UNLV loses to Loyola Marymount in season opener, 61-50
The first six games were supposed to be the easy part of the schedule, but if what happened in Saturday’s opener is any indication, UNLV could have a long, rocky season awaiting.
The Rebels found themselves in a close game with Loyola Marymount — one that did not end well for the home team.
Loyola Marymount took advantage of the sloppy Rebels to win 61-50 at the Thomas & Mack Center.
“The locker room is not a great place,” UNLV forward Shakur Juiston said. “For that to be our opener, it really hit home.”
UNLV returns to the Mack on Tuesday to play UC Riverside, and sometime between now and then will need to find some offense and a way to play without turning over the ball every other possession.
The Rebels had too little of the former and too much of the latter against Loyola Marymount (2-0). UNLV shot 41.2 percent and committed 24 turnovers.
“I felt like we played really hard but incredibly careless,” UNLV coach Marvin Menzies said. “I thought that our guys were really out of sync offensively. Just playing too rushed. Didn’t handle some in-game corrections and adjustments real well. We’ve got to clean up that stuff.”
If UNLV struggles against a team that went 11-20 last season, what are the Rebels going to do against the likes of Cincinnati and Illinois or Mountain West foes UNR and San Diego State? Or even later this month when Oakland and Valparaiso — assumed victories for the Rebels — visit Las Vegas?
UNLV’s performance was so disappointing to the roughly 6,000 fans in attendance that some began to leave with more than four minutes left, and it didn’t take much longer for others to follow.
The Rebels looked as if they were in good shape early in the second half when they took a 27-18 lead, apparently well on their way to what was expected to be a somewhat routine opening-night victory.
But the Lions came back with an eight-point run to signal they weren’t going anywhere. Loyola Marymount took control with a 13-point run to go in front 47-36 with 7:06 remaining.
Only one Rebel scored in double figures — Juiston totaled 12 points and seven rebounds. He also had five turnovers, as did Kris Clyburn, and Noah Robotham committed six.
All three are seniors.
“Our seniors are going to be our backbone, and they struggled tonight,” Menzies said. “When that happens, we’re going to struggle, and all three of them struggled tonight. But they’ll be fine. I’m not sure what was going on.”
The Rebels’ struggles shooting could be difficult to explain, too. UNLV made 2 of 16 3-point attempts.
On the other end, Loyola Marymount’s James Batemon led all scorers with 27 points, making 8 of 19 shots that included going 4 of 7 from 3-point range. Jeffery McClendon scored 13 and Joe Quintana 11.
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Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.
