Runnin' Rebels Fall At No. 25/23 SDSU 82-71 Saturday Afternoon - University of Nevada Las Vegas Athletics

Saturday, February 11

San Diego, California

1:00 PM PT

University of Nevada Las Vegas

16-9,5-8Mountain West

No. 25/23 San Diego State

20-5,11-2Mountain West

Team	1	2	F
UNLV	23	48	71
San Diego St.	43	39	82

2/11/2023 5:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score FINAL STATS (PDF)

EJ Harkless had his third-straight 20-plus point outing; UNLV back at home Tuesday night against San Jose State.

SAN DIEGO (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's basketball team lost at No. 25/23 San Diego State, 82-71, Saturday afternoon at Viejas Arena.

EJ Harkless led three Runnin' Rebels in double-figure scoring with 24 points to mark his third straight game with at least 20. Keshon Gilbert had 19 and David Muoka added a season-high-tying 12 for UNLV (16-9 overall, 5-8 Mountain West).

SDSU (20-5, 11-2) had four players score in double figures with Adam Seiko leading the team with 18 points on 6 of 10 3-pointers. Matt Bradley had 17 points, Keshad Johnson scored 14 and Nathan Mensah contributed a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

FIRST-HALF RUN: San Diego State used a 14-0 run to take a 30-11 lead with nine minutes left in the first half. The Aztecs led 43-23 at halftime.

SHOOTING PERCENTAGES: SDSU shot 51.5% (17 of 33) in the first half, while UNLV made just 25.0% (6 of 24). The Runnin' Rebels out-shot the Aztecs after halftime, 53.3% (16 of 30) to 51.9% (14 of 27).

QUOTABLE: "There were some moments when we were on our heels and San Diego State was the aggressor. They always play incredibly hard and incredibly well together. You have to not match their intensity but give your intensity and I thought there were a couple of plays in the first half where they were able to get on that run and we were on our heels." - UNLV head coach Kevin Kruger.

OTHER NOTES:
- UNLV cut its deficit to 14 points with 16 minutes to go, but the Aztecs increased their margin to as many as 23 with 7:45 left.
- UNLV outscored SDSU by nine in the second half and closed the game on a 15-4 run.
- Gilbert shot 7 of 12 from the field and 5 of 5 on free throws, while Harkless made 5 of 12 shots overall, including 3 of 6 on 3-pointers and was 11 of 13 from the free-throw line.
- Muoka made five of his six shot attempts.
- UNLV forced 21 turnovers and recorded 10 steals. It marked the 12th time this season for both occurrences.
- UNLV shot 26 free throws compared to 12 for San Diego State.
- SDSU held a 42-23 advantage in rebounds.
- Seiko, Bradley, Johnson and Mensah combined to shoot 63% from the field for the Aztecs.
- SDSU finished the game shooting 12 of 28 on 3-pointers (42.9%).
- SDSU pulled down 18 offensive rebounds, turning those into 22 second-chance points.
- UNLV led in points off turnovers 21-10.
- SDSU's bench outscored UNLV's 33-23.
- UNLV has made at least one 3-pointer in a NCAA-record 1,186 straight games.

NEXT FOR THE RUNNIN' REBELS: UNLV will return home to host San Jose State on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Center. Tickets may be purchased at UNLVtickets.com, by calling 702-739-FANS (3267) or in person at the Thomas & Mack Center Box Office.

Another lucky UNLV student will win free tuition for a semester, 500 free water bottles will be given away by Toyota, it will be Taco Tuesday on the plaza pregame with free Taco Bell for students and it will be another $2 Beer Night.