UNLV, Kansas agree to home-and-home series

UNLV is beefing up its non-conference basketball schedule with the addition of perennial power Kansas. The two schools agreed to a home-and-home with the first game being played at Lawrence, Kan., for the upcoming 2014-15 season, and the return trip to Las Vegas will come during the 2016-17 season.

The announcement of this series was made on Thursday, and Rebels head coach Dave Rice likes the challenge of playing a national power:

"We are very excited to start this series with Kansas," UNLV coach Dave Rice said in a statement. "Kansas has one of the most successful, storied programs in college basketball history. Adding the Jayhawks to our schedule is consistent with our philosophy of playing a very competitive non-conference schedule."

Getting big time opponents on the Rebels' home court is a big deal and it is showing that UNLV is getting back to national promise in the late 80s and early 90s. It helps that the Rebels recently had Anthony Bennett go No. 1 overall in the 2013 NBA Draft, and also that recruiting has picked up too for UNLV.

The last time that these two teams played was in the 2008 NCAA tournament where Kansas won 75-56, and went on to win the national title that season.

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