The last time the UNLV basketball team traveled up to Reno, things got a little crazy.
UNLV’s starting point guard got ejected in the opening minutes. E.J. Harkless tore off his jersey (literally), then had to reenter the game wearing a replacement. Walk-on Cam Burist played 10 pressure-packed minutes. Jackie Johnson came off the bench and went nuclear in overtime, including a go-ahead 3-point bomb in the final minute.
When it was finished, the Scarlet and Gray escaped with a wild, 69-67 win.
UNLV head coach Kevin Kruger remembers it well, as it improved his record to 4-0 against UNR at the time.
“Last year’s game, overtime, headbutts, it was certainly a roller coaster,” Kruger said.
Now, as the two teams prepare to reconvene for the season finale on Saturday, there’s only one way this year’s matchup could get even crazier: Add championship stakes.
It could happen. If first-place Utah State falls at home to New Mexico on Saturday, the winner of the UNLV-UNR game will finish the regular season tied with the Aggies atop the Mountain West standings. And while the conference uses tiebreakers for tournament seeding, the standings are the standings — in the case of a first-place tie, the teams are named cochampions.
A cochampionship would be quite a cap to UNLV’s remarkable campaign, which seemed to crater three or four times before the team found itself and got blazing hot down the stretch, winning 10 of their last 11 to get back into the hunt. The Scarlet and Gray haven’t won a regular-season title since 1999-2000, when they shared it with Utah in the MWC’s inaugural season.
UNLV has won two Mountain West tournament championships, going back to back in 2007 and 2008 under coach Lon Kruger.
The most significant victory of UNLV’s hot streak came on Tuesday, when the Scarlet and Gray outmuscled No. 21 San Diego State for a thrilling, 62-58 win at the Thomas & Mack Center. Now comes an even bigger game, with even more on the line.
Senior wing Luis Rodriguez never needs a reason to play with energy, but at Thursday’s practice he said he’s extra pumped for a possible title bout.
“I know we’re playing for a potential conference title, so I know there’s going to be a lot of energy there,” Rodriguez said. “I’m excited to go and get a good road win.”
Utah State is 13-4 in conference play, while UNLV, UNR and Boise State are all a game behind at 12-5. Boise State wraps its schedule with a trip to San Diego State on Saturday; a win there would allow the Broncos to also claim a share of the Mountain West championship along with the UNLV-UNR winner — if Utah State falls.
The New Mexico-Utah State game is set to tip off two hours before UNLV, so the players should have an idea of what they’re playing for by the time they take the floor — if they care to know.
Kruger doesn’t want his players getting too wrapped up in what-if scenarios. UNR is too good to beat without full focus, and regular-season championship hopes can’t supersede the work that needs to be done on the court.
“It’s something that you can’t waste any time thinking about,” Kruger said. “I mean that respectfully, of course. If we take care of what we can take care of, and do what we’ve been doing, we’ll finish in a good spot, regardless.”
That’s all well and good, but Kruger acknowledged it’s probably not realistic. The Utah State score is going to trickle down to the players, and he said he trusts his guys to handle it well, no matter which way it goes.
Rodriguez confirmed as much.
When asked if he might take a peek at the scoreboard, Rodriguez smiled.
“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “We’ve just got to focus on what we’ve got to do. Whatever happens in that game is going to happen. We can’t control that. All we can control is us beating Reno. We’ll definitely keep our eye out on that game, but we’re focused on our task at hand.”
The task at hand? Closing the season on a six-game winning streak, going into the Mountain West tournament with a ton of momentum, and yes, possibly flying home from Reno with a regular-season championship.
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy