UNLV hosts BYU in resume-builder for the winner

by David Fucillo on Feb 6, 2010 6:00 AM PST in Basketball

Next Game

Saturday, Feb 6, 2010, 1:00 PM PST
TV: VERSUS
Thomas & Mack Center

UNLV hosts BYU this afternoon in a matchup of two of the top teams in the conference to start the second half of conference play. Although UNLV would move into a tie for first with a win, this game is more about each team building up their resume. A BYU win moves them that much closer to the regular season title. If UNLV wins, the top of the Mountain West will be jumbled up for the foreseeable future. In their previous meeting, UNLV blew a second half lead in losing by 4 up in Provo. UNLV is anticipating a sell-out, the second straight season this matchup will produce a sellout. Throwing it on national television will give the conference a chance to show off two of its premier programs.

BYU relatively healthy, which was not the case a month ago. On January 6, Jimmer Fredette (All-American candidate and expected conference player of the year) only managed 7 points in 25 minutes as he was in the midst of a battle with strep throat. In fact, he missed the non-conference games before and the game after due to the illness. He's at full strength and prepped for what should be an intriguing battle with the UNLV guards. While Oscar Bellfield runs the point opposite Fredette, the scoring matchup will be between Fredette (21.5 ppg) and Tre'Von Willis (17.2 ppg).

BYU doesn't rely solely on Fredette. They get strong contributions from junior guard Jackson Emery (12.0 ppg) and freshman guard Tyler Haws (11.8 ppg), while senior guard/forward Jonathan Tavernari is coming off the bench averaging 9.5 ppg. Tavernari was arguably the difference-maker a month ago when he poured in 17 points on 4-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc.

UNLV will be without do-everything man Derrick Jasper likely until the last week of the regular season, at the earliest. They showed no signs of problems in their first game without Jasper, as they went into Wyoming and unleashed a 28-point whupping that marked the largest margin of home defeat for Wyoming in over 50 years. BYU is just a wee bit better than Wyoming, but the Rebels have to feel fairly confident coming into this game.

This marks the beginning of the make-or-break stretch of the Rebels' regular season. They host BYU and New Mexico before traveling to San Diego State. While they obviously have to win plenty of the remaining 5 games, if they can go 2-1 in this 3-game stretch, they will put themselves in a very strong position to earn an at-large bid (assuming they don't win the conference tournament).

No matter who you're rooting for, this should be a fun game to watch. The stands will be packed and these two teams rarely fail to entertain, in what has become a fairly heated rivalry. The winner doesn't lock in anything at this point, but it's still one of the biggest games of the season for both teams.

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	21	27.9	5.4	11.0	49.1	1.0	3.9	27.2	5.4	6.3	85.7	0.9	3.2	4.0	3.0	2.5	1.0	0.2	2.6	17.2
Chace Stanback	22	24.3	4.0	8.9	44.6	0.8	2.6	29.3	1.8	2.2	81.6	1.6	3.8	5.4	1.3	1.6	1.5	0.8	2.5	10.5
Oscar Bellfield	22	27.7	3.4	8.0	42.0	1.1	3.3	34.2	1.5	2.0	74.4	0.8	1.7	2.5	4.8	2.0	1.0	0.3	2.6	9.3
Matt Shaw	22	15.7	2.5	5.2	49.1	0.9	2.0	44.2	1.0	1.4	74.2	0.8	2.1	2.9	0.3	0.6	0.4	0.6	2.3	7.0
Derrick Jasper	21	24.5	2.6	5.6	46.6	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
Kendall Wallace	22	18.7	2.2	5.6	39.8	1.7	4.5	38.8	0.5	0.7	73.3	0.5	1.4	1.9	1.0	0.5	0.4	0.0	1.9	6.7
Darris Santee	22	12.4	1.9	3.0	63.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.7	56.8	1.0	2.7	3.8	0.1	0.5	0.2	0.5	1.9	4.7
Anthony Marshall	22	16.3	1.9	5.1	36.3	0.0	1.0	4.5	0.9	1.6	52.8	0.7	1.4	2.1	1.5	1.3	1.2	0.4	1.5	4.6
Brice Massamba	22	12.0	1.6	2.1	76.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.5	67.6	1.2	0.9	2.0	0.2	0.4	0.1	0.3	2.2	4.3
Justin Hawkins	22	12.1	1.2	3.0	38.8	0.4	1.1	33.3	1.0	1.5	68.8	0.5	0.7	1.2	0.6	0.4	0.8	0.3	0.9	3.7
Steve Jones	22	11.4	0.6	1.7	35.1	0.0	0.5	9.1	0.4	0.5	81.8	0.6	0.7	1.3	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.6
Todd Hanni	4	3.5	0.0	1.3	0.0	0.0	0.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.3	0.8	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.0
Tyler Norman	5	2.6	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.4	0.0	0.2	0.6	0.0	0.0	0.0
Mychal Martinez	4	1.5	0.0	0.3	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	0.3	0.0

BYU Cougars

			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
Jimmer Fredette	22	30.6	6.7	14.1	47.4	2.3	4.6	49.5	5.8	6.5	90.1	0.7	2.3	3.0	4.9	2.7	1.5	0.2	1.1	21.5
Jackson Emery	23	27.7	4.0	8.6	46.5	2.4	6.0	39.6	1.7	2.2	76.0	0.7	3.7	4.4	3.0	1.2	2.8	0.3	2.5	12.0
Tyler Haws	24	27.4	4.2	7.7	54.1	0.8	2.1	40.0	2.6	3.0	87.3	1.5	3.2	4.7	1.5	1.3	0.7	0.2	1.4	11.8
Jonathan Tavernari	24	23.0	3.5	8.7	39.7	1.5	4.2	36.0	1.1	1.4	81.8	0.5	4.3	4.8	1.6	1.3	1.1	0.3	1.9	9.5
Noah Hartsock	24	22.8	2.9	4.8	61.4	0.0	0.1	50.0	1.0	1.2	79.3	1.4	3.4	4.8	1.1	0.5	0.5	1.4	1.8	6.8
Brandon Davies	24	12.5	2.1	3.8	56.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3	2.1	62.7	1.0	1.8	2.8	0.3	1.4	0.3	0.5	2.6	5.6
Chris Miles	24	18.0	2.1	4.0	53.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.2	1.8	65.1	1.2	2.8	3.9	1.2	0.8	0.4	0.6	2.3	5.4
Charles Abouo	24	11.9	1.4	3.3	43.6	0.2	0.6	28.6	1.2	1.7	70.7	1.0	2.0	3.0	0.9	0.8	0.5	0.3	1.4	4.2
Michael Loyd, Jr.	24	12.0	1.3	2.5	50.8	0.5	1.2	46.4	0.5	1.0	52.2	0.0	0.9	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.3	0.1	0.8	3.6
Lamont Morgan, Jr.	24	9.7	0.8	1.2	67.9	0.4	0.5	75.0	0.1	0.2	60.0	0.1	0.5	0.7	1.5	0.8	0.3	0.0	0.3	2.1
James Anderson	21	4.1	0.4	0.9	47.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.6	61.5	0.5	0.7	1.2	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	1.0	1.2
Brock Zylstra	13	3.3	0.3	0.8	36.4	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.3	0.5	66.7	0.1	0.8	0.8	0.2	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.9
Logan Magnusson	15	4.5	0.3	0.6	44.4	0.1	0.2	66.7	0.2	0.3	60.0	0.3	0.9	1.1	0.3	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.9

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Comments

The Game

I’m Gonna be there! :D

I got my tickets 6 days ago and still wasn’t able to get any plaza. Had to settle for balcony, but it should be a great game.

Rebel Rock

by rebelfan1 on Feb 6, 2010 7:18 AM PST reply actions

should be a good one

Isnt this the first sell out for a regular season game in a while at the T&M??

Mountain West Connection

by Jeremy Mauss on Feb 6, 2010 8:11 AM PST up reply actions

sell-out

First sell-out since last year’s BYU game, which was the first sell-out in something like 16 years.

Also, if they win this game there’s a good chance they’ll sell out next week’s New Mexico, which would make for the first back-to-back sell-outs in a long time.

by David Fucillo on Feb 6, 2010 8:36 AM PST up reply actions

SWEET

Nice to get some stadiums to sell out. The Ute games are a joke they are bad which does not help, but when they were good with Luke Nevill two years ago maybe 10k and that was when BYU came to town. The women’s gymnastics team gets 10k minimum for every match.

Mountain West Connection

by Jeremy Mauss on Feb 6, 2010 8:50 AM PST up reply actions

attendance

I get emails from CoachKruger.com, and probably the best line in one was this:

The crowds at the Thomas & Mack Center continue to grow. In fact, for the second-straight season, UNLV is averaging more fans per conference home game than any arena in the Pac-10 even holds.

by David Fucillo on Feb 6, 2010 9:28 AM PST up reply actions