UNLV continues slide

The UNLV Runnin' Rebels continued their midseason slide on Wednesday night at Colorado State by finding every and any way to lose another basketball game.

Losers of four of their last five, the Rebels had a 10 point edge late in the second half before blowing the advantage the last few minutes with sloppy offensive execution and a defense that allowed the Rams to find their way to the hoop for easy buckets.

UNLV (9-6) were 7-1 at the beginning of December. Since then, the Rebels are 2-5, with the lone wins coming at UC Riverside and at home against South Dakota. To make matters worse, there has only been one nationally ranked opponent on UNLV's schedule during the span.

Dropping to 0-2 in Mountain West Conference play certainly put the Rebels in a position that they are familiar with. UNLV hasn't started 2-0 in league play since the 05-06 season.

Just think about that for a minute.

Now, after that has sunk in, we can move onto the game versus the Rams.

Dealing with a struggling starting line-up, which only had one scorer reach double figures (Patrick McCaw), Ben Carter nearly carried the Rebels to a victory by himself. He scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in 31 minutes of action.

The Rams had no answer for the hardworking Carter. He played like a man possessed, delivering on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.

Unfortunately, Carter often times looked like a one-man show.

Senior Jerome Seagears scored two points in over 20 minutes of action. More telling, he didn't put up one other statistic, except a turnover. Ike Nwamu fired up six shots in 12 minutes, but only connected on one. Sophomore Dwayne Morgan was ineffective against the same front line that Carter dominated. Morgan was scoreless and had two turnovers and three fouls in his limited action.

The Rebels' coaching staff will continue to get hammered for the results, which they deserve, but at some point the players have to make winning plays. Carter was the only participant with a UNLV jersey that appeared to be intent on winning.

UNLV will head to Laramie, Wyo., on Saturday to face the Cowboys in an absolute must-win if the Rebels are going to salvage this season at all. Even in a diluted MWC, beginning the year 0-3 would be too much to overcome.

Whether this team plays with resolve and fire will say a ton. Rebel fans will be watching closely, if they haven't already decided enough is enough.