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2009–10 UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's basketball team

2009–10 UNLV Rebels men's basketball
UNLV Rebels wordmark.svg
NCAA Tournament, First Round
Conference Mountain West Conference
2009–10 record 25–9 (11–5 Mountain West)
Head coach Lon Kruger
Assistant coach Greg Grensing
Assistant coach Steve Henson
Assistant coach Lew Hill
Home arena Thomas & Mack Center
Seasons
← 2008–09
2010–11 →
2009–10 Mountain West Conference men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
#8 New Mexico 14 2   .875     30 5   .857
#17 BYU 13 3   .813     30 6   .833
UNLV 11 5   .688     25 8   .758
San Diego State 11 5   .688     25 9   .735
Colorado State 7 9   .438     16 16   .500
Utah 7 9   .438     14 17   .452
TCU 5 11   .313     13 19   .406
Wyoming 3 13   .188     10 21   .323
Air Force 1 15   .063     10 21   .323
2010 MWC Men's Basketball Tournament winner
As of March 20, 2010; Rankings from AP/Coaches Poll

The 2009–10 UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team represented the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The team was coached by Lon Kruger, returning for his sixth year with the Runnin' Rebels. They played their home games at the Thomas & Mack Center on UNLV's main campus in Paradise, Nevada and are a member of the Mountain West Conference. The Runnin' Rebels finished the season 25–9, 11–5 in MWC play. They advanced to the championship game of the 2010 Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Tournament before losing to San Diego State. They received an at–large bid to the 2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, earning an 8 seed in the Midwest Region, where they lost to 9 seed Northern Iowa in the first round.

Coach Lon Kruger signed a three-man class for 2008, including the #4 ranked prospect out of Nevada (#66 Rivals, #80 Scout, #85 ESPN), shooting guard Anthony Marshall of North Las Vegas, power forward Carlos Lopez of Henderson and shooting guard Justin Hawkins out of Woodland Hills, California. UNLV also signed power forward Quintrell Thomas, who transferred to UNLV from Kansas.

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On November 28, 2009, the team defeated #16 Louisville and became ranked nationally the following week. After defeating Arizona in double overtime, 74–72, on December 2, 2009, UNLV marked their first 6–0 start since the 1992–93 season and defeated Santa Clara on December 5 to move to 7–0, their best start since going 34–0 in 1990–91 and losing to Duke in the Final Four. UNLV would raise to #17/18 by the time they took on Kansas State on a neutral court at the Orleans Arena. As in the previous two games, UNLV's sloppy first half play allowed their opponent to jump to an early lead. Unlike in the games against Arizona and Santa Clara, UNLV was unable to move back in front and would lose their first game of the season, 95–80. UNLV's loss to Kansas State would drop them to #23 in the Coaches poll and knock them out of the AP poll all together. The Runnin' Rebels were able to rebound from the loss with a road win at Southern Utah, and home wins against Weber State and South Carolina – Upstate, before heading to Hawai'i for the inaugural Diamond Head Classic.


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