UNLV Basketball: What Made The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels Victory over No.15 Oregon Impressive

By James Fitzgerald | Dec 5, 2015

Dave Rice’s UNLV Runnin’ Rebels (7-1) looked extremely impressive in taking out the No.15 Oregon Ducks (6-1) at the MGM Grand.

The Rebels had control of this game from beginning to end, playing stout defense and dictating the pace of the game offensively.

UNLV went into the locker room with a 47-33 lead at the half, but then came out in the second half flat to the point where they went a full 10-plus minutes without hitting a field goal. This allowed the Oregon Ducks to get within five points of the lead at 59-54 before UNLV started to make a surge again and secured the game.

What made this win impressive is a few things. One of them being the perseverance that the Runnin’ Rebels showed in the second half while Oregon was making their run to get back into the game.

More from Mountain West

In the first half UNLV was able to get any shots they wanted and hit 50% of their shots for the half. They got great looks from three-point land early in the shot clock and converted.

In the second half those looks from deep were not available and UNLV had to make it happen with from inside the paint and from the free throw line. The Runnin’ Rebels defense also came up big when they needed to get stops down the stretch.

Another thing that made this victory impressive for UNLV was the fact that Ike Nwamu, Jerome Seagers and Patrick McCaw were stellar from the perimeter.

Nwamu led the Runnin’ Rebels with 19 points on 7 of 9 shooting from the floor and 5 of 7 from three-point land.

Jerome Seagers added some strong support from deep hitting 2 of 4 from beyond the three-point arc and finishing with 16 points overall.

Seagers was able to get to the free throw line hitting 6 of 7 from the stripe and grabbed five rebounds as well.

Patrick McCaw played 39 of the 40 minutes in the game, went 5 of 10 from the field and finished with 14 points knocking down 2 of 5 from deep.

In all, the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels hit 10 treys in the game and were able to dictate the tempo because of how these players executed from the perimeter.

What was most impressive about this win was the interior presence that Stephen Zimmerman Jr. and Ben Carter provided for UNLV.

Dec 4, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Oregon Ducks forward Chris Boucher (25) and UNLV Rebels forward Stephen Zimmerman Jr (33) battle for the opening tip-off during the first half at MGM Grand. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports

They actually set the tone for the Runnin’ Rebels defensively and played strong in the paint.

Stephen Zimmerman logged a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds to go along with four blocked shots.

Ben Carter was solid as a sidekick to what Zimmerman was bringing to the table with 10 points and six rebounds.

Zimmerman and Carter are a pretty formidable tandem in the blocks. It will be interesting to see how they improve together as the season goes on.

The Oregon Ducks were led by Dwayne Benjamin who tallied 21 points and Chris Boucher who finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Dana Altman’s bunch had a slight scare in the second half when freshman guard Tyler Dorsey came down wrong on his left knee. He was able to get treatment in the locker room and come back into the game for the final five minutes and finished with 13 points and five rebounds for the game.

UNLV should be a Top 25 team. They can play up to 10 players on their bench, they can knock down the long ball, and they are able to dictate the tempo turning defensive stops into quick offense.

Next up for the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels is a road game against the Wichita State Shockers on Wednesday December 9th.

Next: UCLA Bruins Expose No.1 Kentucky Wildcats, Three Takeaways

This victory is a nice game to build some momentum off of going into the Wichita State game.

UNLV has taken out No.13 Indiana and No.15 Oregon in two of their last three wins. The Rebels are building quite the tournament resume.