UNLV closes out 2009-2010 road schedule at Air Force

by David Fucillo on Feb 27, 2010 7:00 AM PST in Basketball

Next Game

Saturday, Feb 27, 2010, 11:30 AM PST
TV: The Mtn
Clune Arena

UNLV (21-7, 9-5) wraps up the road portion of its schedule at the cellar-dwelling Air Force Falcons (9-17, 1-12). The Rebels have a week off after this game, but will need to avoid overlooking the Falcons. UNLV sits as a 13 point favorite and an Air Force win would arguably be the biggest upset of the season in the conference. Nonetheless, no game is a gimme and the Rebels will be looking to put together a dominant performance for the third straight game.

The Rebels remain without Derrick Jasper and Matt Shaw, and will thus be looking for some of their younger players to continue flourishing. Freshman guard Anthony Marshall has had his share of struggles and inconsistency, but he has shown an ability to fire up the team and the crowd with some amazing athleticism. This past Wednesday against TCU, Marshall showed a little bit of everything he brings to the table at this point. He finished with 6 points and 6 turnovers. He was scoreless in the first half, but in the second half he had two coast-to-coast layups, and one monster dunk. The Saturday before against Colorado State he put up 12 points 5-for-5 shooting and 10 rebounds. Although the team should have Jasper and Shaw back in March, a solid showing from Marshall these next few weeks could help this team go a long ways.

Air Force finds themselves in the midst of a 6-game losing streak, and have lost 12 of their last 13. The Falcons are led by senior forward/center Grant Parker with 13.6 ppg and 4.8 rpg, and junior guard Evan Washington adds 10.7 ppg and 4.7 rpg. The Falcons are basically looking for something to build on heading into next season. Their top three scorers include one senior and two juniors, so I'd imagine they're looking for some of their younger talent to show something sooner rather than later. If that doesn't happen, it may be some time before the Falcons turn this season around.

Nonetheless, Air Force can still play spoiler for a UNLV team battling for an NCAA tournament berth. If UNLV wins this week and next week they'll be the three seed facing either Colorado State or Utah. The Rams and Utes face off a week from today in their respective season finales, with that game likely deciding UNLV's first round opponent.

UNLV Rebels

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Tre`Von Willis	27	29.1	5.6	11.5	48.7	1.3	4.1	30.6	5.5	6.5	84.6	0.8	3.1	3.9	3.5	2.4	1.3	0.2	2.5	17.9
Chace Stanback	28	25.7	3.8	9.0	42.6	0.8	2.8	27.3	1.7	2.1	80.0	1.7	3.9	5.6	1.5	1.5	1.5	0.9	2.6	10.1
Oscar Bellfield	28	27.8	3.3	8.0	41.5	1.3	3.6	37.0	1.3	1.8	73.5	0.7	1.8	2.5	4.5	1.9	0.9	0.2	2.3	9.3
Matt Shaw	25	16.0	2.8	5.5	50.4	1.0	2.1	45.3	1.0	1.4	74.3	0.9	2.2	3.1	0.4	0.6	0.3	0.6	2.2	7.4
Kendall Wallace	28	19.5	2.3	5.6	40.8	1.8	4.5	38.9	0.5	0.6	76.5	0.4	1.3	1.7	1.1	0.5	0.4	0.0	1.8	6.8
Derrick Jasper	21	24.5	2.6	5.6	46.2	0.4	1.6	26.5	1.1	2.2	48.9	0.5	4.3	4.9	2.9	1.3	1.1	0.4	2.2	6.8
Anthony Marshall	28	17.6	2.0	4.8	41.5	0.0	0.8	4.3	1.0	1.7	56.3	0.7	1.9	2.6	1.5	1.6	1.2	0.3	1.8	5.0
Darris Santee	28	12.9	1.9	3.1	60.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.8	1.5	56.1	1.1	2.4	3.5	0.1	0.5	0.3	0.5	1.8	4.6
Brice Massamba	28	13.1	1.7	2.4	72.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.6	64.4	1.2	1.1	2.3	0.4	0.6	0.1	0.4	2.3	4.5
Justin Hawkins	28	12.4	1.2	3.1	37.5	0.3	1.0	25.0	0.9	1.4	65.8	0.5	0.9	1.4	0.8	0.5	0.9	0.3	0.9	3.6
Steve Jones	28	10.5	0.6	1.5	37.2	0.1	0.5	15.4	0.4	0.5	76.9	0.5	0.6	1.1	0.4	0.4	0.1	0.0	0.8	1.5
Todd Hanni	5	3.4	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.2	0.6	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.0
Tyler Norman	6	2.7	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.3	0.5	0.0	0.3	0.5	0.2	0.2	0.0
Mychal Martinez	5	1.8	0.0	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0

Air Force Falcons

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Grant Parker	16	27.9	4.6	9.4	49.0	1.4	3.9	37.1	2.9	4.1	71.2	0.9	3.9	4.8	1.2	1.9	0.6	0.3	2.0	13.6
Evan Washington	26	34.4	3.6	7.4	49.0	0.3	1.0	36.0	3.1	4.7	66.4	0.8	3.9	4.7	3.1	2.1	0.8	0.4	1.7	10.7
Tom Fow	22	19.9	2.9	6.9	42.1	1.7	4.4	38.5	1.4	1.7	78.9	0.4	2.6	3.0	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.1	1.7	8.9
Sammy Schafer	3	22.0	2.7	5.7	47.1	0.7	1.7	40.0	1.3	1.7	80.0	1.0	3.3	4.3	1.0	1.0	0.3	0.3	2.7	7.3
Michael Lyons	26	25.8	2.6	6.7	38.5	0.7	2.7	26.8	1.0	1.3	81.8	1.3	1.8	3.0	1.6	1.4	0.7	0.3	2.0	6.9
Mike McClain	25	21.8	2.0	4.4	44.5	0.4	1.7	23.8	1.1	2.4	44.3	0.8	2.7	3.5	1.4	2.1	0.7	0.0	2.5	5.4
Derek Brooks	17	10.8	1.5	3.1	49.1	0.4	1.1	33.3	0.8	1.0	76.5	0.6	0.8	1.4	0.4	0.6	0.3	0.4	1.6	4.2
Todd Fletcher	26	21.3	1.5	3.5	42.2	0.4	1.8	23.4	0.7	0.9	75.0	0.3	1.1	1.4	1.8	1.2	0.8	0.0	2.0	4.0
Mike Fitzgerald	20	9.8	1.3	3.1	41.0	1.1	2.6	41.2	0.3	0.4	75.0	0.2	0.9	1.1	0.3	0.5	0.1	0.0	0.7	3.9
Taylor Stewart	14	13.8	1.4	3.4	42.6	0.2	0.6	33.3	0.4	1.4	30.0	0.4	1.4	1.8	0.8	1.1	0.1	0.0	1.3	3.5
Taylor Broekhuis	21	15.5	1.0	3.1	30.8	0.0	1.1	4.3	1.2	2.1	59.1	0.6	2.1	2.7	0.5	1.1	0.2	0.4	1.5	3.2
Avery Merriex	23	18.0	0.9	1.8	50.0	0.1	0.3	42.9	0.4	0.7	62.5	0.1	0.9	1.0	1.2	1.3	0.5	0.1	2.0	2.4
Zach Bohannon	14	7.9	0.9	1.5	61.9	0.1	0.5	28.6	0.4	0.9	41.7	0.3	0.9	1.1	0.6	0.3	0.4	0.0	1.2	2.4
Shawn Hempsey	19	7.7	0.4	1.0	36.8	0.1	0.4	25.0	0.2	0.5	44.4	0.1	0.6	0.7	0.8	0.5	0.3	0.0	0.7	1.1
Saj El-Amin	3	3.3	0.3	1.0	33.3	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.7	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.7
Adam Brakeville	3	2.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7	0.0
Kyle Green	1	2.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

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Comments

The question is whether or not UNLV wants to be the 3 seed.

Utah has already beat UNLV twice and has always been a bad matchup for them… I looked at the remaining schedules and it looks like their pretty evenly matched, with today both Utah and CSU going up against the bottom teams of the league. Wednesday Utah going against BYU, CSU going up against SDSU. Saturday they vs. eachother. The way it looks like it, the winner of the CSU-Utah game should get the 5 seed.

UNLV wants to avoid having to go against Utah again and would like them to go against SDSU. So, it comes down to this. If UNLV thinks Utah is a better team than CSU, then they want the 3 seed. If UNLV thinks CSU is better than Utah, then they want the 4 seed. The issue is getting to the 4 seed while still making us an at-large bid is practically impossible. So… all UNLV can do at this point is root for Utah to beat Wyoming and CSU.

Rebel Rock

by rebelfan1 on Feb 27, 2010 10:01 AM PST reply actions