Free throws come back to haunt UNLV in late loss to Colorado State

UNLV Rebels guard Jailen Bedford (14) takes a shot against Colorado State Rams guards Nique Clifford (10) and Jalen Lake (15) during the second half of an NCAA basketball game at Thomas & Mack Center Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo by Steve Marcus

UNLV did enough to pull off a pretty impressive upset victory on Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Playing without star guard D.J. Thomas for the first time in two years, the Scarlet and Gray cobbled together an efficient offensive performance, and defensively they held Colorado State — a potential NCAA Tournament qualifier — to one of its lowest outputs of the season.

It could have added up to an inspiring win, but UNLV forgot about one thing: free throws.

Kevin Kruger watched his team make just 7-of-17 from the line to turn a close, back-and-forth contest into a 60-53 decision for visiting Colorado State.

It was a tough way to drop a game that UNLV fought hard to win despite the absence of Thomas, the team’s leading scorer and playmaker.

“There was disappointment in the locker room because of the investment we put in,” Kruger said after the game.

Thomas sat out due to a shoulder injury, leaving some question as to how UNLV would field a functioning team. Thomas leads the squad in minutes by a wide margin and has the highest usage rate by an even wider margin, and before Saturday he had started every game of his college career.

The solution was to put the ball in the hands of Jaden Henley and have the junior wing initiate the offense. The early returns were not promising, as UNLV had several miscommunications on simple actions that led to unforced turnovers. Those mistakes allowed Colorado State to build an easy 14-2 lead.

Senior forward Jalen Hill said there was an obvious adjustment period to playing without the team’s floor general.

“We just came out and, first game without him, you know?” Hill said. “He’s a great, great player. We had to get our rhythm going. I think that’s really it.”

The Scarlet and Gray did find their footing and climbed back within 27-26 at the half. It was more of the same in the second half, with opportunistic offense and a strong defensive effort keeping the score close enough to dream of a D.J.-less win.

Senior guard Jailen Bedford nailed a long 3-pointer to give UNLV a 37-36 lead with 13 minutes remaining, and though Colorado State pulled ahead by eight points shortly thereafter, the Scarlet and Gray rallied again, tying the score, 53-53, on a hook shot by Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry with four minutes on the clock.

UNLV’s defense faltered late, allowing consecutive uncontested layups by Nique Clifford and Rashaan Mbemba that put Colorado State ahead, 55-53, with 2:36 to play.

That’s about when free-throw regret began to kick in for the home team. UNLV had made just 7-of-16 when senior wing Julian Rishwain stepped to the line for a crucial 1-and-1; two makes would have tied the score with 90 seconds left, but Rishwain missed the first and Clifford came down and hit a mid-range jumper to extend the Rams’ lead to 57-53.

UNLV did not score again.

Cherry, who missed his first four free throws and finished 4-of-9, said it’s something the team will have to address.

“That was definitely a big problem we had tonight, for sure,” Cherry said. “We talked about it. We’ve got to take our free throws more serious. We do — we shoot them every day, but we’ve got to take our time and really knock them down.”

Bedford led all scorers with 17 points off the bench. Sophomore Brooklyn Hicks started in place of Thomas and posted four points and two assists while Cherry went for 16 points and six rebounds.

Clifford got off to a slow start with just two points in the first half but finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds and five assists.

UNLV is now 14-13 on the year and 8-8 in Mountain West play. The loss all but assures the Scarlet and Gray will not get a bye in the first round of the MWC tournament and will have to win four games in four days in order to make the NCAA tournament.

The bigger issue is Thomas’s status. If he is done for the season, UNLV will have to continue to forge an identity without him.

Kruger said he saw enough good, even in the loss, to give the team some confidence moving forward.

“The concern was going to be those first few minutes and how we got acclimated and how quickly we could get acclimated. There’s going to be a little bit of 'What’s going to happen? What are we going to do?’

“We’ve just got to keep getting better at it,” he said.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.