For UNLV basketball coach Josh Pastner, his first year at the helm of the Rebels was a lesson in embracing the unexpected.
When his team’s flight back to Las Vegas was grounded Friday night due to mechanical issues and forced an unexpected sleepover in California following an 89-86 loss at San Diego State to close the regular season, it was par for the course.
Pastner quickly noted that it was better for his team to be on the ground wishing it was in the air instead of vice versa, a perspective that easily supported him in drawing parallels between the travel delay and the Rebels’ up-and-down season.
“Roller coaster is the metaphor,” Pastner told the Review-Journal. “But our valleys on the roller coaster aren’t as deep anymore.”
Friday’s loss was an illustration of that idea. The Rebels were just a 3-pointer away from taking one of the Mountain West’s best teams to overtime, a major improvement after they failed to present a competitive effort against the Aztecs in a 82-71 loss on Jan. 24.
The Rebels started the season with a 6-6 record from November until December, including three straight losses. The team was without two key transfers, guard Myles Che and 6-foot-8 forward Ladji Dembele, who were ruled out for the year due to offseason injuries.
After a four-game losing streak concluded on Feb. 3, the Rebels looked like a new team and won six of their last nine, including impressive wins over Boise State and Mountain West leader Utah State to close the season.
“I wish we could have November and December back. We just had some early slipups. We had our starting point guard and our starting center injured the entire year,” Pastner told reporters as he reflected on the freshly concluded season. “It took us time for guys to get prone to different positions. But bottom line, this team has gotten better. That’s all you can ask.”
This is San Diego State’s final year in the Mountain West before it joins the Pac-12 for the 2026-27 season. San Diego State and UNLV are expected to continue the series at Viejas Arena next season with a return game at Thomas & Mack Center during the 2027-28 season.
“It’s important for the West Coast that San Diego State and UNLV continue to play. San Diego State has been the gold standard. We’re trying to build the program back,” Pastner said. “When I got the job, they told me it was gonna be a rebuild. It was a bigger rebuild than I thought when I first walked in… We’ve got to catch up to San Diego State and we have our work cut out to do that.”
Gibbs-Lawhorn’s case for Mountain West POY
The defining adjustment of the season was Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn stepping up to play out of position as point guard for the Rebels in Che’s absence.
Gibbs-Lawhorn scored 32 points on 11-of-22 shooting in Friday’s loss, officially ending his first year at UNLV as the Mountain West’s leading scorer with 21 points per game.
Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher praised Gibbs-Lawhorn postgame, expressing relief that the 6-foot-1 transfer guard from Illinois couldn’t get off a potentially game-tying 3-pointer before the final buzzer.
“Really good team,” Dutcher said of UNLV. “Gibbs-Lawhorn is as good as any player in the country. He made 32 look easy against us, and I’m glad he fumbled the last one.”
The Rebels are waiting on the conclusion of Saturday’s Mountain West action to determine their final seeding in the Mountain West conference tournament. When it begins on Wednesday, UNLV is sure to enter the competition somewhere between No. 5 and No. 8.
Pastner lamented that reality due to Gibbs-Lawhorn otherwise having a strong case for Mountain West player of the year.
“I really believe he deserves Player of the Year,” Pastner said. “Look at his size and what he’s done at the efficiency rate. I wish our team had one more to be in the top four, and I understand that. But if you take that out, just the individual talent on the individual year, based on the efficiency. I think he deserves it, but we’ll see.”
Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Callie__Fin on X.
