Rebels welcome exhibition game

With offseason workouts and three weeks of basketball practice in the rearview mirror, UNLV junior Tre'Von Willis is looking forward to playing in a game. And he knows he's not the only one.

"It's a thing where you just know your teammates and you can see it in their eyes and you know when they're ready to go," he said. "I can look at guys' faces and tell they're ready to go. We feel we have something to prove to ourselves."

The Rebels play their only exhibition game at 7 p.m. today, when they host Division II Washburn (Kan.) at the Thomas & Mack Center.

A ceremony to honor UNLV's 1990 national championship team will be held at halftime, and a Legends Alumni game featuring about 30 former Rebels will tip immediately after the exhibition.

UNLV coach Lon Kruger returns two starters, Willis and sophomore Oscar Bellfield, from last season's 21-11 team. Both will start in the backcourt tonight with Derrick Jasper, a junior transfer from Kentucky.

Kruger said he expects to use different lineup combinations this season, but Willis, Bellfield and Jasper could be mainstays as starters.

"You would love to see those three play great all year long, and that would keep them in there for sure," Kruger said. "They are playing very well together."

Senior forward Darris Santee and 6-foot-10-inch sophomore Brice Massamba will start at post positions.

Kruger started the same lineup Saturday in a scrimmage at Long Beach State. The Rebels won a closely contested scrimmage, and Kruger said his team's rebounding was his biggest area of concern.

"Their inside guys were a little bit more athletic than we are, so that was a good test for us," Kruger said.

"Most importantly, we just have to make consistent progress and keep that focus. It's not going to be that we're as good as we want to be Day One. I think everyone in the country would feel that way after the first scrimmage."

Willis started 23 games last season and is UNLV's top returning scorer at 11.4 points per game. Bellfield and Santee each made 21 starts, but Santee was a little-used reserve the last month of the season.

Of the 12 players who could fill major roles in Kruger's rotation, seven did not play last season. So there will be an adjustment period beyond Saturday's regular-season opener against Pittsburg State.

"These are tuneup games, and we're trying to put it together and get our rotation and our chemistry going," Willis said. "We're trying to get everything right and everybody on the same page.

"I feel we could talk a little more on the floor to make it easier for us. We're working hard, but we need to talk more. We're trying to run up and down a little bit. We're ready to get after it."

This will be the fifth meeting in five years -- and the fourth exhibition game -- between the Rebels and Ichabods. UNLV won last year's exhibition, 74-56.

• NOTES -- Kruger and Washburn coach Bob Chipman were Kansas State teammates from 1971 to 1973. ... The Rebels are 30-3 in exhibition games the past 18 years, winning 24 of the past 25 and 11 straight.

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