Three-point shooting woes already a concern for UNLV

Poor outside shooting was a question even before Saturday’s 61-50 season-opening loss to Loyola Marymount, a game that did little to assuage fears that UNLV could struggle from that range all season.

The Rebels made 2 of 16 shots from the 3-point line, and if there was any hope down the road, it came from knowing one of their top shooters was on the bench.

But whether Trey Woodbury proves to be the answer the Rebels need won’t come for probably another week or two as he recovers from a knee injury and UNLV (0-1) prepares to play UC Riverside (0-2) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Thomas &Mack Center. The game will be streamed at unlvrebels.com.

“I think we’re better than that,” coach Marvin Menzies said of the opening-night shooting woes. “From a coach’s point of view, you just go to work the next day and work on the blemishes that you have and the areas of instruction that they need.

“I’m not overly concerned with anything except us continuing to get better, and that’s where my emphasis will be. You can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. It’s one game. We’re 0-1, so we’ll see where we are Tuesday.”

Menzies has long favored the traditional way of building a basketball team by establishing a strong inside presence, and he has such players in Shakur Juiston and Mbacke Diong to effectively carry out those plans.

Maybe the shooting will come around, but the issue is whether the Rebels have the players to win from the outside in what is increasingly a perimeter-dominated game:

■ Tervell Beck took only 25 3-pointers last season and made nine.

■ Kris Clyburn made 31.1 percent over his first two UNLV seasons.

■ Freshman Bryce Hamilton is a four-star recruit known more for slashing than shooting, and missed his only 3-point attempt against Loyola Marymount.

■ Amauri Hardy converted 29.4 percent of his 3-point attempts as a freshman last season.

■ Noah Robotham is UNLV’s most proven outside shooter, with 144 makes in 374 tries over three seasons at Akron. He made 1 of 7 in the opener, but did connect on 3 of 5 in the Nov. 2 exhibition against Montana State-Billings. For Robotham, his cold shooting could be chalked up to one off night.

■ Woodbury was shooting well in practices, Menzies said, before getting hurt. He was a strong outside shooter at Clark High School and for his Vegas Elite AAU team, so there is hope he will provide help on the outside.

It’s help UNLV needs, but the Rebels don’t have much time to wait with Riverside visiting. Perhaps it’s good, given how Saturday went, to have a short turnaround.

“After losses, you really want to get back after it,” Menzies said. “If it was a win, obviously a little more rest would be good, but this is the grind now. We’re in full swing.”

A strong bounce-back game would be important for the players’ psyche.

“When you hit the wall, you fall on your training,” Diong said. “I think that’s what is going to get us through this.”

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Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.