As the final five minutes of UNLV vs. UNR on Saturday night ticked off, the Scarlet and Grey were level on the Mountain West rankings. They had dropped as low as seventh place by the time the last buzzer rang out, as UNR overcame a nine-point deficit to win 69-66 at the Thomas and Mack Centre. Not only are the Wolf Pack UNLV’s biggest rivals, but Kevin Kruger’s team suffers a heartbreaking loss.
If UNLV had managed to hold on for the win, their conference record would have improved to 8-4, tying them for first place in the loss column. They are, however, losing a sixth-place tiebreaker against UNR at 7-5.
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That’s an enormous decline based on one game, but that’s the nature of the Mountain West; teams have little room for error, particularly UNLV, which is attempting to recover from early conference setbacks. UNLV ought to have prevailed in that match. The home team appeared to be in control of the game for the most of it, leading 62–53 when Jackie Johnson made a corner three with 5:31 left.
On the defensive end, that was when things really went south. During the first thirty-six minutes, UNR shot 40.4% of the time. However, with the game in the balance, the Pack achieved on their next seven possessions, making 6-of-6 free throws and four layups to tie the score. Kruger stated that University of Nevada, Las Vegas lost its advantage, which led to the defensive collapse.
Kruger stated, “We simply became a little shy.” We made too many mistakes. All we need to do is maintain the aggression and intensity that brought us this far. UNR took advantage of UNLV’s 23 fouls on the evening by making 22 of 26 foul shots from the line.
While UNLV also attempted 23 free throws, it was a highly contentious situation, but Kruger insisted in his press conference following the game that “a foul is a foul” and took no issue with the calls. Kruger was more worried about how it would impact his players.
He said, “It can happen when you outside on numerous items of value, when you foul several times on a single possession.” “Too many easy buckets were lost today because we became a little timid.”
UNLV was not out of the running. Freshman guard D.J. Thomas made a short jump shot with 1:16 remaining in the game to put University of Nevada, Las Vegas ahead 64-63, but UNR took the lead on their next control when Nick Davidson pulled down an offensive come back and dish to Daniel Foster for an unrebuffed layup.
With twenty seconds remaining, Thomas drove as well as was fouled. UNR seized the rebound after he missed both. Guard Jarod Lucas of the Wolf Pack stopped UNLV with four straight points from the line. At the buzzer, the Scarlet and Grey had a chance to tie, but Keylan Boone’s stepback three was not on target. With 19 points as well as 11 rebounds, Davidson led UNR, while Lucas completed with 18 points.
Despite having a fantastic game with 19 points and 8 assists, Thomas’s regretted free throws overshadowed those numbers. To add a little salt to the wound, prior to those subsequent misses, Thomas had attempted 26 of his previous 28 free throws.
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