Rebels excited to take on new faces, new challenge

Every day, UNLV senior Wink Adams has been showing up at basketball practice and seeing the same faces. He's ready to finally see something different.

The Rebels will practice today before the team bus leaves for a Saturday scrimmage at Arizona State, and Adams is excited about the challenge.

The Sun Devils are ranked 15th in both the Associated Press poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll.

"We're playing a team that's pretty good," Adams said. "Arizona State is one of the best teams in the Pac-10."

The matchup would be worthy of hype if the teams met in late November. But the scrimmage, which replaces one of two allowable exhibition games, is a relative secret because the media and public are locked out by NCAA rules.

Still, UNLV coach Lon Kruger views it as a valuable opportunity to grade his team.

The Rebels' only exhibition game is against Washburn, a Division II school from Topeka, Kan., on Tuesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"Playing a team the quality of Arizona State is great for us because typically in an exhibition game you're not getting that level of competition," Kruger said. "For us, it works out better this way. We would rather play a team of this caliber than one other exhibition.

"Lining up against someone else, other than what we've been practicing against every day, is kind of refreshing and a good experience. It's really an organized practice setting."

UNLV scrimmaged at Arizona State two years ago and at Pepperdine last year.

Kruger said the Rebels and Sun Devils probably will play three 20-minute periods. He will have his staff keep a score and statistics, but he said, "It's not like it's significant."

Arizona State finished 21-13 last season and returns five starters, including sophomore guard James Harden, who's widely considered the best player in the Pac-10.

"Hopefully as a team we can shut him down. That's our plan," UNLV senior forward Joe Darger said. "We get to play in kind of a game situation, and it helps some of our players realize the things the coaches stress every day in practice.

"It gets us prepared for next week."

Adams will be matched up at times against Harden, who averaged 17.8 points per game as a freshman. But the scrimmage is not about individual battles.

"We'll see what different guys can do, and we'll see different lineups to get our chemistry down as a team," Adams said.

The Rebels open the regular season Nov. 15 against San Diego.

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