Hill goes the distance to lead UNLV past Air Force in MWC tourney

UNLV Rebels forward Jalen Hill (1) dunks against the Air Force Falcons during the second half of a first round game in the 2025 Credit Union 1 Mountain West Men's Basketball Championship at Thomas & Mack Center Wednesday, March 12, 2025. Photo by Steve Marcus

By the time you’re reading this story, Jalen Hill will already be submerged in a tub of ice.

Heck, he may even be reading along with you as the freezing temps work to repair the wear and tear the senior forward accumulated during his 40-minute ironman performance today.

And UNLV needed everything Hill had to offer in a 68-59 comeback win over Air Force in the play-in round of the Mountain West tournament. Down to six healthy rotation players due to a slew of late-season injuries, Kevin Kruger has leaned on Hill to log the full 40 minutes in two straight games, and he was superb in posting 18 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and two steals against Air Force to keep the season alive for the Scarlet and Gray.

UNLV’s injury situation isn’t getting any better, and with just over 24 hours to prep for Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup against Utah State, Hill said he wasn’t going to waste any time getting into his rehab routine.

“My legs are good,” Hill said in his postgame press conference. “Just got to get ready for our next game. I’m going to go get in the ice bath, and that’s pretty much it.”

UNLV came in as a double-digit favorite despite the injuries, and it would have been nice to cruise to an easy victory, which would have allowed Kruger to be a bit more liberal with his rotations. But Air Force afforded no such luxuries.

The Scarlet and Gray opened the contest by committing a sloppy turnover on their first possession, and Air Force came down and scored a layup on a patented backdoor cut. The Falcons jumped out to a 7-0 lead from there as UNLV went the first four minutes without scoring.

It took nearly 35 minutes for No. 6-seeded UNLV to dig out of that hole, but with Hill doing damage at both ends of the floor, they finally managed to take the lead for good with a 19-0 run midway through the second half.

Hill was critical during that stretch, scoring six points, grabbing three rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists as UNLV went from trailing, 47-41, with 11 minutes left to leading, 60-47, at the four-minute mark. Hill punctuated the spurt with a two-handed dunk.

Kruger praised Hill, a sixth-year senior, for keeping the team together without its starting backcourt of D.J. Thomas and Julian Rishwain.

“He's been so good over the last couple weeks,” Kruger said. “You don’t want to play anybody 40 minutes if you don’t have to, but his versatility in terms of guarding [Ethan] Taylor, guarding [Luke] Kearney and then also on the offensive side being able to put pressure on the rim, keep rebounding it the way he does — there wasn’t an opportunity not to have him on the floor.”

UNLV shot 7-of-29 in the first half with Hill making just one of his six attempts; after the break he connected on all four of his shots and the team scorched the nets at 72.7% (16-of-22).

Jailen Bedford and Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry scored 13 apiece. Air Force guard Taylor led all scorers with 23 points.

Before departing the press conference, Kruger let Hill know that he’s likely going the distance on Thursday as well.

“The ball is going to be in his hands and he’s going to keep making decisions,” Kruger said. “Tomorrow is not going to be any different. So his cold bath probably needs to be a little bit longer, because I told the guys we have to be as fresh as we possibly can be tomorrow.”

So if you are reading, Jalen, stop scrolling and stay focused on the healing properties of that subzero ice bath. Tip-off will be here before you know it.

“I’ll probably be in there on my phone listening to music,” Hill said of his date with the tub. “Personally, I don’t like it. I hate it. But it’s definitely something that we’ve got to do just to keep ready.”

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