This time BYU dominates UNLV

PROVO — So UNLV beats BYU in Vegas by 29 points in the first half of the Mountain West Conference basketball season, and the Cougars return the favor Saturday night at the Marriott Center, downing the visiting Rebels by 26, 74-48.

How did UNLV head coach Lon Kruger see the Round 2 battle between the pair of MWC frontrunners? A major homecourt advantage? A hot team taking over? An inability for a down team to keep up and respond?

Yes, that and more.

Kruger said Saturday's lopsided affair was mostly the Cougars having their way — and the Rebels obliging.

"It was a ballgame where BYU won every battle, both offensively and defensively," he said. "They did everything they wanted to do, and we didn't take anything away."

Kruger then ripped off a laundry list of Cougar advantages, mindful of BYU's edges in shooting (45.6 percent to 29), points in the paint (42-26) and points off turnovers (24-12).

• "Offensively, they ran their stuff. We didn't disrupt anything, we didn't take anything away."

• "I though their defense was very good — they were aggressive, physical, and I didn't think we handled that part of it very well."

• "They scored on our turnovers — we don't turn it over much on the year, and tonight we turned it over a bunch."

• "They're playing well, playing great — and at home, maybe even more energized."

The Marriott Center is home to the Cougars' 44 consecutive victories — the second-longest home winning streak in the nation. Kruger sees the Cougars and their crowd feeding off each other.

"It's a very tough place to play," he said. "Not only is the crowd and the environment good, but the club is very good. You combine those two things together, and it's tough to win here."

The Rebels — who never led — struggled early, falling behind several baskets, then finding themselves down double digits a dozen-plus minutes into the game. The Cougars turned a 15-13 lead midway in the first half to a 26-13 advantage four minutes later and then a 39-23 halftime margin.

In the second half, UNLV never got closer than 13 and trailed by as many as 29 points several times.

Not only did the Rebels shoot poorly, they only had one player in double-figure scoring — forward Corey Bailey, whose 5-of-11 shooting netted him a team-high 10 points. The rest of the four UNVL starters combined for 10-of-40 shooting shooting.

Also, Kruger didn't think the UNLV defense responded in challenging the Cougars.

"We didn't take away much defensively," he said. "We've hung our hat on that all year, and we didn't step in and do much of that tonight."

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E-mail: taylor@desnews.com