Freshman-laden UNLV grows up in time to upset Arizona
As a result of its newcomer-laden roster and ultra-challenging early schedule, UNLV's season has always felt like a race against the clock.
A youthful but talented Rebels team replacing all five starters from last season had to jell quickly enough to avoid being buried by a non-league slate featuring a trio of top 15 opponents, three more power-conference foes and several tricky mid-majors.
Progress had been slower than UNLV would have liked until Tuesday night when the Rebels unleashed by far their best performance of the season on unsuspecting third-ranked Arizona. Sophomore Christian Wood and freshman Rashad Vaughn combined for 45 points to rally host UNLV to a 71-67 victory in a game the Rebels trailed by as many as eight points late in the first half.
Toppling Arizona improved UNLV to 8-3 so far this season and gave the Rebels the profile-enhancing signature win they had been lacking.
UNLV had previously fallen by 29 against Stanford and by 22 at Arizona State before showing some signs of life defensively Friday night against 14th-ranked Utah in a 59-46 loss. Two chances for marquee non-league victories remained — Tuesday's game and a Jan. 4 visit to Kansas — and it was imperative for the Rebels to find a way to win at least one because the Mountain West doesn't offer many opportunities for season-changing wins this year.
What powered UNLV in the second half oddly enough was actually abandoning its motion offense and attacking Arizona's vaunted defense with isolation plays designed to take advantage of specific matchups. Wood in particular thrived as a result of that change, scoring 16 of his 24 points in the second half, many by attacking Brandon Ashley off the dribble from the elbow.
Shooting 44.1 percent as a team against Arizona was very impressive, but UNLV also supplemented that by beating the Wildcats on the offensive glass. Arizona uncharacteristically surrendered 14 offensive rebounds, five by Wood and four by Goodluck Okonoboh
In spite of foul trouble for Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Kaleb Tarczewski, unusually shoddy rebounding and defense, errant free throw shooting and a lack of bench points, Arizona still had a chance to steal the game down the stretch the way it did against Gonzaga and San Diego State earlier this season. Two Ashley free throws and a T.J. McConnell put-back propelled the Wildcats within one with 58 seconds to go, but the lack of a late-game closer to replace Nick Johnson short-circuited the comeback.
Highly regarded freshman Stanley Johnson blew a transition layup in traffic that would have given Arizona the lead. Ashley missed a potential go-ahead pick-and-pop 3-pointer that rimmed out. And Johnson squandered the Wildcats' final chance down two in the closing seconds when he was stripped of the ball as he tried to weave through traffic in transition.
Arizona's loss could serve it well in the long run because the Wildcats already own a handful of big early wins and this will allow Sean Miller to refocus his team entering Pac-12 play. The Wildcats are still a heavy favorite to win the league but more challengers than expected are emerging with Washington still unbeaten, Utah solidifying itself as a top 20 team and both Cal and Stanford showing flashes of potential.
As for UNLV, this has the potential to be a monumental win if the Rebels can build on it.
Freshman-laden UNLV beat the clock and came together in time to win one of its big non-league games. Now the Rebels must avoid the peaks and valleys so many young teams endure and continue their upward trajectory.
For more UNLV news, visit Rebel-Net.com.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
