Rebels Rocked By Jags

Thomas and Mack

The Rebels opened the 2023-24 campaign against the same team they opened the 22-23 season against. Last year they found a way to fend off a fiesty Jaguars team, this year not so much. The Jags came out firing, shooting a blistering 75% from the three point line in the first half, while the Rebels just couldn’t buy a bucket. UNLV was 7 for 26 in the first half and could only manage 21 total points. The one bright spot for the Rebels was Isaiah Cottrell, who had his best game as a Rebel, going 4-6 from the field, finishing with 18 points. The rest of the team was a combined 19 for 48 from the field. The Rebels seemed out of sync on both ends of the floor, as their offense looked stagnant, and their defense non existent. Southern outscored the Rebels in the paint 38 – 24 and dominated them in bench scoring 43 to 5. Suffice to say it wasn’t a great debut, which coach Kruger attributed to an overall passive effort.

Everything at the end of the night kind of falls back to being on our heels.

– Kevin Kruger

UNLV will look to plant their feet firmly on the ground, as the Rebels host Stetson in their next matchup. 5 Star freshman Dedan Thomas Jr showed promise, rebounding from a slow 1st half, to finish with 14 points 5 rebounds and 4 assist in his college debut.

Bruce Williams is an NCAA Certified Scout who covers basketball in Nevada.

He is the senior regional writer for PrephoopsNevada and Prephoopsnext.

He is a UNLV Insider for the Runnin Rebel Report.