LAS VEGAS — UNLV was up 42-30 on BYU, with Sebastian Mack finding his spots and the ball arriving where it needed to. With 3:05 left in the first half, the Rebels had a 12-point lead and looked nothing like the team that had thrown away possession after possession against Utah. By halftime, the lead was a point. By the final buzzer, the Cougars had won 89-77.
Missouri comes to the Thomas & Mack Center Thursday with a different way to expose the same problem. The Tigers beat Kansas State despite shooting 35.4%, recovering 16 offensive rebounds and cashing in turnovers.
Turnovers have already cost Josh Pastner's team in both exhibitions. UNLV committed 18 turnovers against Utah, then 18 against BYU. The Rebels are playing with a short rotation, but Pastner has not treated injuries as an excuse for failing to make the next pass or protect a rebound.
Mack has scored 51 points, and UNLV has lost twice. Thursday, his teammates must give him outlets when Missouri sends help and finish defensive possessions when its first shot misses.
Pastner’s description after BYU was direct. “There were some points in the second half we got stuck or stagnant,” Pastner said. “We over-dribbled, over-handled.”
Against BYU, UNLV assisted on nine of its 17 baskets before halftime. It shot 53.1% from the field and made five of nine threes. After the break, it assisted on three baskets, made one of nine threes and committed 10 turnovers. The Cougars stopped getting beaten by the first pass because too often the next one never arrived.
UNLV's effective field-goal percentage, which gives extra weight to made threes, dropped from 60.9% before halftime to 42.6% afterward, according to CBB Analytics. Pastner's account of the over-handling explains why simply asking for more made shots misses the issue. The ball was stopping before the next teammate could attack.
The problem was not that UNLV stopped getting the ball near the basket. The Rebels scored 44 paint points for the game, 24 before halftime and 20 after, and collected 15 offensive rebounds. They were still finding opportunities near the rim. The possessions that should have followed those rebounds too often ended with an extra dribble or a pass into a defender who was already waiting.
Pastner pointed to an inbounds play where a teammate's mistake left Suttle charged with a turnover. Jackson Kiss moved ahead of Kota Suttle Jr. rather than remaining behind him as an outlet. Suttle threw to the area Kiss was supposed to occupy, BYU intercepted it, and Suttle received the turnover. Pastner put the mistake on Kiss. A team that does not know where its safety valve will be can waste a possession before the ball even reaches midcourt.
Cam Miles has been asked to organize the offense. He had four assists and five turnovers against BYU after he and Terrance Ford Jr. combined for one assist and six turnovers against Utah. Before the Cougars game, Miles told The Scarlet Standard that becoming a more vocal point guard was an adjustment. Pastner wants him calling out coverages and preparing teammates for what is coming before the ball is already trapped.
Miles averaged 4.8 assists per 40 minutes at Florida State last season; Mack averaged 1.5 assists and 2.6 turnovers per 40 at Missouri. They arrived with different habits and responsibilities. UNLV needs Miles to organize the next action early enough that Mack can attack it, rather than receive the ball after the first attempt has already failed.
Mack scored 25 against Utah and 26 against BYU. Pastner wants him to locate the second option sooner, before help turns a drive into a difficult jumper.
There was a glimpse of the alternative against BYU. Jeremy Foumena stayed near the baseline as Mack drove, leaving an outlet behind the defender coming to help. Mack found him early. Pastner has emphasized that location because it gives his guards a place to release the ball without throwing it backward just to escape pressure. When BYU changed its help after halftime, UNLV needed to identify the next opening before the defense recovered.
Missouri's Bryson Tiller makes the decision harder. He blocked five Kansas State shots and grabbed nine rebounds. With the Tigers holding a two-point lead late, he recovered from losing the ball to block Isaiah Abraham's layup with 17 seconds left, secured the rebound and helped start the possession that put Missouri out of reach. One well-timed rotation at the basket changed two points into a defensive stop.
For Mack, driving directly into Tiller without an available pass risks turning a good first step into another wasted possession. Foumena, a cutting forward or a teammate spotted in the corner needs to become visible before the help arrives. A post player able to catch the ball near the baseline can make Missouri pay for sending Tiller toward the guard. That requires communication, not just more aggressive drives.
Missouri has its own guard who can force the same decision. Freshman Jason Crowe Jr. scored 21 points, handed out five assists and recorded three steals against Kansas State. He went 7-for-18 from the floor, 6-for-7 at the line and committed only two turnovers in 32 minutes. Crowe can draw help with his first move, leaving UNLV to decide whether to stop the ball or protect the pass behind the second defender.
That second read hurt the Rebels against BYU. Bruce Branch III found Khadim Mboup rolling behind UNLV's switches and had six assists after halftime. Pastner identified the passes underneath the defense as one of the problems. If defenders chase Crowe without accounting for Missouri's big men, the Tigers do not need to shoot well from outside to score in the paint.
And if Missouri misses, the possession may not be over. Mark Mitchell missed all three of his field-goal attempts against Kansas State but had eight rebounds, six on offense. The Tigers recovered 10 offensive rebounds after halftime and scored all 12 of their second-chance points in those 20 minutes. They attacked the glass while the Wildcats were trying to survive a half in which Missouri was making fewer than four of every 10 shots.
UNLV must locate Mitchell and Tiller before the shot goes up. Blocking out only the center leaves room for a forward to attack from the weak side. Pastner's guards must help on the drive and still find someone to box out.
Trent Pierce scored all 10 of his points during a 21-7 stretch early in the second half. Missouri opened that half on a 13-0 run, forced 10 turnovers and turned them into 14 points. It scored 44 after halftime on 14-of-37 shooting. The runs were not created by a suddenly unstoppable jumper; the Tigers kept extending possessions and capitalizing when Kansas State lost one.
UNLV's rebounding totals can hide how costly that is. The Rebels outrebounded Utah 45-37 and BYU 41-34, yet BYU still secured 15 offensive boards. The Cougars scored 17 second-chance points and another 19 off turnovers. Pastner counted 36 points from those extra opportunities. BYU attempted 69 field goals to UNLV's 59. Winning the overall rebounding count does not mean finishing enough defensive possessions.
The Rebels recovered 10 offensive rebounds after halftime against BYU, twice their first-half total, and still lost ground. Foumena or Williams winning another possession is only half the job. If the next guard dribbles into the same crowd, the rebounder has worked for another difficult shot. The Rebels need to turn those rebounds into better shots by passing out of the crowd.
The personnel situation complicates every decision. Pastner used seven scholarship players and walk-on Jalen Cunningham against BYU. Miles played 36 minutes, Mack and Dontrez Williams 33 each and Kiss 32. Williams returned from an ankle injury and grabbed nine rebounds. Foumena had nine, four on offense. The group produced 41 rebounds without enough fresh legs or clean possessions to protect the lead.
Cunningham gives that depleted rotation a specific outside threat. He made all three of his attempts against BYU, each from beyond the arc, while UNLV’s other players went 3-for-15 from three. That contrast does not establish a season-long shooting hierarchy, but it gives Missouri a reason to account for him when Mack drives.
Loum supplied a different bench contribution: four rebounds, including two offensive, and a block in 13 minutes without a turnover. If Pastner turns to him again, maintaining those possessions would let Foumena rest without abandoning the glass. Suttle also collected four rebounds in 16 minutes. For a short bench, those contributions can help without requiring another player to dominate the ball for every possession UNLV plays.
MJ Thomas had 10 rebounds, five offensive, against Utah before missing BYU with a thumb injury. Terrance Ford Jr. was in concussion protocol. Tyler Harris was recovering from a knee injury and Issac Williamson from hamstring and foot problems. AJ Storr remained ineligible. Tyrin Jones was nearing a return from shoulder surgery, offering Pastner another interior option if cleared for Thursday. Each player's return depends on his own recovery or eligibility.
Jones averaged 11.9 points, five rebounds and 2.2 blocks as a freshman. His 2025-26 CBB Analytics record shows 60.6% shooting inside the arc and 3.3 blocks per 40 minutes. His production immediately after surgery may differ from those prior-season figures. His value Thursday, if available, could be as much about where he positions himself when a guard draws help as about any scoring total he posts.
Mack started nine of his 18 appearances at Missouri and averaged seven points last season. The reunion will draw attention. Kiss knowing where to stand on an inbound pass, Miles calling the coverage and Foumena arriving behind a helping defender could have more influence on whether Mack's scoring produces a win. A 30-point night from Mack still leaves UNLV needing those contributions.
Pastner has refused to guarantee immediate minutes to returning players. “When guys are healed and healthy, if I feel like we have a group that's playing well and ready to go, I'm going to go with that group,” he said after BYU. For Cunningham, Kiss and the other available players, the short rotation is also an opportunity to make a case that survives the injured players' return.
Missouri visits at 7 p.m. Pacific Thursday on MW+. UNLV's regular-season opener against Northern Arizona is Nov. 3.
