'The Sting': Anatomy of a turnaround
Las Vegas Sun - Las Vegas,NV,USA

After stumbling early in league play, mistakes — and how to correct them — sinking in By Rob Miech

UNLV head coach Lon Kruger goes over strategy during a timeout at the Thomas and Mack Center on Jan. 24 as the Rebels took on the Utes. UNLV came out on top 75-65.

Ryan Greene and Rob Miech, fresh off of their whirlwind trip back from Colorado Springs, talk about UNLV's 59-38 triumph over Air Force on Saturday afternoon. The ever-evolving Rebels were paced by the zone-busting 3-point shooting of Joe Darger and Kendall Wallace, while Tre'Von Willis used their marksmanship to help build his way to 11 assists. Plus, the guys take a quick look ahead at Tuesday's home date with San Diego State.
UNLV had been winning, but the victories weren't convincing.

The Rebels turned it over 18 times both at Fresno State and at home against Northern Arizona. They had 14 turnovers at UNR. They shot 37 percent against North Carolina A&T.

Worse, they weren't learning as they were winning in a less-than-convincing manner.

There was no sting to their mistakes.

"We talked about that very thing," said UNLV assistant coach Greg Grensing. "Habits that were reinforced weren't very good. There were bad habits we were getting away with and still winning games.

"We hoped we could learn from a win … while they cost us baskets, they didn't cost us a game. They cost us possessions, but didn't cost us a game. We were fortunate."

That fortune ran dry at TCU and at Colorado State, when the Rebels' cruise-control mentality cost them dearly, plummeting them to 1-2 in the Mountain West Conference.

The euphoria of blasting Arizona at home and squeaking one out at Louisville on New Year's Eve evaporated between Jan. 10 and Jan. 14.

In reality, those back-to-back defeats to the Horned Frogs and Rams were the best thing to happen to UNLV.

"Because we were winning, it wasn't reinforced," Grensing said. "You can show (a miscue) on film, but it didn't have the sting to it that it has when you get beat.

"And it's almost never physical things that are the real problem. It's the responsibility, knowing you're responsible. That comes from mental preparation. You've been held accountable."

Those losses allowed fifth-year coach Lon Kruger and his staff to begin molding the team in a manner that would sink in.

That has sunk in.

The Rebels (17-4, 5-2 in the Mountain West) returned to Las Vegas on Sunday morning with a four-game winning streak after dousing Air Force by 21 points on Saturday.

After practice Sunday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center, Kruger said teams win because they make good things happen –- they don't win just because good things happen for them.

They make good things happen for them.

He further illustrated his point by gritting his teeth, a la Clint Eastwood.

"The other team doesn't let you win," Kruger said. "You have to go out and take it. You have to go out and earn it.

"I think, for much of this season, leading into our first few conference games, we didn't grasp that with the conviction you need to."

Bad habits

Greg Grensing, 51, started working for Kruger 25 years ago, when Kruger was about to begin his third season at Texas-Pan American. This is Grensing's third stint with Kruger.

Grensing knows Kruger's systems and philosophies, every wrinkle and option, so well, he can finish sentences that Kruger starts in practice. He knows where players should be at all times.

More than Steve Henson and Lew Hill, Grensing is the lieutenant most apt to bark at a UNLV player, telling him what he doesn't want to hear.

He knew the Rebels had been skating.

"It takes a very mature group of players to really grow while they're winning eight games in a row," Grensing said. "We got to eight in a row, then played at TCU.

"I think some of our growth had been stunted, because of those wins and reinforcement of bad habits."

Grensing breaks it down to simple terms. When UNLV flew to Dallas for its game at Fort Worth against TCU, the Rebels were 13-2. It was an aberration.

They had just beaten Louisville on Oscar Bellfield's last-second bank shot. They had defeated New Mexico at home despite faltering, sinking only two of seven free throws, at the end.

"Mentally, they just weren't sharp every possession," Grensing said. "Say you have nine guys playing constantly in a rotation and each one of them has a mental breakdown, defensively, and one offensively.

"Start adding those things up. You suddenly go from having maybe 10 turnovers in a game to 16 or 18. That's what happened."

At TCU, UNLV did not do a good job of recognizing shooters on the perimeter, of taking a step or two away from a non-shooter to further hound that player who was more likely to launch a shot.

At Colorado State, Kruger's staff drilled the Rams' new offensive sets into the Rebels. When the ball was reversed, the Rebels needed to be physical, "get into" their opponents.

"Because they'll backdoor us," Grensing said. "That didn't translate. There wasn't enough urgency. All of a sudden, we're giving up those things … then giving up something else.

"They weren't real sharp. You can't fake that. It's that intent."

That's what happens with 18- to 22-year-olds, he said. They'll take the path of least resistance. If something can be done in an easier manner, well, human nature takes over.

"They'll try to do it that way," Grensing said. "What happened to us is, they found out that trying to do it that way, they lost control of the very thing that the game comes down to.

"It's playing harder than your opponent. Obviously, you want to talk about playing smarter. But at the base of everything, the team that plays the hardest will win a high percentage of games."

Grensing said the staff believed seniors Wink Adams, René Rougeau and Joe Darger would "figure it out," and that would permeate throughout the rest of the Rebels.

Didn't exactly happen.

TCU and Colorado State exposed UNLV's small margin of error, regarding a regular-season conference championship if not hopes for postseason success.

"That was gone," Grensing said. "Whether that was a realistic conversation at that point, we had to string together the first win, then the second. We couldn't look too far down the road.

"We couldn't say, if we get to 6-2, then we'll be in pretty good shape. Well, you've lost two in a row. The last thing you can do is look down the road at opponents two and three games away."

UNLV was 1-2 in the league when it came home to play Wyoming. During those two critical practice days, after Colorado State and before the Cowboys, Adams endured the roughest session of his career.

Buckets of sweat poured off him and others, as the practice, with the regulars only playing defense, continued.

There was no room for error.

"Their way wasn't working, so they were more likely to listen and hear now," Grensing said, "and not just be there and nod their heads and say, 'Yeah, that's what we have to do.'"

The Rebels thumped Wyoming by 17, turned a 15-point deficit at BYU into a nine-point victory, trailed Utah by 12 before winning by 10 and convincingly won both halves at Air Force.

Kruger said it's his job to help his players understand what they need to do to be successful, as opposed to just telling them what to do.

"I talk to them a lot about that," he said. "It's easy to identify what we need to do. It's tougher for what they have to do, putting it into action and getting results.

"They have to make it work. That's what I pitch to them all the time."

Attention getter

TCU and Colorado State might have scared the three UNLV senior starters –- Adams, Darger and Rougeau –- straight.

"With the time they've invested, they want this to be a special year," Grensing said. "With all the accolades and expectations, the 'getting better' part was lost."

Talk of being ranked among the nation's top 25 programs and being picked to win the league in a preseason media poll rang that "getting better" credo hollow.

"Whatever goes on in those minds, it has a whole different element to it when you've lost a game or two and you see the season slipping away," Grensing said. "You have 12 games to go, then 10 … you don't want it to be that way."

Kruger told his players, after that loss to Colorado State, that if the Rebels stumble and finish third, fourth or fifth in the league, his life isn't going to change a whole lot.

But this is this team's only chance to perform together as a group. For the seniors, Kruger said, there will never be anything like this again.

So understand, Kruger told them, by not preparing well, what you're exchanging is all those feelings and memories. Your legacy.