Las Vegas -- UNLV crushed Saint Katherine 113-53 at The Orleans Arena, and Dantley Walker scored his first career points as a Rebel.
“It felt good to get in there. It felt good to hit that first shot,” Walker said. “I was a little nervous.”
Walker went 4 of 6 from the field – all of which were threes – and reached double digits in the first game he scored. Walker got the biggest ovations from the crowd when he entered and exited the game.
Saint Katherine is an NAIA school that is now 1-8 on the season. The Firebirds are in their second year as a program and will play at Southern Utah tomorrow. The back to back games are tough for a team to handle, but they are necessary for a program trying to grow.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, UNLV is paying Saint Katherine $5,000. That’s a big help for a school with 75 students enrolled.
Analysis
- Cody Doolin wasn’t afraid to shoot early on; the senior point guard was 3 of 3 on threes for the game, all of which came in the first half.
- Doolin got a chance to rest, playing only 25 minutes He has payed 28 or more minutes in every game and came in averaging 33.3 per game.
- Walk on Barry Cheaney played in the first half. He drilled two three pointers and finished with eight points and even played some point guard in the second half. The other walk on, Charles Rushman, came on in the second half and scored 2 points.
- UNLV did trail in this game, and it even got Dave Rice to call a timeout and yell at Chris Wood after the big man turned it over. The Firebirds had a 9-7 lead 3:44 into the game.
- Dwayne Morgan came in shooting 28.9 percent from the field, but he helped improve that percentage by getting shots near the rim. He finished with 23 points on 10 of 15 shooting.
- UNLV nearly blocked more shots than Saint Katherine made, as UNLV swatted 13 shots and the Firebirds were 22 of 76 from the floor.
- The Runnin' Rebels did have more assists than Saint Katherine had made shots, as UNLV assisted on 28 on 41 shots.
- Pat McCaw went down late with a cramp in his right leg, but he is expected to be fine. McCaw had the worst night of any Rebel as he was 1 of 4 from the field (0 of 3 on threes) and had seven turnovers. But it certainly wasn’t all bad as McCaw had eight rebounds and a team-high nine assists and five of UNLV’s eight steals.
- UNLV committed 14 fouls; Dantley Walker committed five of them, while no one else had more than two fouls.