UNLV Rebels guard David Jenkins Jr. (5) is knocked down by Utah State Aggies guard Marco Anthony (44) white taking a shot during a game at the Thomas & Mack Center Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021.
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021 | 11:11 p.m.
If UNLV’s win over Utah State on Monday was a rock fight, Wednesday’s return game was just a fight. And this time Utah State came out on top.
The Aggies were the more physical team by a good margin, and after pushing around UNLV for 40 minutes at the Thomas & Mack Center they left with a well-earned 83-74 victory.
UNLV had its five-game winning streak snapped, and if the scarlet and gray want to get back to stacking up W’s and ultimately make some noise in the Mountain West, they’ll have to learn how to deal with rough-and-tumble opponents like Utah State.
The Aggies turned up the pressure on the defensive end and bumped, jostled and harassed UNLV all night, cutting off driving lanes and then swarming the ball to force tough shots or turnovers. David Jenkins got hot and scored 33 points on 12-of-21 from the field, but the rest of the team made just 35.9 percent.
Utah State’s star center Neemias Queta locked down the paint and blocked two shots, but he was far from a one-man show.
“They’re real disciplined,” Jenkins said of the smothering Utah State defense. “Obviously they’ve got Queta down there for a big presence. He’s down there in the paint so it’s hard to drive it to the hoop. They also do a really good job of taking away the 3-pointers.”
Jenkins and Moses Wood made enough 3-pointers to keep UNLV in the game through the first half, and Utah State went into the break with a 37-34 lead. But as the Aggies began knocking down shots — they hit six of their first seven 3-pointers to open the second half — UNLV could not generate enough offense to keep pace.
When Jenkins or Caleb Grill ran off screens to try to get open, Utah State guards Brock Miller and Rollie Worster were there to redirect them. When Bryce Hamilton attempted to drive to the rim, USU guard Marco Anthony got up into his chest and gave him little room to operate. And when the ball bounced off the rim, Utah State’s players cleared space aggressively, earning a 41-29 rebounding advantage.
UNLV coach T.J. Otzelberger said his team was drained by Utah State’s persistent physicality in every aspect of the game.
“I think on the offensive glass it for sure stands out,” Otzelberger said. “With both of those guys, [Noah] Bean and Queta, they’re both tremendous. It’s not even the [rebounds] they get, it’s the physicality you feel every possession. It’s offensively on the cuts they try to body you up, get in your path, try to really disrupt the flow and rhythm of your offense. You feel it there, and even on drives they do a good job of riding the dribbler and trying to force you off a straight line, and so that physicality shows up in a lot of ways and it certainly caused us to get pushed out offensively tonight.”
Hamilton was the player most obviously affected by that unrelenting pressure. Still working his way back from an ankle injury that forced him to miss the team’s Jan. 21 game against Benedictine Mesa, Hamilton was unable to penetrate Utah State’s defensive wall. He finished just 1-of-12 from the field, with only one of those shots coming from inside the paint.
Hamilton came into the game averaging 19.7 points per game on the season but managed just two points against USU.
Otzelberger said Utah State made Hamilton uncomfortable and kept him from taking his favorite types of shots.
“They definitely sat on that left hand for sure,” Otzelberger said. “Bryce is pretty crafty getting to his right hand and spinning and shooting a lot of floaters and finding ways to get into his mid-range game, but with Queta out there the floor is just a little more jammed up than most nights, so he can’t quite get to the same spots he normally gets to.”
Jenkins tried to pick up the slack by hitting 5-of-7 from 3-point range, most of them off the dribble, but the rest of the team made only 5-of-21 from deep.
UNLV is now 6-7 on the season and 3-3 in the Mountain West, with a trip to UNR next on the schedule Sunday and Tuesday.
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
