FSM Recap: UNLV vs Pacific – Game 9 – 2024

UNLV Runnin’ Rebels (5-4) | Pacific Tigers (5-7)

The Runnin’ Rebels defeated Pacific 72-65 on Saturday night. Julian Rishwain scored a season-high 21 points and made a career-high-tying five 3-pointers, while Dedan Thomas Jr. added 16 points at Lee’s Family Forum.

FSM Recap: UNLV vs Pacific - Game 9 - 2024 | Franchise Sports Media — *Photo Credit: Sebastian Del Valle/Franchsie Sports Media*

The UNLV men’s basketball team defeated Pacific, 72-65, Saturday night at Lee’s Family Forum in the Jack Jones Classic in Henderson.

Julian Rishwain scored a season-high 21 points and made a career-high-tying five 3-pointers for the Runnin’ Rebels, while Dedan Thomas Jr. added 16 points with five assists and two steals. Jaden Henley scored 11 points, and Pape N’Diaye collected a career-high ten rebounds.

Henley returned to the lineup for the first time since November 14th when UNLV played Omaha. He had been out with a foot injury.

UNLV led in bench scoring over Pacific’s 26-3 and in points off turnovers with an 18-9 edge. The Runnin’ Rebels also continued their streak of making at least one 3-pointer in an NCAA-record 1,236 straight games.

The Tigers had four players score in double figures, led by Elias Ralph’s double-double: 19 points and 11 rebounds. Lamar Washington had a game-high nine assists.

UNLV improved its all-time record against Pacific to 33-10. The Runnin’ Rebels held Pacific to just 39.7% from the field (23 of 58) and 19.0% on 3-pointers (4 of 21). UNLV shot 44.8% (26 of 58) from the field and 44.4% on 3-pointers (8 of 18).

The stars of the game for UNLV were Rishwain and Thomas Jr., who shot a combined 14 of 27 from the field.

Pacific used an 11-0 run to take its first lead of the game since early in the first half at 42-38 with 13 minutes to play, but UNLV used an 11-1 run over 3:22 to go up 51-45 with just under nine minutes to go. The Runnin’ Rebels held a three-point lead with five minutes left when Rishwain hit back-to-back 3-pointers, both assisted by Thomas Jr., and N’Diaye then made two free throws to give UNLV an 8-0 run and an 11-point lead with 2:27 to play.

Pacific trimmed the deficit to four points on two different occasions from there but would get no closer as the Runnin’ Rebels were able to hold on for the win.

Following the game, UNLV head coach Kevin Kruger said, “I’m really proud of the guys. I thought we did a lot of things that we wanted to do from the scouting report and our approach. They made some really tough shots. We guarded them the way we wanted to and put them into the spots that we wanted to. Our guys didn’t let that affect them too much. When they took the lead, DJ changed gears and ended up being the difference. He made some big-time shots and big-time plays. We came up with some stops to get the lead back, and of course, Julian extended it with back-to-back threes.“

UNLV will now hit the road to take on a tough Dayton team before returning to the Thomas & Mack Center for the annual holiday game against UC Riverside on Saturday, December 21st.

The Runnin’ Rebels will travel to Ohio to play at Dayton on Tuesday, December 17th, at 4 p.m., with the game being shown on Peacock. Make sure you keep coming back to FSM for all your UNLV coverage. Thanks for visiting FranchiseSportsMedia.com for your Las Vegas Sports news today.

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Joe Arrigo

Joe Arrigo is the co-founder and VP of Franchise Sports Media. Joe has been in media since 2004 when he became the morning host on KKUU and mid-days co-host on KXPS in Pam Springs. After his time in Palm Springs, Joe became the operations manager when he built, programmed, and was on-air for KQCM. He has also had stints on-air in various markets, including Fresno. Joe became the producer and co-host for The Beast 980 (KFWB), a sports talk station in Los Angeles, before moving to Vegas in 2015. In 2019 he founded Franchise Sports Media with TQ.