April 14, 2008
LAS VEGAS -
Full 2007-08 UNLV Men's Basketball Final Season Notes (PDF) 
UNLV finished the 2007-08 season with an overall record of 27-8 and lost to eventual national champion Kansas in the NCAA Tournament's second round ... the appearance in the NCAA Tournament was the second straight for UNLV, which advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2007 and the first time that the Runnin' Rebels won games in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments since 1990 and 1991 ... UNLV finished second in the Mountain West Conference with a 12-4 mark for the second consecutive year and won the conference tournament championship, also for the second straight time, to earn the league's automatic bid to the Big Dance ... The Runnin' Rebels are led by head coach Lon Kruger, who was named the 2007-08 MWC and USBWA District VIII Coach of the Year ... he finished his fourth year at UNLV in 2008-09 with a mark of 91-42 (.684), including a record of 57-15 (.792) over the last two seasons ... UNLV's 57 wins over the past two years ranks ninth in the country among teams that have played in each of the last two NCAA Tournaments and is the second-most victories over the last two years among teams in the West, only behind UCLA ... UNLV has a 15-game home win streak, which is the 11th-longest active streak in the country, has compiled a record of 38-3 at home over the last two seasons and has won 24 straight games against MWC opponents at the Thomas & Mack Center ... the Runnin' Rebels won their first round NCAA Tournament game against Kent State, 71-58, in Omaha, Neb., on March 20, which marked their third NCAA Tournament win in the last two years ... UNLV finished two games behind regular-season MWC champion BYU (14-2) and one game ahead of third-place New Mexico (11-5) ... the Runnin' Rebels defeated then-No. 24 BYU 76-61 in Las Vegas for the tournament crown on March 15 ... it was UNLV's first back-to-back conference tournament victory since winning three straight Big West Tournament titles from 1989-91 and marked the first time in MWC Tournament history that a team repeated as the conference's tournament champ ... the NCAA Tournament appearance marked UNLV's 16th in the NCAA Tournament ... UNLV now has a 33-15 (.688) record all-time in the tourney, which ranks seventh on the all-time tournament winning-percentage chart ... before the loss to Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, UNLV had won five straight games, eight of nine, 10 of 12 and 15 of 18 ... UNLV finished 19-2 at home on the year, 6-5 on the road and 2-1 in neutral-site games ... with the MWC Tournament championship, UNLV has won 15 straight home games overall (11th-longest active streak in the nation) and 24 straight against MWC opponents at the Thomas & Mack Center ... UNLV had six players average 6.4 points per game or more and was led by junior Wink Adams (16.9), junior Joe Darger (11.3) and senior Curtis Terry (11.1), who all averaged double figures in scoring ... junior René Rougeau (6.2) led the team in rebounding, followed by Darger (4.5) ... Terry was the team's assist leader with 4.8 apg (also led the MWC), followed by Adams (3.1) ... Rougeau led the team (second in the MWC) in steals with 2.1 per game, while Adams was second on the squad (1.5) ... the Runnin' Rebels entered the 2007-08 season with eight returning letterwinners, including only one starter ... Head Coach Lon Kruger finished his 22nd year as a collegiate head coach with a career mark of 409-275 (.598).
