The Mountain West could be a tricky conference this year in college hoops, and the UNLV Runnin' Rebels are a big part of the reason for that. They won 18 games last season and brought in an incredibly talented freshman class this year, and that's why many believe they have a great shot in a de facto home game against the Oregon Ducks on Friday night.
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HOW THE OREGON DUCKS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Oregon is going to be leaving Eugene for the first time this year on Friday, and the challenge is going to be a legitimate one. However, this isn't beyond the Ducks, and they argument could be made that they should win games like these against teams they're more talented than.
Playing fast is going to be the real key. UNLV's youngsters probably aren't keeping up with the Ducks if they look like a bunch of green and yellow blurs on the court. Tyler Dorsey is the key to that as the catalyst for this offense.
Oregon has five legitimate ball handlers out there on the floor at any given time though, and that's part of the reason why they can move so quickly. UNLV is going to try to bog this game down just a bit at times, but with four different men averaging at least a steal per game, the Ducks can turn the tempo up in a hurry and turn those steals into transition points.
HOW THE UNLV RUNNIN' REBELS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
The Rebs have to find a way to get into the paint and challenge Chris Boucher. It's going to be easier said than done, knowing that the big man is averaging over four blocks per game in the early going, but it's possible.
That means that Derrick Jones, Stephen Zimmerman Jr. and Ben Carter have played with almost a sense of reckless abandon in the painted area.
When the ball kicks back out, Patrick McCaw has to hit his shots. He's done a remarkable job of that this year, scoring 19.0 points per game and shooting 46.7 percent from deep, though it should be noted that he and Jones are really the only three-point shooters this squad possesses.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
There's going to be too much talent here on the Oregon side for the Runnin' Rebels to handle. McCaw could have a nice game, while Jones, Jerome Seagears and Zimmerman are all capable scorers too, but this is the first time these men have seen a legit Top 25 team on the other side of the court, and we don't like the chances of a good reaction.
The Ducks have plenty of veterans who have been in spots like this before, and as we said, this is a game they're expected to win and win easily. They'll be in a fight for 20 minutes or so, but in the end, the speed and the fact that anyone on the court can shoot the ball from anywhere at any given time will be enough for the visitors to win by double digits.
Oregon 78, UNLV 64
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