Since I left you last, Sam came through Vegas to hang out for a few days while he completed a tour of the desert southwest. While he was here, we took up a game. It’s what we do. I have to say, it was very trip-esque. There were off day activities such as walking up and down the strip, hiking at Red Rock Canyon, and watching a tutorial on how to be a gangster. Bang Bang, Skeet Skeet. Had one of the missing 3 been here, I believe we would document it as a trip. It will be up for debate in the future.

UNLV vs Kansas State at the Orleans Arena

UNLV is kicked out of the Thomas & Mack every fall due to the National Finals Rodeo being in town and taking over the hoops venue. The Rebels usually hit the road for a few days, which is fine, but they can’t stay out forever. They took up a pseudo-home game against Kansas State last weekend Saturday at the now Tourney Trip famous Orleans Arena, the meca of random basketball. It was pretty ugly for UNLV from start to finish. K-State rolls out two very talented, very smooth and very confident guards in Jacob Pullen and Dennis Clemente. They combined for 50 points, including Pullen’s 7 for 10 from 3 point land. Every-time UNLV would put two good things together, he’d come down and stick a cold blooded jumper in some-body’s face. The game was over at halftime when UNLV blew an easy Dunk (Santee) and the Wildcats came back down to the other end of the floor to stick a layup. 4 point swing in about 7 seconds turned what would have been a five point deficit into a nine point hole, and a horrible feeling in every UNLV fan’s stomach. The second half was more of the same, and really, it was worse than the 15 point loss it ended up being. The only good thing to come out of it was the fact that UNLV didn’t give up 100 points, which a Kruger Rebel team has never done. Kansas State 95, UNLV 80.

I want to give an official Tourney Trip thank you to fellow Tourney Trip member Sam and him coming through to watch some random hoops in Vegas. The company was much appreciated.

From there, UNLV played at Southern Utah, about a two hour drive north from Las Vegas in Cedar City, UT. Had it not been for a final in my English lit class, I would have made the trip. UNLV seems to have gotten their minds right and back on the winning track with a W here.

Last night, I welcomed myself back to the T&M for UNLV vs Weber St. I was surprised about how packed it was last night. Not near a sell-out, but a decent crowd nonetheless. Had a great time and so did UNLV. Seemed like their first complete 40 minute effort of the season. Matt Shaw was clicking from beyond the arc, Chace Stanback continues to show his improved confidence, scoring prowess (for the third game in a row) and silky smooth jumper. Weber St is a nice squad. Kyle Bullinger was 5-8 from 3 point land, seemingly hitting each of them when UNLV threatened to put this game out of reach. Fun game overall. UNLV 72, Weber State 63.

From there, I have one more UNLV game this year, as they host USC-Upstate tomorrow night. I will try to take in a few games of the Holiday Hoops Classic (Southern Illinois, San Diego, San Fransisco, and Florida International), depending on the TV viewing schedule this weekend. After these couple games, it’s strictly business.

I received word today that I will have a media credential for the Las Vegas Classic, next Tuesday and Wednesday at, once again, the Orleans Arena. This is an awesome thing. I’ll probably be doing some blogging on site, I’ll fire up the twitter feed, and hopefully, sit back and enjoy some hoops. After that, I will be basketball-less until UNLV returns home for its first home conference game against SDSU on 1/13/09.

Butler vs Xavier tomorrow morning (11am tip for me!!), do I root for my namesake, or X which = dynasty?

I think I’ll just watch.

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