Sense of urgency eludes UNLV away from home

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Living on the edge as the clock ticks down is obviously not the way UNLV coach Dave Rice wants every road trip to go down. But that has been his life on the road.

A two-point loss at San Diego State. Overtime victories at Boise State and Air Force. A two-point loss at Wyoming.

The Rebels are scoring 50 percent on their stress tests on the Mountain West Conference road, and that's disturbing to Rice, who has been studying all angles of the problem.

"I tried to look at trends and those things," he said. "We have to play better on the road."

UNLV (22-4, 6-2) moved up to No. 11 in both polls Monday and is tangled in a three-way tie with San Diego State and New Mexico

atop the conference. The Aztecs host the Lobos on Wednesday, and the Lobos host the Rebels on Saturday.

With the league race hitting the third turn, Rice is stressing the need for UNLV to play with a sharper edge away from home, beginning with today's game at Texas Christian (14-10, 4-4) at 4:30 p.m. at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

"We've got a huge week ahead of us," Rice said. "In order to win a conference title, it's the team that can break through on the road. We have not had a sense of urgency. We do not bring it the way we need to bring it."

One possible solution, Rice said, is for UNLV to bring more defensive pressure, something it rarely has done in full-court situations, but something that could put a jolt into his own players while harassing opponents into playing a faster pace.

UNLV piled up a total of 53 fast-break points in home wins over New Mexico and Colorado State before getting zero at Wyoming, which was forced into only eight turnovers. Air Force and Boise State held the Rebels to an average of 60.5 points in regulation by controlling a slow pace.

Instead of sitting back and being lulled to sleep, Rice said UNLV's plan of attack will be to "bring a greater sense of urgency on the defensive end" to dictate the tempo.

"We need to force more turnovers. We need to create more offense out of our defense," Rice said. "We need to do a better job of attacking the basketball. We need to attack everyone we play defensively, whether we're at home or on the road."

Rice said he might go to his bench more often and use depth to wear down the opposition, but he also must find a way to motivate one of his starters, senior forward Chace Stanback. In the Rebels' past two road games, Stanback scored a total of four points and shot 1-for-12.

Mediocre 3-point shooting (32-for-101), failing to convert in transition and Stanback's disappearing acts have combined to hamper UNLV in its four league road games.

"Maybe we can change that stigma this second half of the season," sophomore forward Mike Moser said. "It's probably more mental than anything right now. We've just got to fight through that."

Moser was named the league's player of the week for his performance Saturday in a 65-63 victory over San Diego State at the Thomas & Mack Center. UNLV forced 17 turnovers and outscored the Aztecs 16-2 on the fast break.

The Rebels had no problems running on the Horned Frogs when the teams met Jan. 18 in Las Vegas. Stanback made five 3-pointers in a 101-78 blowout.

"They came out and hit five straight 3s. They were hungry, and they were at home," TCU coach Jim Christian said. "Obviously, we don't want an up-and-down game with them because they are so good with that. To win on the road, you've just got to make shots and be a consistent offensive team. Most teams play better at home."

The Horned Frogs, who beat Colorado State 75-71 on Saturday, have won six straight home games.

After studying trends, Rice said playing at altitude might have been a factor in the Rebels' sluggishness at Air Force, Boise State and Wyoming, where the team's trip was delayed several hours because of a snowstorm.

Travel problems are an issue again. The UNLV team's flight to Dallas on Monday was delayed about five hours because of a fuel leak in the plane in Las Vegas. The flight was scheduled to arrive in Texas at approximately 1 a.m.

"We're at the point where we know every time we go on the road it's a huge game for the other team, so those excuses are over," Rice said. "There are no excuses this time of the season."

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.

NO. 11 UNLV AT TEXAS CHRISTIAN

Trending topics:

• Horned Frogs
• Las Vegas Review-Journal
• Matt Youmans
• Rebels
• Texas Christian
• UNLV basketball

Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. bgbgomg Feb. 16, 2012 | 7:34 a.m. Report Abuse

   west coast ram is right. that coach Rice thinks defense is the problem is a problem in itself. watch any rebel game...we've built a big lead by going inside-out and good ball movement. once we're up, however, you'll see a major offensive change where there's virtually zero passing, no attempt to go inside, and shot selection that appears geared toward padding individual stats (ehem, anthony) instead of continuing a successful game plan. Basically, the game strategy is completely ignored and becomes a contest between selfish, bad shooters, and for some reason coach Rice doesnt put an end to this. its painful to watch. coach, call a time out, substitute players, or mandate at least 2 passes before a shot in the half court offense because now you're getting none. plenty of talent on this team, and very well prepared, but once we're up there needs to be more discipline on both the player and coaching level or we'll be an early exit come march.

2. west coast ram Feb. 14, 2012 | 8:52 p.m. Report Abuse

   What do you have to say now lvtempler????????

3. lvtemplar Feb. 14, 2012 | 1:40 p.m. Report Abuse

   In the margin on the right under, 'RECENT ROADSIDE EMERGENCIES'.....well, Jan. 25th & Jan. 28th looks like the Rebels got the 'W', did I miss something?......6-4 road record, losing two of those four games by 2 points, and one at a ranked team SDSU, also losing another at a ranked Big Ten team Wis? So, 2 of the 4 losses are against ranked teams on the road? I don't see where the rebels are all that 'horrible' on the road....just nit picky negitive BS in my opinion...

4. Overflow Feb. 14, 2012 | 1:25 p.m. Report Abuse

   Duhhh! Starting to sound like football coach Hauck.

5. west coast ram Feb. 14, 2012 | 11:26 a.m. Report Abuse

   OMG, I've been saying the same thing about the solutions for the road weaknesses for weeks. I'm not suggesting that I should be coaching the team but these answers were obvious to anyone that has watched evan a few games. Altitude is no excuse when you have the type of depth we have. We should be using that depth to make the altitude a factor for the home team. The quicker that we can get them to go to there bench the more advantage we have. What should be addressed with everyone on the team is that collectively they shoot about 36% from behind the arc and if Stanbeck wasn't hitting a blistering 44% the team would be even worse. The success percentage wouldn't be so troubling if the team didn't rely on it so much. 36% of the total shots taken are from behind the arc and with that type of success rate you can see why we go on long scoreless spells. This highlights what my biggest fear is about this team and that is the lack of a real floor general. A leader that can see the offense is struggling and get the team into a play that they have a high conversion rate. Every team should have two or three set plays that they execute to perfection, when the team is starting to get a little off track they need someone to get them organized without the use of a time out. I think that this is a Sweet 16 team if they had someone like Wade, Anthony or Kruger running the point or even if they had a take charge floor leader like Willis but at this point I just don't see anyone doing that.
   
   Love the excitement that the team has brought back to the T&M and I hope that they go along way but we all need to have realistic views.