By CHRIS RUSSELL
NEW YORK — A day after losing to Stanford by 29 points, UNLV bounced back with a 57-50 Victory over the Temple Owls at the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Barclays Center.
Much of UNLV’s success came from the courageous performance of 6-foot-11 sophomore Christian Wood, who went for 18 points on 8-for-15 shooting and 13 rebounds.
“We got to the locker room [at halftime] and the team told me I had to grab more rebounds, had to play harder and that they need me to play harder,” Wood said.
With close to 50 NBA personnel on hand, the forward from Long Beach, Calif., left a good impression.
“Wood has great length, very good effort tonight, built for the game, hands better than expected, rebounds, blocks shots and dunk,” an NBA scout in attendance told SNY.tv Saturday night. “Great upside as he gets stronger and realizes how good he can be.”
After trailing 27-24 at the half, Wood put the Rebels on his shoulders with 16 second-half points.
“He made one drive to the rim that went by three of our guys,” Temple head coach Fran Dunphy said. “His athleticism in addition to his size is outstanding. He decided he was going to take his team to win the game today. I thought it was a mentality, as good as athlete as he is and as good basketball player he is, his mentality was, I was not going to lose this game today.”
UNLV Guard Cody Doolin sparked UNLV in crucial moments and added 10 points and five assists. Freshman shooting guard Rashad Vaughn continued to struggle, scoring seven points on 2-for-10 shooting. He often settled for tough shots and lacked intensity on the defensive side, often allowing his man to beat him off the dribble.
