RUNNIN’ REBELS TRAVEL TO AIR FORCE SHORTHANDED
UNLV men’s basketball to play Falcons in early Saturday game without leading scorer Rashad Vaughn
The UNLV men’s basketball team, winner of four of its last five games, is coming off a 73-61 win vs. Fresno State on Tuesday and will now travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., to face Air Force on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 12 p.m. MST/11 a.m. PST at Clune Arena.
After losing three straight games – 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) on Jan. 21 – UNLV won three straight with wins over Utah State (79-77) in overtime at home on Jan. 24, at Nevada, Reno (67-62) on Jan. 27 and vs. Air Force (74-63) on Jan. 31, before losing last Saturday at Colorado State by just a point (83-82) when a buzzer-beating 3-pointer was barely off the mark.
Taking out the overtime loss at Boise State, and the wins over Air Force, Fresno State and San José State (74-40), UNLV’s other seven Mountain West games have been decided by an average of 3.3 points per game (a one-point game, three two-point games, two five-point games 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, who is out of action after suffering a torn meniscus in his left knee on Tuesday vs. Fresno State, led the team in scoring with an average of 17.8 ppg, which ranks second in the Mountain West and third in the country among freshmen. Sophomore forward Christian Wood has 14 double-doubles this year, which ranks seventh in the country, and has averages of 15.0 ppg (2nd on the team, 7th in MW), and a team high of 10.0 rpg (2nd in MW, 16th in the country) and 2.9 bpg (2nd in MW, 14th in the country). Freshman forward Goodluck Okonoboh leads the team and the league in blocks with 2.9 per game (13th in the country, 2nd among all freshmen). Senior guard Cody Doolin leads the squad and MW with 3.9 apg and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.2, which leads the conference and is eighth nationally. Freshman guard Patrick McCaw leads the MW in assists per game (4.1) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.6) during conference-only games.
As a team, the Runnin’ Rebels are third in the nation in total blocks (167), third in blocks per game (7.0 bpg), 11th in defensive rebounds per game (27.13) and 35th in field-goal percentage defense (39.0).
Saturday’s game will be shown on ESPN3 with Jim Barbar and Bob Donewald 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 #25
UNLV (14-10, 5-6 Mountain West)
at
Air Force (11-13, 4-9 Mountain West)
DATE: Saturday, February 14, 2015
TIME: 12 p.m. MST/11 a.m. PST
SITE: Clune Arena (5,843), Colorado Springs, Colo.
TV: ESPN3 (Jim Barbar, Bob Donewald)
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