They had a lead against New Mexico. They were tied with Utah State and UNR late in road games. They were in a two-possession game against Boise State with three minutes left Tuesday.
UNLV’s basketball team has lost five straight games, and the first four were by a combined 15 points.
“If any of these last couple games goes in our direction, it’s a whole different feeling right now,” coach Kevin Kruger said. “That’s sports. We have to figure out a way to get out of it.”
But that’s the problem. They didn’t win. None of them.
And that’s not good.
The Rebels — 11-12 overall and 5-7 in the Mountain West — return to the court Saturday at Wyoming. That’s the same Cowboys team that as a double-digit underdog beat UNLV 63-61 on Jan. 21 at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Of the five straight losses, that one hurt UNLV the most and was by far the most inexcusable. But it’s also what has defined the Rebels this season – a large amount of inconsistency.
Lacking atmosphere
It’s bad for many reasons. It doesn’t make fans happy. It doesn’t make boosters happy. It leads to a more apathetic than raucous home atmosphere.
The Thomas & Mack has been far more the former this season. There’s little energy for a team that again must win the conference tournament to secure the school’s first NCAA Tournament berth since 2013.
Look at how football engaged and awoke a fan base the last two years. Basketball has historically proven it can do so tenfold. There is nothing like it when UNLV is winning at a large clip.
But not if things don’t change on the scoreboard.
“It obviously starts with me,” said Kruger, 69-52 in three-plus seasons. “It’s something we’re trying to figure out. I’m trying to do my best to put us in position to win games and make the right calls and right decisions.
“It has obviously been an up and down year with consistency. A lot of things any coach will learn, some I wish I could do differently and some things we like and will try to continue to build on those.”
Most teams go through some sort of adversity. These are long seasons. Nobody rolls through five months of ball unscathed. So you can look at how UNLV has lost recently in a few ways.
The Rebels are in most games with a chance to win. The opportunity for success exists. They have played well enough to put themselves in a sound position down the stretch. That’s the positive of it all.
This isn’t: Confidence has waned. They’re rattled. They’ve searched for answers that haven’t been there.
They need to coach better. Players need to execute better. They need to finish better. Or at all.
Kruger admittedly has been more animated on the sidelines, trying to discover ways to encourage what is hardly the most vocal of teams.
“We as a staff are watching film and doing everything we can to think of all the possibilities of how to turn things around and turn that corner,” Kruger said. “We have to figure something out with confidence and comfort and guys feeling good about themselves so we end up on the right side of it.”
Wins coming?
Winning cures all ills, so here is a possible bright spot: UNLV plays in the Mountain West, where there are a handful of strong teams at the top, some average ones in the middle and dreadful ones near and at the bottom.
Translation: There is every chance the Rebels are about to go on a long run of wins. They should be favored in four of their next five games. The likes of Air Force and Fresno State are soon on tap.
If they can return the favor against Wyoming on Saturday, being on the other side of final scores could begin to occur.
For now, everyone needs to be better. Coaching. Execution. Everything.
At day’s end, consistency and confidence are obvious issues.
And that’s a problem.
Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at [email protected]. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on X.
Up next
Who: UNLV at Wyoming
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: Arena-Auditorium, Laramie, Wyo.
TV/Radio: Mountain West Network (streaming); KWWN (1100 AM, 100.9 FM)
