Rebels in search of marquee win

On only a few occasions this season has UNLV coach Lon Kruger been impressed with his basketball team.

"We just haven't quite had that same edge," Kruger said.

The Rebels are 9-2, which is impressive enough on the surface. But they have beaten several patsies and not had many, if any, marquee victories.

UNLV's highlights are road wins against Texas-El Paso and UNR.

In the middle of March, when every team's track record is put under a microscope, it would help the Rebels' cause if they have a resume-building win.

Opportunity knocks at noon Saturday, when UNLV hosts Arizona (7-2) at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The Wildcats, led by NBA prospects Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill, are off a 69-64 victory over then-No. 4 Gonzaga on Sunday.

"If you beat Arizona," Rebels senior guard Wink Adams said, "it's always a quality win."

In last year's meeting at the Thomas & Mack, Adams scored 19 points, but the Wildcats pulled out a 52-49 win on the strength of Hill's 16 points and 19 rebounds.

Kruger is reminiscing about last season, when UNLV had no inside presence but battled its way to the NCAA Tournament and a 27-8 finish. He said last season's team "made it happen" and used low expectations as motivation.

"I thought last year's team played with the highest level of edge," Kruger said. "It was almost like a 'we'll wait until next year' type of mentality from the fans in general, and not much was expected. And this year, there was a lot expected.

"I think sometimes you kind of just expect that to happen. The effort has been good, but sometimes you're missing that little extra spark."

Kruger said the Rebels' players recaptured that nastier attitude in a 78-66 victory over Santa Clara on Wednesday night.

"It had a similar look to it," he said. "I thought their play was the first time all year they kind of resembled that, with the defensive dictating."

Adams said his theory is the team believed in all the preseason hype. UNLV was picked to win the Mountain West Conference and did not bring the same underdog mentality from past years.

"That's what we've been trying to establish," Adams said. "The last few years I've been here, we were always underrated, so we wanted to go out and prove something.

"This year, everybody's got us picked to win the conference, and we were in the preseason top 25, so I think a lot of guys thought it was just going to happen real easy. But you've still got to earn it, and now guys are starting to figure that out."

• NOTES -- Arizona has two one-point losses, to Alabama-Birmingham and at Texas A&M, and beat Santa Clara 69-66 on Nov. 25. ... As of Thursday night, with the exception of sections held for UNLV students, only 790 tickets remained for Saturday's game.

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