Mar 18, 2007, 15:40 GMT
Chicago, IL - With their first NCAA Tournament victory since 1991 now secured, the UNLV Runnin' Rebels go searching for bigger game as they face off against second-seeded Wisconsin in the second round of the Midwest Region from the United Center in Chicago this afternoon.
The seventh-seeded Rebels, who are now 31-13 in the tournament all-time, made it to the 69th annual event by winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament with a 78-70 triumph over BYU, a team that was ushered out of this year's tourney by Xavier in the first round. Winners of the 1990 national title, the Rebels held on to defeat Georgia Tech on Friday with a 67-63 victory, making Lon Kruger the only head coach other than Jerry Tarkanian to win an NCAA Tournament game with the program.
As for the Badgers, they looked horrible in the first half of their meeting with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi two days ago, trailing by as many as 18 points in the first half before pulling out the 76-63 victory against a program that has been playing basketball for less than a decade. The win pushed Wisconsin to 17-11 in the tournament all-time and 30-5 this season, which continues to build on the school's record for most wins in a single season.
With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Rebels have won two of the previous three encounters with Wisconsin, although it was the Badgers who captured the most recent meeting, 91-74, in Madison in 2002. The winner of this game will take on the winner of the Winthrop/Oregon meeting on Friday in the round of 16 in Saint Louis.
UNLV shot a miserable 31.7 percent from the field on Friday afternoon, yet that was still good enough to send the Yellow Jackets packing in the first round of the tournament. The big difference in the contest for the Rebels was that they outscored Georgia Tech at the free-throw line, 21-10, in a game that was decided by just four points. Wendell White and Michael Umeh both tallied 19 points, the former grabbing a team-high eight rebounds and the latter hitting on 4-of-8 shots beyond the arc. Wink Adams chipped in 13 points, but he made a mere 3-of-13 from the floor, yet that was still better than the coach's son as Kevin Kruger missed all eight of his three-point attempts and finished with five points without converting a single field goal. However, Kruger did contribute with a game-high eight assists. Listed as a guard, White works best in the paint for the Rebels as he leads the team in both scoring and rebounding with 14.4 ppg and 6.3 rpg. Adams chips in 14.3 ppg and Kruger 13.3 ppg, but more importantly has 148 assists. Perhaps the unsung hero of the group is reserve Joel Anthony who has made the most of his 18 minutes per game by posting a team-high 107 blocked shots, to go along with 5.2 ppg and 4.1 rpg.
Perhaps the Badgers thought they could get by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on reputation alone, but the Islanders refused to be overwhelmed in their first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament on Friday. In fact, the Islanders were as ready as any first-time team could be as they limited Wisconsin to just 6-of-29 shooting from the field in the first half and led by as many as 18 points in the frame. However, Alando Tucker and Kammron Taylor refused to be denied as they both woke up after the break to guide the Badgers to the 13-point win. After missing every one of his field goal attempts in the first half, Taylor ended up with a game-high 24 points, while Tucker chipped in 23 points on 6-of-17 from the field. Jason Bohannon contributed another 10 points and handed out three assists to make up for the lackluster performances of starters Marcus Landry, Jason Chappell and Michael Flowers who combined for just 11 points. Tucker, the Big Ten Player of the Year this season, is first on the team with 20 ppg and second with almost five and a half rebounds per outing, but having to play without Brian Butch, who is listed as questionable again for this meeting despite having a dislocated/fractured right elbow, is putting even more pressure on him and Taylor (13.0 ppg) to boost their production.
© 2007 The Sports Network
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