Rebels Getting Love From The Books On Valentine’s Day

Books have the Rebels favored by 7.5

The UNLV men’s basketball team (16-9 overall, 5-8 Mountain West) will be back at home in the Thomas & Mack Center to host San Jose State on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. The Runnin’ Rebels enter the contest having won four of their last six contests overall and two of their last three at home.

Analysis: The Rebels started slowly against the Aztecs and it hurt them. San Diego St flexed their muscle early and the Rebels never seemed to recover, despite battling back to make it a game. The biggest issue was their shooting as once again the Rebels struggled to shoot it from the three-point line. UNLV made just 27% of their shots behind the arc against one of the nation’s stingiest defensive teams. The Rebels also struggled from behind the arc in their last matchup against the Spartans, connecting on just 7 of their 22 attempts. One thing the Rebels can count on is EJ Harkless, who has had an All-conference type season, averaging 28 points per game in his last three.

Intangibles: How will the Rebels bounce back after the defeat against SDSU? The Rebels put a lot of energy into that Rivalry game, only to come up short. They now have to shift their focus to a San Jose team that matches up well against them.

Prediction: This San Jose team struggles to score, especially on the road. I expect a heavy dose of Omari Moore who is the leading scorer and the only consistent offensive threat. UNLV has the type of personnel that can slow him down, however, if they do force him to miss, they need to grab the rebound, as the Spartans are one of the best rebounding teams in the country. I believe in Harkless, and he scored 20 in the first matchup. The big question may be the play of Luis Rodriguez who has struggled recently. If the Rebels can get 80% of him they stand a good chance of defending their home floor.

San Jose 65 – UNLV 68