RUNNIN’ REBELS HOST BOISE STATE WEDNESDAY AT 8 PM
UNLV men’s basketball down to seven scholarship players because of injuries, pregame tribute to Coach Tarkanian planned
The UNLV men’s basketball team, winner of four of its last six games, is coming off a 73-61 win vs. Fresno State and a 76-75 loss at Air Force in its two games last week. The Runnin’ Rebels will now host Boise State on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Center.
A special pregame tribute in memory of legendary former Runnin’ Rebel head coach and Hall of Famer Jerry Tarkanian, who recently passed away, will take place. Fans are encouraged to be in their seats early for the tribute. In addition, fans will receive a commemorative towel to honor Coach Tarkanian.
UNLV’s two losses over its last six games are by one point each – at Air Force on Saturday and at Colorado State (83-82) on Feb. 7. Taking out the Runnin’ Rebels’ overtime loss at Boise State (82-73 on Jan. 13), and the wins over Air Force (74-63 on Jan. 31), Fresno State (Feb. 10) and San José State (74-40 on Jan. 10), UNLV’s other eight Mountain West games have been decided by an average of 3.0 points per game (two one-point games, 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, used a rotation for most of this season that included 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 Feb. 10 vs. Fresno State, had 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 11th in the country, and has averages of 15.6 ppg (6th in MW), and team highs of 10.0 rpg (2nd in MW, 18th in the country) and 3.0 bpg (1st in MW, 11th in the country). Freshman forward Goodluck Okonoboh is second on the team in blocks with 2.8 per game (2nd in MW, 14th 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 3.1, which leads the conference and is 10th nationally. Freshman guard Patrick McCaw is second in the MW in assists per game (3.8) and sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1) during conference-only games.
As a team, the Runnin’ Rebels are third in the nation in total blocks (173), third in blocks per game (6.9 bpg), ninth in defensive rebounds per game (27.16) and 34th in field-goal percentage defense (39.1).
Wednesday night’s game will be televised on CBS Sports Network with Carter Blackburn and Pete Gillen 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 #26
Boise State (18-7, 8-4 Mountain West)
at
UNLV (14-11, 5-7 Mountain West)
DATE: Wednesday, February 18, 2015
TIME: 8 p.m.
SITE: Tarkanian Court, Thomas & Mack Center (18,500)
TV: CBS Sports Network (Carter Blackburn, Pete Gillen)
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