Rebels senior guard recovers confidence

Self-confidence ebbs and flows for most basketball players, and some are more emotionally fragile than others. Willis rarely exhibits signs of weakness, but he admits his confidence was curtailed by his mediocre play, at least briefly.

He has every bit of his bravado back.

The eighth-seeded Rebels (24-8) open NCAA Tournament play against No. 9 seed Illinois (19-13) at 6:20 p.m. Friday. The winner probably will face Kansas, the top seed in the Southwest Region.

“Right now we’re feeling like we can beat anybody. Eight seed or not, we feel like we’re the team to beat,” Willis said.

It’s doubtful the Jayhawks (32-2) view UNLV as “the team to beat,” but that could be a story for another day. The Rebels must defeat the Fighting Illini first.

Willis insists he was not bitter or disappointed to see UNLV draw the No. 8 seed in a four-team bracket with Kansas for the third time in four years. But as teammates celebrated and did interviews, Willis exited the Selection Sunday party without talking to the media.

“I wasn’t ticked off,” he said. “It tickled me a little bit with the coincidence every time.

“The goal is to go out there and win two games, and the first opponent is Illinois. We’ve got a lot of fighters on this team. I definitely love challenges.”

And Willis has had his share of them, often referring to what has been “one of the toughest years of my life.”

The turbulence hit when he was arrested June 29 for allegedly choking a female friend. Willis pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery charges Sept. 28, and Kruger suspended him four games, including two exhibitions. He already was making a slow recovery from knee surgery in August.

His off-court problems encouraged taunts from fans on the road, most of which Willis claims he ignored.

In his first eight games, Willis came off the bench and averaged 10.5 points, and during that time junior forward Chace Stanback took over Willis’ former role as the team’s scoring leader.

“It was a little bit of an adjustment,” Kruger said of working Willis back into a starting role by mid-December. “The team battled through all of that.”

As the Rebels struggled through January and early February, Willis was shooting about 25 percent from 3-point range. He was running on sore knees, looking nothing like a preseason first-team All-Mountain West Conference pick and feeling humbled.

“Honestly, my game was nowhere near the same. I was shooting a terrible percentage. Normally I’m used to attacking, and I couldn’t do that with the injury,” he said. “Injuries or not, I just couldn’t be myself.

“I’m just happy my guys and the coaches were hanging in there with me until I was able to get a little healthier. I’m real appreciative of that.”

Willis scored in double figures in nine of the past 10 games. But he really turned it on over the past five games, averaging 18.2 points and hitting 65 percent of his 3s.

UNLV’s strong push to the postseason was due in large part to Willis’ upswing and junior point guard Oscar Bellfield getting over a nagging right wrist injury.

“The good play correlated with those two guys getting healthier and being more productive,” Kruger said.

Willis, who has reclaimed the Rebels’ scoring lead at 13.5 points per game, wants to erase the memories of his last trip to Oklahoma.

The Rebels, also a No. 8 seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament, were shot down 69-66 in a first-round loss to Northern Iowa in Oklahoma City.

“That hurt. That was an early exit. One and done,” Willis said. “It didn’t feel too good, and that’s what we’re trying to avoid this time.

“I’m still looking to play my best basketball. It feels like we’re starting to put it together, and I do consider myself somewhat of a big piece to what we’re trying to do here.”

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