For about 30 minutes, this was a stress test.
Saint Joseph’s, a team that walked into the Mack shooting 26% from three on the season, couldn’t miss from deep, lived at the free-throw line, and briefly stole the lead in the second half. UNLV turned it over 10 times in the first 20 minutes, gave the Hawks life with technical fouls, and had to dig itself out of its own sloppiness.
Then the Rebels decided to lean all the way into who they are.
UNLV closed out a 99-85 win on Wednesday night by overwhelming Saint Joe’s with physicality, rebounding, and one of the cleanest offensive halves this program has played in years: one turnover in the entire second half.
The box score reads like a blueprint:
Rebounds: 58-36 UNLV
Offensive rebounds: 25-12 UNLV
Bench points: 31-11 UNLV
Turnovers: 12-12, but just 2 for UNLV after halftime
UNLV didn’t have to shoot well from three (4-of-15). It just had to keep getting more possessions than Saint Joe’s.
First Half: Ugly Early, Then the Game Tilts
The opening stretch looked like a team still trying to figure itself out on short prep:
Hamilton traveled twice in the first four minutes.
Williamson picked up two early fouls and turned it over on a drive.
Saint Joe’s built a 10-4 lead behind Derek Simpson and Deuce Jones getting downhill, plus a couple early free throws.
At the 14:27 mark, the Hawks led 10-4 and were clearly the more composed group.
The game started to tilt when Pastner went to the bench.
Naas Cunningham steadied things by getting to the line and hitting three free throws to cut it to 10-7.
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn answered a SJU mini-run with a three to tie it at 10-10, then later splashed another triple and a transition dunk to push UNLV ahead.
Tyrin Jones came in and immediately changed the energy: layup off a turnover, offensive glass, physical defense.
UNLV’s first real punch came around the under-4 media timeout. Tied 32-32, the Rebels strung together:
Gibbs-Lawhorn three (35-32)
Gibbs-Lawhorn transition dunk off a Jones steal (37-32)
A couple more free throws and another three from Dra (45-37 at 1:02)
Saint Joe’s answered with a late three from Glover-Toscano and a layup from Dasear Haskins at the buzzer to trim it to 45-40 at half, but the tone had changed. UNLV had taken control of the glass, found some pace, and started to understand the matchup.
The problem: 10 first-half turnovers kept Saint Joe’s around.
Second Half: Saint Joe’s Catches Fire… and UNLV Doesn’t Blink
The second half opened with exactly the kind of sequence that loses you games if you’re not careful.
Simpson scored on the first possession.
Glover-Toscano hit a three.
A Hamilton three answered, but then came the Hamilton tech, a run of Saint Joe’s free throws, and suddenly it was a foul-and-whistle slog.
Saint Joe’s used that window and a ridiculous shooting stretch to punch back:
At the 14:22 mark, Simpson buried a three to cut it to 57-58.
He followed with a layup to give SJU a 59-58 lead at 13:55.. their last of the night.
Deuce Jones then hit a three at 13:03 to make it 62-63.
By the under-12 timeout, the Hawks were 7-of-8 from three in the half and playing with house money. This is a team that has been brutal from deep to start the year; on this night, in this building, they looked like a completely different version of themselves.
UNLV didn’t panic. It just doubled down on its identity.
The Game-Changing Stretch: Rebounds, Rim Pressure, and One Turnover
From the moment Saint Joe’s went up 59-58 at 13:55, UNLV basically put the game in a headlock.
Key stretch:
13:45 - Gibbs-Lawhorn answers instantly with a layup (60-59 UNLV).
13:21 - Fleming scores in transition, takes the foul, and hits the free throw (63-59).
12:06 - Jones slashes for a transition layup; Bannarbie cleans up the missed free throw with a putback at 12:03 (69-62).
11:31 - Dra splits at the line, then hits the second for a 70-62 lead.
10:53 - Walter Brown gets to the rim.
10:21 - Brown again, finishing a cut off a Bannarbie dime (74-66).
9:47 - Brown calmly hits two more free throws to stretch it to 76-66, UNLV’s first double-digit lead.
Saint Joe’s kept hitting just enough threes and free throws to keep it from being a complete runaway, especially Glover-Toscano and Jones, but from that 13:55 mark forward, the math was all Rebels:
UNLV out-rebounded SJU 33-17 in the second half.
The Rebels generated 18 second-chance points overall and just kept stacking them late.
The Hawks, who were scorching from deep, went quiet when it mattered most.
The kill shot came just after the under-8 timeout.
Up 78-77 after a Simpson dunk in transition, UNLV answered with a brutal, physical run:
Williamson and Jones kept attacking the rim.
Bannarbie and Jones lived on the offensive glass. Bannarbie’s tip-in at 6:15 and Jones’ tip-dunk at 4:14 were pure effort plays that broke SJU’s back.
Brown canned a jumper at 3:39 to push it to 92-81, UNLV’s last field goal of the night.
From there, the Rebels closed it at the line. They didn’t make a field goal over the final 3:39 and still stretched the lead to as many as 14, finishing 99-85.
That’s what happens when you own the glass, live in the paint, and stop turning the ball over.
Two Second-Half Turnovers
It’s worth saying again:
First half: 10 UNLV turnovers
Second half: 2 UNLV turnovers
Saint Joe’s couldn’t handle it once UNLV combined:
Clean decision-making
Better spacing
Guard play that prioritized paint touches over hero-ball
Relentless rim pressure that forced 18 team fouls and 49 Rebel free throw attempts
Pastner is going to lose his mind over the 33-of-49 at the line (67.3%), but he’ll live with the volume. This was the first time all season the Rebels paired this level of physicality with this level of ball security.
Individual Standouts
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn - 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists
7-of-16 from the field, 3-of-8 from three, 3-of-4 at the line. Set the tempo early, hit momentum threes, and quietly grabbed eight boards. His defensive rebound at 1:48 to help seal it is the kind of play the box score people skip over but coaches love.
Tyrin Jones - 16 points, 10 rebounds, 6 offensive boards
This was a tone-setting performance. The tip-dunks, the chase-down blocks, the relentless activity. He was everywhere. The 4-of-11 at the line is going to be on the film reel, but everything else screamed “future problem in this league.”
Jacob Bannarbie - 12 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists
4-of-8 from the floor, 11 boards, 4 dimes, and multiple sequences where he controlled possession on both ends. His outlet passing and short-roll reads were big in the second-half surge. This was his most complete game at UNLV.
Howie Fleming Jr. - 12 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists
He stabilized everything. When UNLV was teetering early in the second half, Fleming was the one organizing, driving with purpose, and finding shooters and cutters. His fingerprints are all over that one-turnover half.
Issac Williamson - 14 points, 8-of-9 at the line
3-of-9 from the field, but consistently got into the paint and absorbed contact. His and-one at 5:38 and late free throws were quietly massive in stretching the lead.
Walter Brown - 11 points on 3-of-3 shooting, 5-of-8 FT
Perfect from the floor, aggressive to the rim, and a game-best +18. Every time he checked in, UNLV’s energy and physicality ticked up a notch.
Kimani Hamilton - 9 points, 7 rebounds, big first-half punch
Foul trouble limited the minutes, but he gave them exactly what they needed in the middle of the first half: tempo, transition plays, and extra possessions on the glass.
What This Win Actually Means
This wasn’t a “hot shooting night and hope it holds” kind of win. UNLV:
Won the glass by 22.
Dominated the paint and second-chance points.
Got 32 points from the bench.
Played a two-turnover second half against a team that was red-hot from three for a long stretch.
There are still issues, perimeter defense against shooters, foul volume, and free-throw consistency, but this was the clearest version yet of what a Josh Pastner UNLV team is supposed to look like:
Rebounds, rim pressure, pace, and grown-up decision-making.
If the Rebels can bottle that second half, the physicality, the control, the willingness to bully teams on the glass, this isn’t just a fun nonconference group.
This is a team nobody in the Mountain West is going to want to deal with in February.
