UNLV returns to 'Hardway Eight' mode in 89-77 exhibition loss to BYU

LAS VEGAS — Back in 1977, when UNLV was making a national name for itself in basketball, Jerry Tarkanian used an eight-man rotation which he rode all the way to the Final Four.

They were dubbed “The Hardway Eight” by then Sports Information Director Dominic Clark. You know, an homage to the gambling culture of Vegas at the time. Anyone who has been around a craps table knows the meaning of the moniker.

Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center, the Runnin’ Rebels brought back the Hardway Eight, numerically speaking, against BYU in their second exhibition tuneup. There was no Robert Smith. No Reggie Theus. No Eddie Owens. No Sudden Sam Smith, Glen Gondrezick, Lewis Brown or Larry Moffett.

Instead, it was Cam Miles, Sebastian Mack, Jalen Cunningham, Jeremy Foumena, Dontrez Williams, Jackson Kiss, Moustapha Loum and Kota Suttle.

With injuries and eligibility issues still impacting the roster, Josh Pastner had to make do with what he had and he had to be pleasantly surprised at what he saw.

The Rebels were in it for the majority of the contest before falling to the Cougars, who are ranked 25th in both preseason polls, 89-77. But don’t be fooled by the final tally. UNLV competed. The Rebels were unselfish. They made enough shots. Mack, in particular, was impressive, finishing with 26 points. They simply ran out of gas toward the end.

“I thought we made great improvement from our first exhibition game against Utah,” Pastner said. “I was proud of effort. There were a lot of positives.

“Still too many turnovers. We allowed 36 extra-possession points based on our 18 turnovers. We’ve got to be better with the ball. I’ve said that from the beginning. Both in this game and the Utah game we had too many turnovers.”

UNLV last won a conference championship in 2000. That’s more than a quarter century of misses. But Saturday, Pastner was coaching like his hair was on fire and he was playing for the rights tp cut down the nets. Ironically, the team the Rebels beat in 2000 when they won the Mountain West Tournament title?

BYU.

Life is a little different these days in the college hoops world. BYU has an NIL budget for men’s basketball that is north of $10 million. That’s roughly equal to UNLV’s entire NIL collective for all its sports programs. The fact is, the game is not on equal footing financially and hasn’t been for a long time. And if UNLV had its full complement of players available and Saturday’s game actually counted, would the results have been different?

Perhaps, but unlikely, though you would have had more than 5,319 people in the building as was the case Saturday. The Cougars weren’t at full strength either though Robert Wright III, their standout guard, was available. Wright had 19 points and along with backcourt mate Collin Chandler who had 23 and five assists, inflicted enough damage.

But for Pastner and UNLV, this isn’t about financial inequity. There’s a season to prepare for that tips off a week from Tuesday against Northern Arizona at home and there’s one more dress rehearsal to prepare for the Lumberjacks. That comes Thursday against Missouri.

Pastner hopes to have Tyrin Jones, Tyler Harris, Isaac Williamson and, depending if his lawyers can deliver for him, AJ Storr to get some court time against the Tigers. All were watching from the bench Saturday as their teammates put forth a strong effort. And as Pastner continues to build a foundation and an ethos for the program of playing hard every possession, defending as a team and being unselfish with the basketball offensively, what he got from his own Hardway Eight Saturday had to be encouraging.

“We got a little stagnant offensively in the second half but it was a good opportunity for us,” said Pastner, whose team outrebounded BYU 41-34 and shot 71 percent from the foul line Saturday. “We gave some people an opportunity to get some minutes in a game situation and they competed hard. So I like the direction we’re headed in."