Runnin’ Rebels Play At Utah State Wednesday Night

After defeating then-No. 22 Utah State on Jan. 15 at the Thomas & Mack Center (65-62) and shutting down San Diego State on Jan. 18 in San Diego (76-68), the UNLV men’s basketball team (11-9, 5-4) has dropped two straight games at home by a combined four points to Wyoming (63-61) last Tuesday and New Mexico (75-73) on Saturday.

The Runnin’ Rebels will look to bounce back as they travel to Utah State (18-2, 8-1) in a nationally televised game on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. MT/7 p.m. PT on FS1.

The Runnin’ Rebels opened league action with an 87-77 home win over Fresno State (Dec. 28), a 77-58 road victory at Air Force (Dec. 31) and a 79-73 home win over San Jose State (Jan. 4), before dropping two straight road games at Boise State (Jan. 7), 81-59, and at Colorado State (Jan. 11), 84-62.

The Runnin’ Rebels have won six of their last 10 games.

UNLV has three players averaging double figures in scoring, led by Dedan Thomas Jr.’s 16.0 points per game (6th in MW). Jaden Henley, Jailen Bedford, Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry. Julian Rishwain and Jalen Hill are all averaging between 7.8 ppg and 11.6 ppg. Cherry leads in rebounding with 5.5 rpg and blocks with 1.6 bpg (2nd in MW), while Thomas Jr. is the team’s assist leader with 4.6 apg (3rd in MW) and Rishwain leads in steals with 1.5 spg.

UNLV is in its fourth season under head coach Kevin Kruger. He has a career record of 69-49 (.585).

ABOUT THE ROSTER: This season’s UNLV squad features six returners from last year’s team along with 10 newcomers. The newcomers are made up of four Division I transfers, a junior college transfer and five freshmen. UNLV has eight upperclassmen, including two sixth-year players. A total of six players on the roster are playing in their hometown of Las Vegas. The Runnin’ Rebels returned two starters in sophomore guard Dedan Thomas Jr., who was the Mountain West Co-Freshman of the Year last season and was named to this season’s preseason all-conference team, and senior forward Rob Whaley Jr. (currently injured) Forward Jalen Hill is also back for a sixth year of college after suffering a season-ending knee injury last January (in the MW opener at San Diego State). Thomas Jr. led UNLV in scoring and assists last year with 13.6 and 5.1 per game, respectively, Whaley Jr. had averages of 7.6 ppg and 3.6 rpg, while Hill averaged 10.7 ppg and 6.1 rpg in seven contests.

LAST TIME OUT: In Saturday’s loss to New Mexico, Dedan Thomas Jr. led the Runnin’ Rebels in scoring with 18 points, while Julian Rishwain contributed 16 points on 5 of 10 3-point shooting. Last four minutes: Rishwain made a 3-pointer to give UNLV a 71-70 lead with 3:48 to play but that ended up being the Runnin’ Rebels’ last made field goal of the contest. Trailing 74-72, Thomas Jr. was fouled on a shot with 1.3 seconds left. He made the first free throw but missed the second after a UNM timeout. Joseph was fouled on the rebound with less than a second left and made a free throw to give the Lobos the two-point win.

ABOUT UTAH STATE: The Aggies have started Mountain West play by winning eight of its first nine league games with its only loss coming to UNLV in Las Vegas on Jan. 15. Utah State went 10-1 in non-conference play this season with its only loss coming at home to UC San Diego, 75-73. Since losing to the Runnin’ Rebels (65-62), the Aggies have won at home against UNR (90-69) and at Air Force (87-58). Utah State, which is receiving votes in both Top 25 polls, is ranked 40th in KenPom and is 10-1 at home this season. The Aggies have two players averaging in double figures in scoring, Ian Martinez with 17.0 ppg (5th in MW) and Mason Falslev at 15.4 ppg. Faslev leads in rebounding with 6.3 rpg, field-goal percentage at 51.8% (3rd in MW) and steals with 2.4 (1st in the MW). Drake Allen is the team’s assist leader with 4.1 apg. Utah State is No. 5 in the country in assists per game with 19.1 apg, No. 8 in field-goal percentage at 49.9 and No. 14 in scoring margin at 15.2 ppg. USU was predicted to finish sixth in the Mountain West this season in the preseason coaches’ poll, earning one of 26 first-place votes. Martinez was named to the preseason All-MW team. The Aggies had an overall record of 28-7 last season, finishing first in the MW with a league mark of 14-4. They advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s second round where they lost to No. 1-seeded Purdue to end their season. Utah State has six upperclassmen on its 14-man roster. Head coach Jerrod Calhoun is in his first year at Utah State. He had previously been the head coach at Fairmont State (2012-17) and Youngstown State (2017-24) and has a career record of 260-146 (.640).

BROADCAST INFO: Wednesday’s game will be televised nationally on FS1 with Derek Clark and Casey Jacobsen calling the action. Matt Neverett, former Runnin’ Rebel Curtis Terry and Steve Cofield will handle the call on radio, which may be heard on ESPN Radio 1100 in Las Vegas and worldwide on SiriusXM 385. All streaming links and live stats are available at UNLVRebels.com and through the UNLV Rebels App.