UNLV set the standard for NCAA title games with 1990 demolition of Duke

A national champion will be crowned tonight in college basketball. No matter how dominant the performance, it likely won’t match the thoroughness of UNLV’s 103-73 win against Duke in the 1990 championship game.

Those Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV delivered a performance for the ages that night in Denver, cementing their legacy as one of the greatest teams in college basketball history.

Many of the records set in that game still stand today. We’ll see whether they remain intact after tonight’s championship matchup.

Rebels rule NCAA with beDeviling win

Editor’s note: The Sun published the following story April 3, 1990.

In a year when so much went wrong, UNLV did something so right that no one can dispute that the Rebels are truly the national champions.

The 103-73 NCAA Tournament victory against Duke on Monday night before a sellout crowd of 17,675 in McNichols Arena was the most lopsided final in the 51-year history of the Final Four. An 18-0 run early in the second half signaled the death knell for the Blue Devils, who hadn’t seen a defensive display like this all season.

Led by the NCAA Tournament’s outstanding player Anderson Hunt, who hit 12 of 16 from the field to finish with a game-high 29 points, and Larry Johnson, who added 22, the Rebels raced out to a 75-47 advantage that Duke couldn’t overcome.

The Rebels used a blend of intense man-to-man pressure and the amoeba zone to force 23 turnovers, while limiting Duke’s impressive offensive show to only 43% from the field. UNLV converted fast break upon fast break that left Duke gasping for breath in Denver’s rarified mountain air.

The Rebels hit an astonishing 61% from the field en route to becoming the first team in tournament history to surpass the century mark. UNLV also broke a 22-year mark held by UCLA for the largest margin of victory. The Bruins beat North Carolina 78-55 in the 1968 final.

“This was obviously a great win for this team, for our community and the city of Las Vegas,” a jubilant coach Jerry Tarkanian said. “It’s a real credit to these kids, who have gone through so much this year.”

It was the first time in three tries that the UNLV coach has secured a national championship for Las Vegas. The Rebels advanced to the Final Four in both 1977 and 1987. This was also the first time the Rebels had advanced to the championship game.

“This is what it’s all about,” Johnson said. He joined Hunt and Stacey Augmon on the all-tournament team. “It was a great team victory. We had to overcome so much this year. That makes it even sweeter.”

Johnson also led the way on the boards with 11. He outfought Duke’s Christian Laettner and Alaa Abdelnaby. That powerful pair combined for 29 points and 16 rebounds, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Phil Henderson, who also made the all-tourney team, led the way for the Blue Devils with 21 points. Those three combined for 50 of Duke’s 73 points.

“UNLV played an outstanding ball game,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I’m still proud of our guys. We had a great season.”

It was the eighth time Duke had just missed winning a national championship. The Blue Devils have advanced to the Final Four three consecutive years, and four of the past five. It was UNLV’s second trip in four years.

“This was not sweet revenge for me,” Tarkanian said, in reference to the NCAA’s and his battle over the past 13 years. “I’ve never won anything like this. It means so much to me, personally, and for our kids. They played so well. This is the best team we’ve ever had, no question.”

Greg Anthony had a solid game at point. He thoroughly outplayed Duke freshman counterpart Bobby Hurley, who had no points, three assists and five steals, while committing three turnovers.

Augmon rounded out this powerful display with 12 points, four rebounds, seven assists and two steals. His defensive efforts also limited Robert Brickey to four points. The Blue Devils nailed only 1 of 7 three-pointers.

That was not a problem for Hunt. He knocked down 4 of 7 from beyond the three-point stripe. UNLV made 8 of 14 in a game in which the Rebels never trailed.

UNLV played an outstanding first half to set up this win. Anthony and Johnson hit two buckets apiece early, and Hunt nailed down a baseline jumper and a three to give the Rebels a 16-10 advantage that held up throughout the half.

The defensive intensity by Tarkanian’s team was at a higher level than Duke has seen all year. The Blue Devils turned the ball over 14 times in the opening 20 minutes, and trailed by as many as 16 (41-25) before cutting the margin to 12 at the half.

Tarkanian substituted freely and received a lot from Barry Young (five points) and Moses Scurry (a key slam dunk). With the starters resting for a second-half onslaught, Stacey Cvijanovich, Travis Bice and former starter James Jones got some key minutes.

Anthony was the real star, however, scoring 10 points and thoroughly outplaying Hurley. Hunt drew Hurley defensively. It was perhaps Hurley’s worst game of the year at the worst time.

Records still standing

The 1990 UNLV championship team set several NCAA Tournament records that remain unbroken:

• Largest championship game margin of victory: The 30-point win remains the biggest blowout in championship game history.
• Only team to score more than 100 in championship game.
• UNLV scored 571 points over six tournament games, most points by a single team in one tournament.
• Only team to score more than 100 points in three tournament games.
• UNLV ranks fifth all-time in 3-pointers in a game, according to the NCAA, connecting on 17 shots from beyond the arc in a 131-101 Elite Eight win.

The roster was elite

The championship team featured three NBA lottery picks in Johnson (No. 1 overall), Augmon (No. 9) and Anthony (No. 12).

It also included sharpshooter Hunt, who poured in 29 points in the championship game on the way to being named the Most Outstanding Player.

The Rebels went undefeated the following year until losing 79-77 against Duke in the Final Four. Still, the 1991 Rebels are widely considered one of the best teams in the history of the college game.

UNLV, dating to the 1990 season, won 45 consecutive games to mark the longest streak in the NCAA since UCLA won 88 in a row in the 1970s. The UNLV run was the fourth-best in NCAA history, according to the NCAA.

Johnson was the national player of the year in 1991. He was a first-team All-American in 1990 and 1991.

All four players had their jerseys retired by the program.

About the 1991 loss to Duke

Editor’s note: This column from Ray Brewer was published in 2021 on the 30th anniversary of the 1991 UNLV Final Four loss.

As the ball left Anderson Hunt’s hands, we naturally assumed it would find its mark, desperate and deep as the 3-pointer might have been in the waning seconds of the national semifinal game.

Hunt never seemed to miss big shots, and the Rebels were on a historic run during which they seemed unbeatable … until the shot hit the back of the rim and bounced away.

Thirty years later, that 79-77 upset loss to Duke in the 1991 Final Four still stings. At the time, we knew the defeat ended UNLV’s undefeated season after 34 wins. We didn’t know it would also mark the beginning of the end of the program’s reign as a national power.

UNLV hasn’t been back to the Final Four, reached the Sweet 16 just once in the ensuing three decades and hasn’t even played in the tournament since 2013.

Still, those of us who grew up with Jerry Tarkanian’s Rebels will tell you, there’s been no team better in the history of college basketball history than those 1990-1991 Runnin’ Rebels, even without a championship cherry on top.

Coming off the 1989-1990 title season, UNLV got every team’s absolute best shot the next year. Yet the Rebels were untouchable, outscoring opponents by nearly 30 points on average.

They were ranked No. 1 the entire season and had just one game decided inside double digits, a 112-105 road win at Arkansas — a squad that went on to claim one of the other three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

UNLV’s roster included three of the eventual top 12 picks in the 1991 NBA Draft: Larry Johnson (first overall), Stacey Augmon (9th) and Greg Anthony (12th). A fourth player, George Ackles, went in the second round.

Any of them could have left early for the NBA, but they returned to try for title No. 2 under their Hall of Fame coach. It’s difficult to imagine a group like that making such a decision in today’s pro-oriented environment.

Johnson earned the Naismith College Player of the Year award. Augmon was an award-winning defender and an elite finisher near the rim. And Rancho High product Anthony, the point guard, was the glue that held it all together.

If Anthony didn’t get into foul trouble against Duke, we’d almost certainly be talking about UNLV’s back-to-back championships today. And many still question the charging call that knocked him from the game with under four minutes to play. With Anthony on the bench, UNLV managed just three points the rest of the way.

Many locals can tell you exactly where they were when Hunt’s shot just missed its mark. We can also describe in detail the championship game the previous year, a 103-73 victory against Duke.

Yet for my money, there was no greater team in college basketball than the one that came next, even if its final shot happened not to go through the hoop.