This past Wednesday the UNLV Runnin Rebels played their first exhibition game against the University of Utah.
The Rebels were without 5 players (Tyrin Jones – Injured, Tyler Harris – Injured, Dontrez Williams – Injured, Issac Williamson – Injured, AJ Storr – Ineligible) who will either start or play significant minutes so it was a good opportunity to see some depth players.
The Rebels played hard winning the Rebounding battle 45 to 37 which is a good barometer of the teams effort.
The Rebels ended up losing the game by 10 points (89 to 79) but put up a good fight cutting the lead to 6 points in the 2nd half after being down by 17.
Turnovers were the big difference maker in the game. The Rebels had 18 turnovers vs Utah’s 11 with 6 of those turnovers coming from the point guards Terrance Ford Jr. and Cam Miles. In fact almost a quarter of the Rebels possessions ended in turnovers.
The Rebels also shot poorly from the field at 39% making only 23 or 58 shots.
Of those 58 shots, 28 of them were from behind the 3 point line making only 8 or 28 percent from 3.
A good barometer of how well the Rebels are running their offense might be to compare how many 3’s they take as opposed to shots in the paint.
At one point early in the first half the rebels shot (3) 3 pointers in a row with very little ball movement. Coach Pastner quickly called a timeout.
The Rebels also made only 15 of 29 free throw attempts (51 percent) and this might be an issue all season.
The Scarlet Standard’s projected starting lineup (Ford, Mack, Williams, Thomas and Jones) shoot collectively 65 percent from the Free Throw Line.
Substitute in one of our true centers Jeremy Foumena (44% FT) or Moustapha Loum (55% FT) and that Free Throw Percentage plummets. The two were a combined 2 for 11 from the line against Utah which could really hurt UNLV and may limit their playing time when things are tight at the end of games.
Let’s take a look at the players who will see significant playing time and let’s start with the point guard play.
UNLV will start Terrance Ford Jr. at point and his likely backup will be Cam Miles.
Pastner certainly doesn’t mince words, but the UNLV point guards had a combined 6 turnovers and 1 Assist.
Ford had 5 points making only 1 of 8 shots and he shot 1 for 6 on 3’s. He had only 1 assist and 3 turnovers. This was Ford’s first game in a while as he sat last year after getting injured at the University of Tulsa.
Cam Miles had a better game scoring 16 points making 6 out of 14 shots with 3 of them being 3’s. But he had 3 turnovers and 0 assists. Overall, he seemed to run the team pretty well, and might be a little better scorer than Ford.
Sebastian Mack who will start at the 2 guard spot was UNLV’s leading scorer with 25 points making 10 of 22 shots with 3 of them being 3’s. He also collected 8 rebounds, had 2 assists and only 1 turnover.
MJ Thomas will be a likely starter and he scored 7 points and had 10 Rebounds in 22 minutes of play. I thought Thomas was one of the best players in the first half and was a real warrior on the boards
Our two true centers had pretty good games.
Jeremy Foumena had 9 Rebounds and 1 block in 13 minutes and Moustapha Loum had 3 rebounds and 2 blocked shots and gave the Rebels a nice defensive boost in his 13 minutes of play.
Jackson Kiss made his Freshman debut and I was impressed with his aggressive play and passing ability. He scored 4 points making 1 of 4 shots, collected 8 Rebounds and led the Rebels with 5 assists. He also had 3 steals but also had 4 turnovers.
Kota Suttle also made his Freshman debut with 5 points, 3 Rebounds, 3 assists and 3 Turnovers in 25 minutes of play. Kota will be battling for playing time and will need to work hard in practice on the defensive end, hit the floor for loose balls, hit shots, and limit turnovers.
Overall, I thought it was a good performance for an undermanned Rebel Team. They played hard and rebounded well. They just need better point guard play, better shot selection, and to get healthy.
UNLV’s next exhibition game will be against BYU on Saturday, October 24th at 1pm at the Thomas and Mack Center.
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