Well, it didn’t come down to a last possession this time.
UNLV’s men’s basketball team lost its fifth straight game Tuesday night by a 71-62 final to Boise State before 5,081 at Thomas & Mack Center.
The previous four losses for the Rebels — who slipped to 11-12 overall and 5-7 in the Mountain West — were by a combined 15 points.
Things weren’t so much in doubt with this one.
The Broncos (16-7, 8-4) opened up a 40-29 lead with a 7-0 run to begin the second half before UNLV called timeout.
The Rebels had a cold streak hit hard. They missed 19 of 21 shots over the last few minutes of the first half and the first six of the second. Missed their first 10 coming out of intermission.
“We have to move on to the next game,” UNLV forward Jalen Hill said. “We have to learn from this one and take it serious (in practice) and get ready for Saturday (at Wyoming). We have to come ready to play and get that win. It’s important for us.
“We’re good players, good shooters. Just keep trusting in each other. Have to come into practice and play our game and forget about this.”
The Rebels managed to rally within five with 16 seconds remaining, but the Broncos closed things out at the free-throw line.
UNLV made its comeback behind sophomore point guard Dedan Thomas Jr., who scored all but three of his game-high 20 points in the second half.
It still wasn’t enough.
“Obviously, not the result we wanted,” UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said. “But against a good team like Boise, just a couple lapses there end up costing you. They make you pay, and they did a good job of that. Our confidence is obviously rattled. We’re a little hesitant. We just need to turn things for the better.”
Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry almost did so for the Rebels. The forward scored 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting, including 13 in the first half, highlighted by a few thunderous dunks.
The Broncos took their largest lead of the half at eight points following three straight baskets — including two 3s — from Tyson Degenhart to make it 33-25.
Degenhart, an all-conference performer, led Boise State with 10 points in the half. He finished with a team-best 16 and seven rebounds.
The Rebels talked Monday about the importance of staying even on the boards with Boise State, one of the more physical sides in the Mountain West.
The Broncos outrebounded UNLV 45-34. All those missed shots certainly didn’t help the Rebels in this sense. They were pretty much one-and-done on most trips when Boise State extended its lead to open the second half.
It wasn’t about just a few plays Tuesday. It was much more for UNLV.
Like shooting 1 of 16 on 3s. Yes, just one. Really put that NCAA record streak of 1,250 straight games with a 3 in major jeopardy.
Like shooting 38 percent for the game. Like being 11 of 17 from the free-throw line.
This was Kruger on Monday:
“We’ve played some good basketball, and that’s kind of the focus — just continue to play good basketball,” he said. “Obviously, we’ve been on the short end of a couple here. We’ve either been tied or had a lead with three minutes or less in each of them. You’re going to hopefully find yourself in a lot of those situations.
“We’re a good team. We’ve just fallen short here in the last couple of ones. We’re going to hang on the positives that putting ourselves in those positions and being in those games is going to benefit us here as we come down to the second half of the schedule in conference as the season gets closer to the end.”
They weren’t a very good team Tuesday in many areas.
And for it, the Rebels suffered a fifth straight loss.
Next up: at Wyoming on Saturday.
It doesn’t get any easier with a trip to Laramie.
Contact Ed Graney at [email protected]. Follow @edgraney on X
