Rebels’ new coaches reveal new era at scrimmage

Black curtains hid the upper deck of the Thomas & Mack Center, which on Sunday night became a mini “Shark” tank as Jerry Tarkanian received a standing ovation and Stacey Augmon was surrounded by autograph seekers.

Rice and Augmon, who played for Tarkanian on the Rebels’ 1990 NCAA championship team, make up half of a new coaching staff that hopes to bring back the tradition of running and winning big.

Rice complimented Tarkanian several times while addressing an estimated crowd of 4,000 before a Scarlet & Gray scrimmage that introduced the 2011-12 team.

“We’re definitely going to be running a lot,” senior forward Chace Stanback said, “so the excitement level is going to be pretty high for the fans.”

Rice split the roster into Black and White teams for a scrimmage comprised of four five-minute quarters, and newcomers Mike Moser, Bryce Jones and Reggie Smith became the stars of the show.

Moser, a sophomore transfer from UCLA, scored seven points in the first quarter and finished with 16 to help lead the Black team to a 46-39 victory.

Starting alongside Moser were junior Anthony Marshall and seniors Oscar Bellfield, Brice Massamba and Kendall Wallace. Sophomore Karam Mashour came off the bench to score seven points.

“We’ve got a lot of weapons that we can throw at people, and we definitely plan on using them,” said Moser, who sat out last season as a redshirt. “We’re not the biggest team, but we’re one of the fastest.

“One of our biggest strengths is probably going to be our guard play. We’ve got guys like Marshall and Bellfield who can get in the paint at will. Stanback can shoot the lights out. Wallace is finally back after his redshirt year with me.”

Jones, a transfer from Southern California, will redshirt this season. But he showed promising glimpses of what’s to come, scoring 11 points to lead the White squad.

Reggie Smith, a 6-foot point guard, impressed fans with his pregame dunks and followed by sinking a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter. He scored 10 points in the scrimmage. But the Marquette transfer won’t be eligible to play in a game until UNLV faces Illinois at the United Center in Chicago — Smith’s hometown — on Dec. 17.

Jones and Smith led the White team along with Stanback, juniors Justin Hawkins and Quintrell Thomas and sophomore Carlos Lopez.

Rice, a former Brigham Young assistant who was hired April 11 to replace Lon Kruger, is turning the Rebels into a running team.

“We talk about running all the time, but it starts with defense,” Rice said. “There’s no rest on either end of the floor.

“This has been a terrific team defensively, and Coach Kruger’s teams created so much of their offense out of the defense, and we want to continue that and build on that foundation that he left.”

Marshall, who scored nine points in the scrimmage, is an athletic and fast guard who could flourish in Rice’s system.

“You have to be in the best shape possible,” Marshall said. “You can’t be in OK shape or you’re not going to be a running team.”

Rice added three walk-on freshmen for this season — guard Barry Cheaney (Corona, Calif.), guard Wade Norman (Faith Lutheran High School) and 6-foot-11-inch center Bryan Glenn (Coronado High).

Four starters return from a UNLV team that reached the NCAA Tournament and finished 24-9, after a lopsided loss to Illinois.

Wallace needed knee surgery and could only watch last season. But he’s back as one of four senior leaders.

“We’ve got the right guys on this team. That’s why it’s exciting,” Wallace said. “We’ve got a lot of talent, a lot of athletic ability and smart basketball players.

“If we put it all together and everybody plays their roles right, we have a chance to do great things.”

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