UNLV Basketball on Fire: Runnin’ Rebels and Lady Rebels Surge Into March

Both the men's and women's UNLV basketball programs have been red hot to close out the regular season. The men's Runnin' Rebels have won five of their last six games, while the Lady Rebels have dominated Mountain West Conference play, losing just one game all season.

Both teams are ready for tournament play in March, but they are still focused on the task at hand before they get there. Their local Channel 13 Sports caught up with them following practice before their final regular season games and they gave their take on the season that has been and what's still to come.  

Runnin' Rebels senior Jalen Hill gave his thoughts on Senior Night, saying, "Growing up here, growing up and watching guys, going to games as a kid and watching the Mack get filled out and living out a dream means everything.”  

Men's head coach Kevin Kruger spoke about how his team has overcome the loss of their star guard Dedan Thomas Jr in recent weeks, “When you’ve got guys in and out of the lineup, it’s a lot easier to kind of focus on the defensive side. As the games kind of add up here with two left, we’ll have a lot more offensive possessions, that we hopefully just continue to improve efficiency.”  

On the women's side, senior Alyssa Brown expressed how she feels heading into her final March, saying that the Lady Rebels are, "Hungrier than ever. I’m a senior, this is my last chance to put on a show for Vegas, so that’s all we’ve been talking about.” 

“Our message to the team is — you’ve worked too hard in August, September, October, months and months ago, to stop what you’re doing now," Lady Rebels Head Coach Lindy La Rocque said. "You’ve worked too hard, so let’s finish this thing out."