Runnin' Rebels Battle, But Come Up Short In 69-63 Loss At Boise State

Friday, February 11

Boise, ID

8:00 PM PT

University of Nevada Las Vegas

14-11,6-6Mountain West

Boise State

19-5,10-1Mountain West

Team	1	2	F
UNLV	36	27	63
Boise St.	29	40	69

2/11/2022 11:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score FINAL STATS (PDF)

Senior guard Bryce Hamilton records sixth 30-plus point outing of the season Friday night against Broncos.

BOISE, Idaho (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's basketball team battled against first-place Boise State, but came up short in a 69-63 loss Friday night at ExtraMile Arena.

Senior guard Bryce Hamilton again paced the Runnin' Rebels (14-11, 6-6) with a game-high 32 points. It was his sixth 30-plus point outing of the season and marked the fifth in his last eight games. Michael Nuga added 12 points and Jordan McCabe finished with nine points and six assists, with just one turnover.

Boise State (19-5, 10-1) had four players score in double figures, led by Abu Kigab's 18 points.

STAT OF THE GAME: Boise State scored 19 more points than UNLV at the free-throw line, recording 29 attempts to the Runnin' Rebels seven.

BACK-AND-FORTH: UNLV started the game with a 13-4 spurt and the game featured five lead changes and seven ties throughout. The Runnin' Rebels held a 36-29 lead at halftime, but Boise State took a four-point advantage just before the first media timeout of the second half. Neither team led by more than seven the rest of the way.

QUOTABLE: "I'm proud of our team. They competed like crazy. Or course, we have a few things that we would have loved to have done differently, but that's part of learning. That's part of the reason that Boise State is where they are right now. They made some big plays late when they needed to, but we had a chance to win an incredibly tough road game in conference that came down to the last few possessions. Most teams, on any night, that's what you hope for - giving yourself a chance to win at the end of the game." - UNLV head coach Kevin Kruger

"That was a tough loss. We knew it was going to be tough and we knew they were a physical, really good team. But I felt like we played well. We fought hard, but we just couldn't get stops when we needed them. I feel like the fight was there tonight. We just need to keep on getting better." - Hamilton

NOTES:
- The Runnin' Rebels were again without Donovan Williams.
- UNLV had won three of its previous four games heading into Friday's contest.
- Boise State improved to 10-2 all-time against the Runnin' Rebels at home.
- Hamilton has now scored in double figures in 19 straight games and has scored 20 points or more in seven of his last eight games.
- Hamilton was 12 of 24 from the field, including 4 of 9 on 3-pointers. He also added five rebounds.
- Royce Hamm Jr. led the team in rebounds with seven.
- Boise State out-rebounded UNLV 35-26 and out-scored it in points in the paint 32-24.
- Boise State had 12 offensive rebounds, outscoring UNLV in second-chance points 11-6.
- UNLV held Boise State to just 1 of 9 on 3-pointers in the first half. The Broncos shot 4 of 20 from distance for the game.
- UNLV shot 51.7% (15 of 29) from the field in the first half and out-shot the Broncos for the game 45.5% to 41.2%.
- UNLV has made at least one 3-pointer in a NCAA-record 1,154 straight games.

NEXT FOR THE RUNNIN' REBELS: UNLV will travel for its second straight road game on Wednesday, Feb. 16, playing at Fresno State. The 7:30 p.m. game will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.