By Kirk Kern/Vegas Sports Today
The UNLV men’s basketball team held off a game Southern University team and came away with a 66-56 win on Monday, Nov. 7, in their season opener at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The Rebels (1-0) forced 28 turnovers for the game, including 17 in the first half as UNLV built a 33-25 halftime lead. For the game, Keshon Gilbert led the way with a career-high 13 point, followed by EJ Harkless with 11 points, Jackie Johnson III added 10 points and Luis Rodriguez scored nine. Rodriguez also pulled down seven rebounds.
“The defense saved us… 28 turnovers,” said head coach Kevin Kruger. “Offensively, we hit some stagnant stretches, but it was nice to have a security on the bench and the feeling that if we could just move it and get a couple of good shots and buy a little time offensively, that our defense was holding strong.”
The Jaguars (0-1) were led by Bryson Etienne’s 25 points on 9 of 18 from the field, including 6 of 11 on 3-pointers.
Southern cut the eight-point halftime advantage to 39-36 3:30 into the second half, but the Rebels went on a 12-0 run to build their lead to 15. A late 10-0 run by Southern cut the lead to seven with about two minutes left, but the Rebels held on.
“Our fight was really good and we just figured out a way to win a game,” Kruger said. “We are really happy happy for our guys and proud of them, and excited to get back in the gym because I think we’re going have a ton of film that we can look at and point out things that they’ll notice, things that we have talked about that we can continue to improve on for Saturday.”
NOTES:
– UNLV made 32 of 38 from the free-throw line as a team, led by Harkless’ 7 of 9 and Gilbert’s 6 of 6.
– UNLV led by as many as 17 points with eight minutes left in the game.
– UNLV led in bench points 25-17, fast-break points 16-6 and second-chance points 11-5.
– UNLV led 33-25 at halftime.
– This was the first-ever meeting between UNLV and Southern in men’s basketball and the Runnin’ Rebels improved to 6-0 all-time against schools that currently make up the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
– UNLV improved to 51-14 all-time in season openers and 43-8 when opening the season at home.
– UNLV is now 28-4 in season openers at the Thomas & Mack Center and has won 15 of its last 18 season openers overall.
– Kruger improved his career record in season openers to 2-0.
– UNLV has made at least one 3-pointer in a NCAA-record 1,162 straight games.
NEXT FOR THE RUNNIN’ REBELS: UNLV will continue its season-opening four-game homestand at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 3 p.m. as it hosts Incarnate Word. Tickets are on sale at UNLVtickets.com, by calling 702-739-FANS or by visiting the Thomas & Mack Center Box Office.