Las Vegas • The Utes’ chances of going undefeated for the entire season was never ‘very high, and UNLV put an end to any remaining drama in that regard late Wednesday night in Sin City.
UNLV freshman Brandon McCoy showed the difference a dominant old-school center can make with his 26-point, 17-rebound performance, while UNLV senior point guard Jordan Johnson (20 points, six assists) gave the Utes fits with his ability to break down the defense with the dribble.
The Utes got 14 points and 11 rebounds from freshman forward Donnie Tillman and senior forward Tyler Rawson added 10 points, but it wasn’t enough to avoid their first loss of the season a 85-58 drubbing at the hands of the Rebels in the championship game of the heavyweight division in the MGM Resorts Main Event at T-Mobile Arena.
“Their defense was extremely good all night long,” Utes coach Larry Krystkowiak said. “They had a bunch of players play great, and we got our butts kicked. It’s not nearly as indicative of the score. It could’ve been a different ballgame. There was foul trouble on both teams in the first half, but it just came down to some energy I thought.”
On paper it may have been a neutral court as UNLV’s home venue remains up the road at the Thomas & Mack Center, but in reality the Utes (4-1) were very much the enemy in front of a hostile crowd announced as 8,424.
McCoy, a 7-foot, 250-pound freshman, was a McDonald’s All-American as a high school senior. ESPN rated him a five-star recruit coming out of Cathedral Catholic in San Diego. He went 9-of-14 from the floor and made 8-of-8 at the free throw line.
“Obviously he did a very prolific job from the field and from the free throw line,” Rebels second-year coach Marvin Menzies said of McCoy. “He’s continuing to show why he’s so special.”
Perimeter shooting woes seemed to doom the Utes, especially when they fell behind going into halftime. They made 2-of-20 from behind the 3-point arc, and Rawson made both of their long-range shots. The rest of the team went 0-of-16 from 3-point distance.
The teams combined to take 27 first-half free throws and were called for 27 fouls, including a technical against Krystkowiak after he demonstratively protested an offensive foul call against Tillman with 6:18 remaining in the half. The technical resulted in a pair of made free throws by Jovan Mooring and the Rebels held a 28-23 advantage.
“I think it was just the little things tonight, just rebounding, a little more competitiveness, a little more dog in us,” Tillman said. “But my guys were still competing down the stretch.
“They [UNLV] made a lot of big plays, a lot of pump-faking and-one threes. A lot of things getting tipped around the rim and they were getting it. It was just one of them nights, you know. One of these games you’ll see us have one them nights also.”
Sedrick Barefield (two points), Justin Bibbins (eight points), David Collette (nine points) and Tillman were all on the bench to finish the half with two fouls apiece. The Rebels went on an 8-2 run going into the break to push their lead to 10 points, 43-33, after a Johnson layup with 49 seconds left and then Kris Clyburn’s put-back at the buzzer.
The Rebels scored the first six points of the second half on a pair of drives leading to layups for Johnson sandwiched around a drive and dish to McCoy for a two-handed dunk which ignited the crowd. The Rebels carved out a 16-point lead, 49-33, with 17:54 left to play.
Mooring’s second of back-to-back 3-pointers, this one from the corner while being fouled by Christian Popoola gave the Rebels a 61-37 lead with 13:52 left. The Utes deficit stretched to as many as 29 points in the final minute and a half.
“In my mind it was a heck of a first half,” Krystkowiak said. “It would’ve been a two-possession game and then they lay it in because we don’t guard the guy one-on-one and then they tip it in because we don’t block the guy out. … It would have been a little bit different, I think, mindset had we come into the locker room without a double-digit lead.”
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