By CHRIS RUSSELL
NEW YORK — A week after receiving a commitment from Radnor (PA) Archbishop Carroll small forward Derrick Jones, UNLV took on Stanford in the first game of the Coaches vs Cancer Classic at Barclays Center.
From the early going, Stanford was in command and would rout the Runnin’ Rebels, 89-60, in a one-sided contest.
Stanford (3-0) will face No. 4 Duke (4-0) in the championship game Saturday at 9:30 p.m., a game in which Cardinal coach Johnny Dawkins will square off against his former coach, Mike Krzyzewski.
The Cardinal jumped out to an early 12-0 lead and never looked back. Stanford controlled the tempo and shot 9-for-13 from behind the arc, giving them a comfortable 52-29 lead going into the half. The Cardinal outrebounded the Rebels, 47-29. UNLV often looked lost and non-cohesive, allowing the Cardinal to shoot 14-for-20 from behind the arc.
“Stanford is a terrific basketball team,” UNLV coach Dave Rice said. “They were fantastic tonight and we were not very good and that combination is what led to the final results.”
Stanford was led by Anthony Brown’s 18 points and nine rebounds, Chasson Randle’s 18 points (all on 3-pointers) and Rosco Allen’s 15 points. Christian Wood paced UNLV with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
“Every experience that this group goes through is new but we don’t talk about youth, we just talk about getting better, learning lessons, moving forward,” Rice said. “Certainly, there was a lesson that was taught and learned tonight abou the experience of Stanford and how good their guards are.”
Rashad Vaughn, a 6-5, 215-pound freshman shooting guard who was a McDonald’s All-American, had trouble finding his groove and scored just seven points on 2-for-9 shooting.
“I was prepared, just came out [to a] slow start,” he told SNY.tv. “Just going to continue working on everything like ball handling and better shot selection.”
Entering the season with a brand new starting five, Rice has rebuilt his team with mostly freshmen and transfers.
Last year’s recruiting class was ranked No. 5 nationally. It consisted of three-top 50 players according to Rivals.com in Vaughn, Dwayne Morgan and Goodluck Okonoboh.
The 6-8 Morgan offers versatility and is able to play the small and power forward positions. Anchoring the interior is the 6-10 Okonoboh, who was heavily recruited by Syracuse, UConn, Ohio State and Indiana.
So despite the brutal loss, there is reason to feel optimism in Las Vegas. Rice, along with assistants Todd Simon and Ryan Miller, has worked hard to upgrade the roster.
Last week, Rice received a recent commitment from Jones, a 6-7 athlete who is a great finisher at the rim.
If Vaughn, projected as the No. 22 pick in 2015 by DraftExpress.com, leaves, Jones could help offset his loss.
“Just when I went up there on my visit, I just stepped on campus and I felt like it was a family there,” he said on ESPNU. “I got to know all the basketball players there, and it just felt like a brotherhood there.”
UNLV also signed Jalen Poyser, a 6-4 point guard from Athlete Institute in Orangeville, Ontario.
The Rebels are still in hot pursuit of top-ranked center Stephen Zimmerman from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman. The 7-footer Zimmerman visited UNLV last weekend. Zimmerman insists that he will not make a decision until February and has also visited Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA.
“When building a program, you obviously have to have great players and guys that are going to want to be coachable and have great work ethic,” Rice told SNY.tv, “and over time they are going to become very good players.”
Photo: (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)
