To the MAXson: Loss isn’t disaster, but could become one

The sound of car alarms echoing throughout Las Vegas didn’t indicate a massive carjacking spree. After UNLV’s loss to TCU thousands of Rebel fans hit the panic button Saturday night.

The Rebels’ loss shouldn’t cause mass hysteria, but there are still reasons for concern.

In each of the Rebels’ NCAA Tournament seasons under head coach Lon Kruger they finished with four conference losses. Falling at San Diego State in 2007, at New Mexico in 2008 and at Brigham Young, Air Force and Wyoming in 2007 and 2008.

Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. and the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah are virtually impregnable, but two of the Rebels’ conference losses have come from teams the Rebels should have beaten (on paper at least).

This also marks the third consecutive season that the Rebels have dropped their second conference game of the season, all of which have been on the road.

I find no qualms with the results of those two seasons.

TCU is also a team on the rise in a conference that has only one team with a losing record.

The Horned Frogs’ 17 3-pointers in the opening round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament nearly knocked the Rebels out of the tournament. Saturday’s game looked like retribution.

But if the Rebels are going to get any sort of revenge when the Horned Frogs take the trip to Las Vegas they’re going to have to deal with a bit of dirty laundry.

Kruger opted for a different lineup against the Frogs, one that saw small forward Joe Darger turn to center for the first time since the Rebels’ loss to Kansas in the NCAA Tournament.

Darris Santee, the team’s first-string center, spent six minutes in the game and his backup Brice Massamba never got off the bench. Kruger opted to start guards Oscar Bellfield and Tre’Von Willis, who have been splitting point guard duties, along with Wink Adams, René Rougeau and Darger.

Willis and Bellfield combined for 18 points.

The lack of big men also accounted for another troubling on the defensive side of the ball – the Rebels allowed 32 points in the paint. Darger, who at center should live in the paint, took all of his 14 field goal attempts from beyond the arc. He connected on five.

Adams is going to have to find a way to break out of this slump he’s in. (Yeah, he’s still in it.) His nine points against TCU looked bad as he shot 3-of-14 from the field and made 1-of-4 free throws. From the whispers I hear over at the Thomas & Mack, hypnosis is going to be the next step in his therapy.

The good news is that the Rebels have a few days to work out the kinks before making the trip to Fort Collins, Colo. to take on Colorado State. The Rams are the proud owners of the conference’s only losing record and haven’t beaten the Rebels since 2001.

Wink, Joe and the boys just need to queue up the Louisville game on the TiVo and remember what it felt like to play with the whole country watching and they’ll get an opportunity to do it again in the NCAA Tournament.