Wait a minute, UNLV and polls in the same sentence? It must meant that basketball season has rolled back around... That's right, UNLV has their annual big game at home versus a ranked team to try and make an early season jump into the polls. Last season it worked, UNLV beat Louisville and just sneaked into the polls before being demolished by Kansas State and losing to USC. The Rebels look to be a better team this year due to a major improvement under the hoop, but none of the new talent has much experience playing with the Rebels.
No matter how the inside game plays, it's really going to be about matchups in this game. UNLV traditionally matches up badly against size but that may have changed with the new incoming talent. If Carlos Lopez and Quintrell Thomas can play well enough to let the dominating guard play do absolute mayhem, we could see a third Mountain West team in the Top 25 come Monday.
UNLV is really going to have to speed up the game if they want to put some pressure on Wisconsin. UNLV has always had trouble in the half-court set and it's now even worse with Wisconsin specializing in the half-court. Both Wisconsin's offensive and defensive schemes are based around the half-court. The Rebels specialize in an up and down kind of game that calls for chaos and quick guard play from the opposing team. The team that is able to force their tempo in this game is going to have the edge and the opposing team will be seemingly playing catch up all night long.
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