RUNNIN’ REBELS TRAVEL TO RENO FOR TUESDAY GAME
Governor’s Series contest set for 7 p.m. on ESPN3
Coming off a 79-77 overtime win at home against Utah State on Saturday, the UNLV men’s basketball team will head north to Reno to face the Wolf Pack of Nevada, Reno, on Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. at Lawlor Events Center.
The game is part of the Governor’s Series, presented by NV Energy, which is a head-to-head athletic and academic challenge between UNLV and UNR. The winner of the season series in men’s basketball will earn three points toward the final score. UNLV, which has won each of the first two years of the competition, trails this year’s contest 7.5-4.5.
This will be the second meeting of the year between UNLV and UNR in men’s basketball. The Wolf Pack won the first meeting in Las Vegas, 64-62, on Jan. 7, on a Marqueze Coleman 18-foot jumper with 4.8 seconds left.
The win against Utah State on Saturday snapped a three-game losing streak for the Runnin’ Rebels: at Boise State on Jan. 13 in overtime (82-73), at San Diego State on Jan. 17 (53-47) and vs. New Mexico (71-69) last Wednesday. Prior to that, UNLV defeated San José State (74-40). Taking out the overtime loss at Boise State and the win over SJSU, UNLV’s other five conference games have been decided by an average of 3.4 points per game (three two-point games, a five-point game and a six-point game).
UNLV, which had to replace all five starters from a year ago, has used a rotation this season that includes five freshmen, one sophomore and two seniors. Freshman guard Rashad Vaughn leads the team in scoring with an average of 17.9 ppg, which is second in the Mountain West. Sophomore forward Christian Wood has 10 double-doubles this year, which ranks 15th in the country, and has averages of 14.2 ppg (second on the team, 8th in MW), and a team high of 9.5 rpg (2nd in MW, 26th in the country) and 2.8 bpg (3rd in MW, 21st in the country). Freshman forward Goodluck Okonoboh leads the team and is second in the MW in blocks with 2.8 per game (16th in the country, 2nd among all freshmen). He missed last Wednesday’s game with a foot injury but played 20 minutes against Utah State on Saturday. Senior guard Cody Doolin leads the squad and MW with 4.3 apg and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.2, which leads the conference and is 14th nationally.
As a team, the Runnin’ Rebels are third in the nation in total blocks (138), fourth in blocks per game (6.9 bpg), seventh in defensive rebounds per game (27.8) and 30th in field-goal percentage defense (38.5).
Tuesday’s game will be shown on ESPN3 with Ari Wolfe and Blaine Fowler calling the action. Jon Sandler and Robert Smith will handle the UNLV radio call, which may be heard live on ESPN Radio 1100 AM/100.9 FM in Las Vegas. All internet links along with live stats will be available at UNLVRebels.com.
GAME #21
UNLV (11-9, 2-5 Mountain West)
at
Nevada, Reno (6-12, 2-4 Mountain West)
DATE: Tuesday, January 27, 2015
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Lawlor Events Center (11,536), Reno, Nev.
TV: ESPN3 (Ari Wolfe, Blaine Fowler)
RADIO: ESPN Radio 1100 AM/100.9 FM (Jon Sandler, Robert Smith)
AUDIO: UNLV Gameday App & UNLVRebels.com
STATS: Gametracker at UNLVRebels.com
TWITTER: @UNLVAthletics