UNLV can’t beat Utah State again, eliminated in Mountain West quarterfinals

Cold shooting stretches too often led to the unraveling of the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels as the program fell short of the Mountain West semifinals once again.

Utah State booted UNLV from the Mountain West Championships in the quarterfinals, 70-58, Thursday, March 13 from the Thomas & Mack Center. It served as this season’s rubber match in the series after the two programs split two regular season meetings.

“What an awesome 40-minute fight by our guys,” head coach Kevin Kruger said. “Obviously, came up a little bit short but going into a Utah State match-up you know you’re going to have to ply incredibly hard for 40 minutes because of how hard they play and how together they play.”

The Aggies will continue to play in hopes of more postseason play when they take on the Colorado State Rams in the semifinals. As for the Rebels, the season appears to conclude with the team’s overall record sitting at 18-15.

UNLV has not made the semifinals of its conference tournament since 2014 and has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2013.

“Of course there are also some things that you’re going to remember that worked well,” Kruger said. “Of course, it’s tough to finish this way because we were feeling so good. But like I told the seniors, ‘I just couldn’t be any more appreciative of them. They did nothing but fight and compete.”

In four seasons as the lead man for the program, Kruger has compiled an overall record of 76-55 in his first head coaching opportunity.

“We’ve also got a great opportunity to retain a lot of guys and retention right now in college basketball is showing,” he said. “Teams that have good retention rates and the guys that come back that were impactful and want to be back when you add a transfer or two are usually the teams that have a lot of success.”

The first first-plus minutes of halves have been particularly difficult for the Rebels since the loss of sophomore guard Dedan Thomas Jr. This one was no different as the team fell behind by 11 points in the first couple of minutes.

It was a slow shooting start that caused the lopsided scoreboard early in the contest. UNLV missed 10 of its first 11 field goals from the field on the way to a 7-for-27 mark in the first half.

“That’s what great defensive teams do,” Kruger said. “Open shots are that much harder to come by and they add a little bit of pressure to it, so you’ve got to knock those down when you get those opportunities because you know you may not get another one for a few minutes.”

Even when things looked to be on the right track for the hosting school, Utah State closed the first half with a buzzer-beating three-pointer. That capped a run that saw UNLV go without a field goal for more than four minutes.

Things began to avalanche coming out of the halftime break. An 11-1 saw the Rebels fall behind by 15 points, the largest deficit of the contest.

The Aggies led for nearly 13 minutes of the first 14 of the game. UNLV started to climb back into the game behind a 7-0 run about midway through the first half.

That spurt would be stretched to 17-3 as the Rebels took their first lead of the game.

“I think the biggest thing we can build on is the fight that we had,” junior guard Jaden Henley said. “Day in and day out. Every game we fought, we gave it our all. Even in the huddles we’re active, no matter what — like DJ is hurt. He’s active in the huddle. [Senior forward] Rob [Whaley] is active in the huddle. I think we can build on that family aspect and keep it going.”

Junior guard Jaden Henley powered that run on his way to 10 first half points. At one point, he scored or assisted on 10 of 12 UNLV points at one point.

Henley ended the game with a game-high 19 points.

“It’s tough to get your body going sometimes when you’re tired,” he said. “But for us, it’s mental toughness and pushing through.”

Senior guard Jailen Bedford added 13 points along with 13 more from fifth-year forward Jalen Hill.

The top three scorers for the Rebels combined to shoot 10-for-42 from the field. As a team, it shot 24% from the floor and 15% from three-point range.

“You’ve got to primarily give the credit to Utah State and their defensive activity and just how well they play kind of in unison and for each other,” Kruger said. “So you have to give them credit because when you’ve had three or four tough contested shots that even when you do get that open one, there is a little more pressure on it because it’s an open one and they’re few and far between against a really good defensive team like that.”

Junior forward Bear Cherry earned two quick fouls in the first two-plus minutes of the first half. He’d be forced to sit for the remainder of the first 20-minute session without a point or a rebound.

“I think over the last month it braced the team for adversity,” Kruger said. “Over the last month when things happen you’ve got to adjust pretty quickly. […] Tonight with Bear, it was kind of the same thing […] A lot of that is just kind of from the adversity that they had gone through.”

Cherry picked up his first rebound about five and a half minutes into the second half. He’d score his first point of the game about two minutes later.

By the final buzzer, Cherry would finish with three points and six rebounds. In the loss, he went without a made field goal for the first time this season.

In total, UNLV shot 29-of-38 from the free throw line versus 12-of-17 from the charity stripe for Utah State.