball coach Dave Rice writes a weekly column for Rebels Report.
