RUNNIN’ REBELS AT COLORADO STATE SATURDAY
UNLV men’s basketball opens second half of Mountain West play on CBS Sports Network at 1 p.m. PT
The UNLV men’s basketball team, winner of three straight games, has had a week without a game since defeating Air Force (74-63) at home last Saturday. The Runnin’ Rebels will now open their second half of Mountain West play this Saturday, Feb. 7, at Colorado State at 2 p.m. MST/1 p.m. PST. Because of the unbalanced MW schedule, this will be the only meeting of the regular season between the Rams and Runnin’ Rebels.
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 defeated Utah State (79-77) in overtime at home on Jan. 24, won at Nevada, Reno (67-62) on Jan. 27 and beat Air Force last Saturday. Taking out its overtime loss at Boise State on Jan. 13, its win over Air Force last Saturday and its 74-40 victory over San José State on Jan. 10, UNLV’s other six Mountain West games have been decided by an average of 3.7 points per 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 leads the team in scoring with an average of 17.2 ppg, which is third in the Mountain West. Sophomore forward Christian Wood has 12 double-doubles this year, which ranks ninth in the country, and has averages of 14.4 ppg (2nd on the team, 7th in MW), and a team high of 9.5 rpg (2nd in MW, 24th in the country) and 2.6 bpg (3rd in MW, 23rd in the country). Freshman forward Goodluck Okonoboh leads the team and the league in blocks with 2.9 per game (12th in the country, 2nd among all freshmen). Senior guard Cody Doolin leads the squad and MW with 4.0 apg and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.3, which leads the conference and is eighth nationally.
As a team, the Runnin’ Rebels are fourth in the nation in total blocks (149), fourth in blocks per game (6.8 bpg), 12th in defensive rebounds per game (27.23) and 28th in field-goal percentage defense (38.6).
Saturday’s game at Moby Arena will be televised on CBS Sports Network with Carter Blackburn, Pete Gillen and Allie LaForce (sideline reporter) 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.
Saturday’s game is also CSU’s annual “Orange Out.” Started in 2009-10, it pays tribute to CSU’s heritage as the Colorado A&M Aggies – the team and fans wear the program’s original colors of orange and green. CSU is 5-0 in such games. This will be the first time it has hosted the Runnin’ Rebels during an Orange Out.
GAME #23
UNLV (13-9, 4-5 Mountain West)
at
Colorado State (19-4, 6-4 Mountain West)
DATE: Saturday, February 7, 2015
TIME: 2 p.m. MST/1 p.m. PST
SITE: Moby Arena (8,745), Fort Collins, Colo.
TV: CBS Sports Network (Carter Blackburn, Pete Gillen, sideline: Allie LaForce)
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