Fresno State game

[UNLVAlumni]

Okay I said that the ASU game was a must win and was shot down by a few people on here so I am going to say it again that this game at "home" against Fresno is a must win game. They don't lose to ASU then they sit at 10-3 with all the losses coming to quality teams. UNLV must hold home court and I hope Rice and Co. can get this across to the team. We can't have a breakdown or meltdown like we did against ASU to Fresno or any other team in the MWC. There are a lot of quality coaches in the league that know Rice and his offense.

 

[LetsRun]

I agree the Fresno game is a must win at home. If Rebs lose right out of the gate at home, they will struggle and have to fight from the bottom right off. Giving Fresno a quality road victory in the conference will give them an upper hand and another team we have to battle at the top. To win this conference we need to win all home games. Hope the fans show up in full force Wednesday to give the Rebs every little advantage they can.
This is a MUST win season not just game. The rebels need to win the conference this year or I feel there will be a big set back in the program again.

 

[j. spilotro]

I agree the Fresno game is a must win at home. If Rebs lose right out of the gate at home, they will struggle and have to fight from the bottom right off. Giving Fresno a quality road victory in the conference will give them an upper hand and another team we have to battle at the top. To win this conference we need to win all home games. Hope the fans show up in full force Wednesday to give the Rebs every little advantage they can.
This is a MUST win season not just game. The rebels need to win the conference this year or I feel there will be a big set back in the program again.

FSU isn't coming in scared, it's a huge game for them as well and I expect them to throw everything they've got at the Rebels. They're not great, but they are certainly capable and we've seen guys go off for career games regularly against the Rebels (Arizona had two).

I'm confident that if the Rebels show up focused, this is a 6+ point win. If they want to come into the game in sleepwalk mode, it's going to be a long night - the type that gives you the same exact feeling when we lost to UNR at home last season. Not a good feeling, physically or mentally. It's the "when does spring football start up?" feeling that we are all too familiar with.

This is where veteran leadership is critical. Younger kids tend to lose focus more easily. Leaders got to get them in tunnel vision. I already know the coaching side of it - they're going to pound it mercilessly day and night. But sometimes things are better absorbed when it comes from peers.

 

[tarkaniancourt...nm]

The Fresno game will not put us in the tournament or eliminate us.

The MWC championship game is the only must win game. The conference took it on the chin again in the non conference games and it will only get one team in the big dance.

Our conference RPI is rated 10th. Ouch!

 

[j. spilotro]

The Fresno game will not put us in the tournament or eliminate us.

The MWC championship game is the only must win game. The conference took it on the chin again in the non conference games and it will only get one team in the big dance.

Our conference RPI is rated 10th. Ouch!

Well then, if that's the case, winning or losing over the next two months doesn't matter. May as well treat each game as an exhibition and get minutes for everyone. Keep the regular rotation guys fresh. Nobody plays more than 20 mpg the rest of the year.

It may well turn out to be a one bid conference, but we don't know that for sure. What happens if, say UNLV and Boise play really well and put up gaudy MWC records. Say 14-4. Then both win 2 MWCT games and meet in the MWCT finals. That's 16 D1 wins tacked onto thier current record. Hard to say because you don't know what the rest of the country is doing... And even though there is no "win total" cutoff... I'd think odds are pretty good that with 24/25 wins, they'd both get an at large (even though one would get an auto in that scenario).

Conversely, the league winner may go 11-7. That'd be a one bid league, MWCT winner.

Only once in 15 years has this conference been one bid.

I just think it's senseless to completely predict the future with certainty when there are so many games to go.

 

[the Florian Trout]

FSU is going to be a tough game. they have players. if our typical lull lasts for more than 7 minutes, they might get us.

 

[tarkaniancourt...nm]

Even though this conference is down and it's perceived as such, it's still not easy to win on the road. Rice has yet to have his young teams ready for conference play. I see us beating up on each other.
We have a good chance at winning the MWC regular season, but we would have to reach 14 or possibly more wins to receive a auto bid. If we won 14 and lost in the 2nd round of the conference tournament we are sweating a bid out.
I'm just jaded, I guess. I really thought we would be playing better ball. Starts Wednesday and I'll be at the Mack cheering. #GO Rebels!

 

[Doubleyew]

Fresno is much improved this season. Not a make or break game, but Rebs really need to show up. They should be focused and healthy after the break, while getting Cook back as well to see what/if he contributes.

 

[UNLVAlumni]

Winning games out of the gate verse losing one at home is critical so it is a must win game. Yes the conference tournament games become must win games if we don't win these games but isn't it better to get the 1 or 2 seed in the tournament than a 5 or 6. That means taking care of business at home starting tomorrow night and then winning the majority of the away games. At this point I can't see why we shouldn't beat everyone in away games except maybe at Boise, SDST, Fresno St and or New Mexico.

 

[LetsRun]

Yep .. Not sure how you define "must win game" but, a win tomorrow is very very important. Our first home opening conference game in a long time, against a team that will be battling for the conference title. To lose: would put the rebels in a big hole right away, elevate Fresno chances with a big road victory, and have fans unfortunately bashing the team and not supporting the home court. The entire UNLV program badly needs a successful season this year - meaning winning the conference. A home loss game 1, will make those odds a lot slimmer.

If I wasnt so cheap, although Ive paid way to much for season tickets past 15 years, (according to wife) I would join the confidential board and know the answer to my question: Is UNLV getting a new floor? Hope so. And if yes anyone know when and what it's going to look like?

 

[tarkaniancourt...nm]

UNLV will have a new floor tomorrow.

To me and my health every game is a must win.

 

[Mjs_702]

You could lose and still win the league, so it's hard to call it a "must win" for me.

It's a big damn game though, no question. A win would feel great, but a loss would be our worst of the season.

Gotta defend the T&M. There's no reason this team should lose a MW game at home this year.

 

[rebel Homer]

UNLV will have a new floor tomorrow.

To me and my health every game is a must win.

Can I quote you on that?

 

[LVKryptonite]

I really enjoyed this thread. We need to defend our house. I can stand a few losses away from home, but not at the Mack. Not this Wed. Not any night. This is our house and it needs to become sacred once again.

Fresno is a good team and they are going to make some noise during conference play. We really needed better non-conference records for the conference. That being said, it will be better for the conference if the top teams, Boise, SDST, Fresno St, New Mexico, win out and have good records. If the bottom teams eat away at top tier teams wins then our chances of getting more teams in the tourney are diminished. So, now to help ourselves and help our conference as a whole we cannot lose to any bottom tier team and we need all top tier teams to win or they are hurting our RPI when we beat them. So go top tier teams...when you are not playing the Rebs.

 

[LetsRun]

I understand what your saying but, no way I can pull for sdsu in any game. I'm hoping they are a bottom feeder and Air Force sweeps them.

 

[Mjs_702]

I don't think sdsu is a "top tier" team. Not this year.

 

[TomKingsley]

Fresno State may not be must-win game,but I definitely consider it a Nust-not-lose game for the Rebs. For once in a long time my expectations are sky high going into conference. 15-3.....

 

[UNLVAlumni]

Well the day is here so I guess we will see who shows up and who doesn't. This is league play and Rice and Co should have them ready to play. We have had a couple lapses in games with the most being the meltdown against ASU. Other than that we have been in every game and let Arizona put us away. So we should hold home court in my opinion.

 

[Doubleyew]

UNLV is just as polarizing as SDSU. Both teams are currently top 20 in defense according to kenpom. The catalyst is if anyone can score, keep turnovers down, either team can win. Offense numbers are atrocious, UNLV (176), and SDSU (245). SDSU would almost be better off slowing the game to a stand still and go for 2 point wins at this point.

 

[LVKryptonite]

I understand what your saying but, no way I can pull for sdsu in any game. I'm hoping they are a bottom feeder and Air Force sweeps them.

As long as the entire conference doesn't go .500 splitting everything I am for that. I can't stand the Lobos, even with Alford gone, can't stand them. I don't like their fans....anyway I could ramble on. At the end of the day if we take care of our business by protecting the home court, win where we should win and maybe pull off a few away games we will be fine in March.

 

[Mjs_702]

Fresno State may not be must-win game,but I definitely consider it a Nust-not-lose game for the Rebs. For once in a long time my expectations are sky high going into conference. 15-3.....

Hell yeah Tom. Love it.

 

[tarkaniancourt...nm]

These guys are all show and no substance.

DRs teams regress. How many turnovers did we have?. Our teams do not grow under Rice. Fresno played at another energy level than us. I blame the players too.

If this team continues to play like this we will lose 7 or 8 games.

 

[UNLVAlumni]

Must win! So what do you say now! This team is in trouble. Like I said before every coach in the league knows our Offense and Defense and every coach seems to out coach Rice.

Poyser, Zimm and Carter were standouts. What has happened to McCaw? He is playing very lazy. I'm not sure he should be playing very many minutes because I don't see his impact anymore. Ike played really hard I think but he just seems to be getting beat by better players.

A great example in my opinion of Rice's inability to coach was only playing Cook for 3 min. And why didn't Jones play more? He just sulked on the bench and Augmon had to talk ge to him. He didn't stand up when we hit a big shot and worse he didn't try and encourage the other players. As a coach you can't let that happen.

I think Rice babies the players.

I am going to watch the replay because being at the game you miss some things. So I am going to turture myself and watch it again.

 

[fr33py]

Ike played hard? He hasn't played hard in a game yet. He is a black hole who does nothing more then jack up 25 foot contested shots 5 seconds into the shot clock. Jones was benched appropriately due to his selfish play after that 2 on 1 fast break where instead of passing the ball to Seagears for an easy layup he kept it himself trying to make a fabulous dunk and turned the ball over turning it into 2 points the other way. Not to mention his two dropped passes that could have been easy dunks/layups earlier in the game. The kid is good but he's a no show in our games verse actual opponents.

Between Ike and Seagears we have the dumbest backcourt in all of college basketball. You'd think we had two freshman playing not two seniors. Get Poyser the start and the ball.