UNLV basketball 'rattled' after fifth straight loss

UNLV Rebels guard D.J Thomas (11) prepares to leave the court after a 71-62 loss to the Boise State Broncos at Thomas & Mack Center Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. Photo by Steve Marcus

Seventeen days can be a short time or a long time, depending on the context.

For the UNLV basketball team, the past 17 days have felt like an eternity.

The Scarlet and Gray suffered their fifth straight loss Tuesday, falling at home to Boise State, 71-62. The defeat dropped UNLV to 11-12 on the season and 5-7 in Mountain West play, good for seventh place in the conference standings.

The last time UNLV experienced a victory — Jan. 18 at San Diego State — eggs were an affordable five bucks a dozen and Karla Sofia Gascón was the runaway favorite for Best Actress at the Oscars. That’s a long time ago.

One would have to go back more than six years to find UNLV’s last five-game losing streak, which came when Marvin Menzies’ squad was beaten in the final five contests of the 2017-18 regular season.

After Boise State finished off its season sweep of the Scarlet and Gray, head coach Kevin Kruger admitted his team is feeling the weight of the prolonged streak.

“Our confidence is obviously rattled,” Kruger said. “We need that spark that’s going to turn things for the better.”

Tuesday’s game was lost in the minutes surrounding halftime. UNLV went into the break missing 9 of its last 11 shots, then shot 1-of-13 to open the second half. During that time, Boise embarked on a 21-6 run and opened double-digit lead in front of a subdued crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center.

UNLV made one push in the second half, when sophomore guard Brooklyn Hicks, senior guard Jailen Bedford and senior forward Jalen Hill each came up with steals and breakaway dunks on three consecutive possessions over a span of 1:17. That 6-0 spurt trimmed Boise’s lead to 56-52 with 4:58 remaining, but that’s as close as the Scarlet and Gray would get.

Boise State regained its composure and rattled off a 9-2 run to effectively put the game on ice and send UNLV back to the drawing board as it searches for an end to the interminable losing.

One component that will need to improve if UNLV is to find the win column anytime soon is outside shooting. The Scarlet and Gray made just 1-of-16 from 3-point range, coming dangerously close to snapping the program’s streak of consecutive games with a made 3-pointer (currently an all-time record of 1,250 and counting — barely).

During the five-game losing streak UNLV has shot 24-of-95 from beyond the arc, which works out to an icy 25.2%.

Bedford, who made the team’s lone 3 against Boise State, said the only option is to keep shooting and have faith that the percentages will straighten out.

“Just keep trusting in each other,” Bedford said. “We’re all really good shooters. We’ve got to come in next practice, just play our game and on to the next one. Just forget about it.”

UNLV’s next opportunity to notch a win will come Saturday when the team travels to Laramie for a road tilt at Wyoming. Wyoming started UNLV’s free fall by beating the Scarlet and Gray, 63-61, at the Mack on Jan. 21.

Bedford and his teammates continue to operate under the belief that one win can get the Scarlet and Gray back on track, and with enough time left to salvage the season. All that’s left to do is go out and beat someone.

It’s been a while.

“We’ve got to move on to the next game,” Bedford said. “We’ve got Laramie on Saturday. We’ve got to take it serious coming in on Thursday, coming back from our off-day. Just come in ready to play. We lost, so we’ve got to get that win. It’s important to us.”

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