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UNLV Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for Runnin’ Rebels

By Jason Burgess

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 22: Pyrotechnics shoot from the hands of UNLV Rebels mascot Hey Reb before the team's game against the New Mexico Lobos at the Thomas & Mack Center on January 22, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Rebels defeated the Lobos 74-58. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 22: Pyrotechnics shoot from the hands of UNLV Rebels mascot Hey Reb before the team's game against the New Mexico Lobos at the Thomas & Mack Center on January 22, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Rebels defeated the Lobos 74-58. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 28: T.J. Otzelberger speaks as he is introduced as UNLV’s new head basketball coach during a news conference at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 28, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Otzelberger most recently served as the head coach at South Dakota State. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 28: T.J. Otzelberger speaks as he is introduced as UNLV’s new head basketball coach during a news conference at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 28, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Otzelberger most recently served as the head coach at South Dakota State. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

Otzelberger hopes to bring the excitement back to the Thomas & Mack Center

The UNLV fanbase longs for the glory days of the season they will be celebrating this season and hope that Coach Otzelberger is the one to lead them there. He begins his first year with a jam-packed November, they play eight games before Thanksgiving, including matchups with Kansas State and SMU at home and road contests with UCLA and California.

In addition, they host a Purdue Fort Wayne team that finished third in the Summit League, Otzelberger’s old conference, and an Abilene Christian team that went 27-7 last season. They end the first month at Cincinnati and begin December with a Mountain West contest against Fresno State and then finish their non-conference slate with BYU, Pacific, Robert Morris, and Eastern Michigan.

Next. Ranking 2019-20 POY candidates. dark

Given the thinness of the roster outside of the potential starting five, I’m not sure the Rebels improve much off of last year’s middle-of-the-pack finish in the Mountain West. However, if fans at the Thomas & Mack Center see a team that harkens them back to the good ole days, is competitive in the conference and seen as a team that can not only get back to the NCAA Tournament (in the future), but have success in it, something that hasn’t happened since 2008, the first year under Otzelberger should be seen as a success.