The UNLV men’s basketball team picked up its first postseason win in nearly two decades, knocking off Princeton on Wednesday, 84-77, to advance to the second round of the NIT.
UNLV moves on to the round of 16, where Kevin Kruger and his squad will face Boston College.
It was a buzzsaw offensive performance that got the Scarlet and Gray into the next round, as they exploited Princeton’s undersized front line and made a parade route to the basket. UNLV shot 60.8% as a team, led by Rob Whaley’s career-high 21 points on perfect 8-of-8 shooting.
Kruger said his players deserved a postseason win based on the way they approached the game.
“Couldn’t be happier for them and prouder of them,” Kruger said. “Guys competed and fought.”
UNLV built an early 16-12 lead on the Tigers’ home floor on the strength of 3-pointers from Keylan Boone and Justin Webster. A Karl Jones dunk gave the Scarlet and Gray their largest lead of the half at 18-12 and prompted Princeton to call timeout.
The Tigers responded with a 9-2 run to take the lead, and they carried a 38-36 advantage into the break.
Boone, Webster and Shane Nowell connected on consecutive 3’s coming out of halftime to vault UNLV ahead again, and renewed efforts to work the ball inside to Whaley began to pay off.
A post move sent Whaley to the line, where he made two free throws to extend UNLV’s lead to 47-42, and a nice spin move led to a Whaley layup to make it 51-46 with 15 minutes remaining.
Boone and Webster scored on drives into the paint to push UNLV’s lead to 55-46 with 13 minutes to play.
Whaley threw down a loud two-handed dunk to push the lead to 64-53 with nine minutes on the clock. On the next trip downcourt, Hicks got into the paint on a dribble drive and scored, forcing another Princeton timeout as UNLV’s lead ballooned to 66-53.
Princeton trimmed the deficit to 70-62 with three minutes left and went to a fullcourt press; Jackie Johnson missed a short floater, but Whaley was there to vacuum the rebound and lay it in while drawing a foul. Whaley made the and-1 free throw to make it 73-60.
UNLV had a few more frightening moments against the press, committing two turnovers while Princeton inched as close as 73-68. Whaley and Nowell combined to make 6-of-8 free throws in the final 90 seconds to ice it, however, and send the Scarlet and Gray on to the next round.
Boone, who is in his last year of eligibility, is motivated to keep on suiting up for the Scarlet and Gray.
“It feels good,” Boone said. “Just happy to keep playing at the end of the day. It ain’t so much about winning this and doing that — we just want to keep playing basketball.”
Starting center Kalib Boone missed the game with an ankle injury, and senior wing Luis Rodriguez didn’t make the trip due to a family issue. Leading scorer D.J. Thomas took a backseat against Princeton, mostly content to move the ball (five points, four assists).
UNLV had not won a postseason game since defeating Kent State in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament. It is the program’s first NIT victory since 2005.
UNLV and its next opponent, Boston College, are both unseeded in the NIT, but it was announced they will play at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday or Sunday, giving the Scarlet and Gray one more home game.
Kruger certainly wants to extend the season as long as possible.
“The longer we can do this, the more fun it’s going to be,” Kruger said.
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
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