UNLV advances with 73-70 win over Wyoming

LAS VEGAS — About that “worst defensive team I’ve ever coached” declaration made by Josh Pastner two weeks ago?

He might want to amend that after the effort UNLV put forth Wednesday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Pastner’s Rebels, who are going to need to win four games in four days if they hope to make it to the NCAA Tournament, got off to a good start in the Mountain West Tournament thanks to their defense. They played a 1-3-1 zone against Wyoming and the Cowboys struggled to make outside shots most of the contest.

And in a tight game late, they switched things up, going man-to-man and got strong individual defensive stops from Kimani Hamilton and Tyrin Jones that enabled the Rebels to survive 73-70 and advance to the quarterfinals.

The Rebels play Utah State, a team they swept during the regular season, at noon Thursday.

“I knew it was going to be a tough game,” Pastner said. “They’re really a good team. Our late-game execution was really at a high level.”

As so many of their contests have been this season, this was a weird one for UNLV. It had a 16-point first-half lead slip through its grasp as Wyoming battled back from the double-digit deficit to lead as late as 37.9 seconds to play, 70-68.

The Rebels managed to pull this one out thanks to Walter Brown’s 3-point shooting, Jones’ defense in the paint and some tough luck on the part of Wyoming.

Brown, the senior from New Zealand, hit two big treys, one from the top of the key, the other from the right side and he would finish with nine points along with 10 rebounds. UNLV needed them as its star, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, failed to score in the second half after posting 15 first-half points.

Jones, who was a member of the all-conference defensive team and led the Mountain West in blocked shots, had six on Wednesday including a big one on Leland Walker with two seconds to go. UNLV had 12 blocks in all.

The Cowboys still nearly pulled it out despite making just 3 of 21 shots from long distance just 37 percent overall from the floor.

For UNLV, it was far from perfect. And there are things that need cleaning up heading into into Thursday. Pastner only played seven and Jones and Howie Fleming Jr. finished with four fouls apiece. How much will he extend his bench against Utah State?

He used a Tour de France reference about the cardiovascular shape of his players and while this isn’t a bicycle race, being in shape definitely helps when you’re asking so few to play so many minutes.

Now, the Rebels try to beat a team for a third time, something that isn’t easy to do. One of their best wins this season came at Logan, Utah on Jan. 20, an 86-76 victory over the Aggies. The other win over Utah State was a week ago at the Thomas & Mack, a lopsided 92-65 triumph.

“We’ve got to rebound better and we’ve got to make free throws,” Pastner said after his team was dominated on the glass, 43-36, and shot just 61 percent from the line (19 of 31).

But at this point of the season, it’s all about the final result. UNLV  (17-15) managed to find a way to get to the finish line first and the season continues.

“We can’t worry about Friday or Saturday,” Pastner said. “Thursday is going to be hard enough. That’s where our focus needs to be.”