LAS VEGAS – Colby Garland missed San José State’s January loss to UNLV. The Spartans’ leading scorer is back for Tuesday’s rematch, giving a Rebels team that nearly lost a 15-point lead to Grand Canyon another guard who can draw fouls off the drive.
UNLV enters at 11-12 overall and 6-6 in the Mountain West after the 80-78 win. Tuesday offers a chance to repeat the rebounding and ball movement that built Saturday’s lead while avoiding the mistakes that nearly erased it.
“Mission accomplishment is more important than personal comfort,” Pastner said Sunday on the Reb Zone.
Tuesday tips at 8 p.m. Pacific on FS1. San Jose State arrives 0-9 in true road games, but that record does not make its available guards harmless. Colby Garland averages 18.4 points and 4.2 assists, putting him among the league’s leading scorers and passers. Defending him requires more than taking away one shot: if UNLV sends a second defender, the next pass can reach a teammate against a moving defense.
Saturday at Colorado State, the Spartans had only enough healthy players to give Garland, Melvin Bell Jr. and Pasha Goodarzi no rest. All three played 40 minutes in a 65-57 loss. Goodarzi scored 15, and San Jose State committed only four turnovers. The Spartans were short of personnel and badly beaten on the glass, but they did not simply throw the ball away. UNLV has to earn its opportunities to run.
What separates the wins from the losses
The statistical difference between UNLV’s wins and losses is significant. Through Saturday’s Grand Canyon win, the Rebels average 85.3 points in their 11 victories while shooting 48.7% from the field, 33.5% from 3-point range and 75.0% at the free-throw line. They average 40.2 rebounds, hold a plus-7.5 rebounding margin and commit 11.5 turnovers while producing a plus-2.4 turnover margin. They also average 20.6 personal fouls.
In the 12 losses, nearly every one of those numbers moves in the opposite direction. UNLV averages 72.8 points while shooting 43.5% from the field, 31.2% from beyond the arc and 64.1% at the line. The Rebels average 31.5 rebounds, fall to a minus-5.6 rebounding margin and commit 13.9 turnovers with a minus-0.5 turnover margin. Personal fouls rise to 23.7 per game.
UNLV’s scoring margin is plus-15.7 in victories and minus-14.3 in losses. The wins are supposed to look better. Saturday exposed the danger of stopping the examination there: the Rebels won and nearly lost a 15-point lead. Rebounds, free throws and passes must survive the final minutes, when the result is theirs to protect.
The possessions after Hamilton’s dunk
With Tyrin Jones out because of a shoulder injury and Howie Fleming Jr. sidelined by an ankle injury, UNLV rebounded well and held Grand Canyon below 40% shooting. Kimani Hamilton’s dunk with 2:41 left made it 74-59. That was the Rebels’ last field goal.
Jaden Henley scored at 2:20 to begin Grand Canyon’s 19-6 finish. UNLV’s remaining points all came on six free throws in the last 38 seconds. A win that had looked secure became dependent on those trips to the line.
The first win came with a rebounding deficit
The Rebels won 76-62 in San Jose on Jan. 17 after leading for more than 38 minutes. They shot 54% from the field, 47.8% from 3-point range and 91.7% at the free-throw line. UNLV also scored 30 points in the paint and produced 15 points off turnovers in one of its most efficient offensive performances of the season.
San Jose State still won the rebounding count 31-22 and led 9-2 in second-chance points. UNLV’s shooting covered that deficit. The Rebels should not plan on needing 47.8% shooting from 3-point range to overcome another nine-rebound loss.
Fleming led that January win with 21 points and eight assists. Gibbs-Lawhorn scored 10, so UNLV already has an example against this opponent of its leading scorer contributing without carrying the largest point total. Fleming’s ankle problem now complicates the possibility of repeating that distribution. His status and effectiveness will determine how much of that organizing work the other guards have to absorb.
Garland returns to the matchup
Garland did not play in the Jan. 17 meeting. His return gives San Jose State a scorer and organizer who can get into the lane and draw fouls.
“He will play this week,” Pastner said.
UNLV averages about three more personal fouls in its losses than in its wins. The free throws are only part of the cost. Foul trouble shortens Pastner’s available rotation and can force a defender to give up ground he would otherwise contest.
The 98-96 loss at Fresno State provided the clearest example. UNLV committed 34 fouls, had five players foul out and allowed the Bulldogs to attempt 44 free throws. The Rebels still scored 96 points and shot well enough to win, but their defensive discipline deteriorated badly enough that the offense could not compensate.
“You can’t win at that level,” Pastner said.
Gibbs-Lawhorn has to stay available
Fouls also threaten Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, the player UNLV depends on to run its own offense.
“He’s got to stop fouling,” Pastner said.
“That cost us in Fresno.”
Gibbs-Lawhorn has scored at least 20 points in three consecutive games while taking on the primary organizing role. Losing him changes both the shots UNLV can create and the way it gets into a possession.
Bannarbie’s work on the glass
Jacob Bannarbie’s 15 rebounds helped UNLV survive without Jones. The Rebels outrebounded Grand Canyon 41-36 and scored 14 second-chance points, giving themselves another route to the basket when the first shot missed.
Bannarbie also had five assists against Grand Canyon, matching his point total. That is an important contribution from the player replacing Jones’ minutes. A center who can return the ball to a guard or find a teammate after a catch gives the possession another route forward. Bannarbie did not have to duplicate Gibbs-Lawhorn’s scoring to help UNLV reach 80.
Al Green supplied a different form of relief, scoring 13 off the bench on four of six shots and making all four free throws. Those points came with no turnovers in 21 minutes. UNLV needs that kind of production when Gibbs-Lawhorn plays the whole game: another player can finish an opportunity without requiring the leading scorer to produce every basket himself.
Finish possessions before the final minute
The Rebels have already beaten San Jose State with an excellent shooting night. This time, Garland will be available and UNLV has a rebounding deficit from that first meeting to address. Those are concrete reasons to expect a different game.
Pastner used “measured” to describe the approach he wants. It calls for a defender to hold his position after a teammate is beaten, a ballhandler to make the next pass after his drive is stopped and someone to find a body when the shot goes up.
Adrian Myers provides another reason to defend the Spartans beyond Garland. He had six rebounds, four assists and three steals at Colorado State. Bell added seven points and four rebounds. Those contributions did not overcome a 20-rebound deficit, but they show the work available around the leading scorer. A defender who follows Garland too far can give Myers a passing opportunity or Bell an opening to attack.
