2011 NCAA Tournament Second Round – Southwest Region
#8 UNLV Runnin Rebels vs. #9 Illinois Fighting Illini, Bank of Oklahoma Center, Tulsa, OK
Friday, March 18, 2011, 9:20 pm Eastern, TV: TBS
Opening Line: UNLV Pick’em
Current Line: UNLV -2
Opening Total: 132.5
Current Total: 133
Money Line: UNLV -140 / Illinois +120
The eighth-seeded UNLV Runnin’ Rebels (24-8) have suffered five of their losses against two teams this year and will not have to worry about playing either team unless they get to the Final Four, where they could meet BYU if both teams advance from their respective regions. That is a good problem to have down the road, but right now the Rebels (-2) will need to stay focused on getting past the ninth-seeded Illinois Illini (19-13) in the second round of the Southwest Region on Friday at the Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa.
UNLV lost both meetings with the Cougars during the regular season and also came up empty in all three games against Mountain West Conference tournament champion San Diego State. The Rebels did play the Aztecs tough in every game but still could not get a victory, capped by a 74-72 loss to San Diego State in the tournament semifinals last Friday. They had won their previous six games overall before that setback, going 4-2 against the spread.
Outside of those two opponents, UNLV lost only one additional game to a conference foe (Colorado State 78-63) along with two others on the team’s non-conference slate that also included wins over Wisconsin (68-65), Virginia Tech (71-59) and Kansas State (63-59). Fans in Las Vegas were irate when they found out their team did not get a better seed, mostly because a potential matchup with top seed Kansas is looming in the next round for the third time in four years.
The Rebels were seeded eighth last year as well but did not get past the first round, missing out on an opportunity to face the Jayhawks in the NCAA tournament after losing to #9 Northern Iowa, 69-66. UNLV head coach Lon Kruger will meet his former team in the Illini, who he left after four seasons in 2000 to take the same job with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.
Illinois was a serious bubble team after finishing fifth in the Big Ten and losing to #4 seed Michigan 60-55 as a 3-point favorite in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament last Friday. The Illini led the Wolverines 34-23 at halftime but faded in the second half as star guard Demetri McCamey finished with just 10 points following a streak of 15 or more in six straight games.
McCamey underachieved this season after leading the Big Ten in assists as a junior last year. He reportedly got caught up with rumors about his NBA draft stock and has struggled to keep his focus during his final year of college. That distraction has definitely affected the team, as the Illini have not won consecutive games since January 6. They also covered the spread in their last three games of the regular season but went 0-3-1 ATS in their previous four before that.
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