Another Dazzling Vegas Show : College basketball: Unbeaten UNLV blows away No. 2 Arkansas with a big run at the start of the second half.

Slumped wearily in his folding chair, his right hand taped and his ankles throbbing, Arkansas center Oliver Miller offered an absolute foolproof way to ensure that No. 1-ranked UNLV doesn’t win another college game this season.

“They need to go to the NBA,” he said.

The sooner, the better, too. The way things are shaping up, next month’s NCAA tournament is looking more like a coronation ceremony and less like a necessity. Trophy engravers already are leaving their business cards with UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian.

This time it was the second-ranked Razorbacks who threw themselves in front of the speeding bus that is undefeated Vegas. Sunday’s final score was 112-105, but it had the feel of something much worse. If blowout isn’t the right word, it’s close.

Down by four points at halftime, UNLV (20-0) would eventually lead by as many as 23 before slowing the pace and allowing a handful of meaningless baskets. By then, nothing mattered--not the 9,640 fans who squeezed into Barnhill Arena, not the mini-fight that sent both UNLV’s Larry Johnson and Arkansas’ Todd Day to the bench with 2:27 left to play, not Miller’s All-American-like 26 points, 14 rebounds, six blocks and six assists.

“It’s a shock,” Miller said. “It’s the first time we’ve been down 20 points in our own house.”

Said soft-spoken Arkansas guard Lee Mayberry, who was four of 15 from the field: “They’re better than what I thought they would be.”

They always are. Still, Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson thought he could unleash his “40 minutes of hell” on UNLV and that would be that. The Razorbacks would press, would run and use a deeper bench to beat Vegas. As an added twist, Richardson would send his guards, Mayberry and Arlyn Bowers, to the offensive boards for rebounds.

He got his 40 minutes of hell, all right: 20 minutes his way, 20 minutes UNLV’s way. In the end, the Rebels’ version of hell hurt considerably more than Arkansas’.

“I don’t know how anyone can play better than we did in the first 17 minutes of the second half,” Tarkanian said.

Actually, UNLV outscored Arkansas, 29-11, in the first seven minutes of that half. That was the run that put the Razorbacks (23-2) in their place and the record Barnhill crowd back in their seats.

Richardson had warned his team during halftime to avoid a slow start. He did the same thing last year when the Razorbacks bolted to another four-point lead against UNLV, only to see it quickly vanish when the second half began.

So much for warnings. UNLV’s Stacey Augmon scored 10 points in Sunday’s decisive seven-minute stretch. He finished with 31 points and eight rebounds and yet, Arkansas’ Day, who was jabbering with Augmon all game, said later, “He didn’t really show me much offense tonight.”

Huh?

Maybe the slightly built Day was a bit unnerved by his near-fight with the 6-7, 250-pound Johnson. If so, he’s forgiven for the Augmon oversight. If not, he can thank Richardson for stating the obvious.

“Augmon is the glue to their team,” Richardson said. “If you want him to rebound, he rebounds. If you want him to score, he scores. He can cover anybody. He’s a great player.”

Meanwhile, Johnson, uncharacteristically quiet in the first half (two of five from the field), scored seven points during that same UNLV second-half run. He got his 25 points by game’s end, but it wasn’t easy. And rest assured that Johnson’s mother, who made the trip from Dallas, will talk to her son about his lack of fighting manners.

“It’s the first time any (UNLV player) got ejected this year and it had to be me,” Johnson said.

There were other UNLV firsts this weekend:

--First time Tarkanian, who was out for a Saturday walk on some Fayetteville back street, saw people turn their cars around and ask him for autographs and picture poses.

--First time Tarkanian, who was making his first visit to Barnhill, admitted that the place might have affected his team. “I’ve never walked in an arena like this before,” he said.

--First time UNLV, which has won 31 in a row, trailed by six points.

--First time Vegas players, frustrated by the first-half deficit, walked off the court with heads down.

“We had to go out and act like we were down 20,” UNLV guard Greg Anthony said. “We had to act like we were desperate.”

It worked. The Runnin’ Rebels began scoring layups and dunks galore, made possible by Richardson’s decision to keep his guards under the boards. As soon as Vegas grabbed a defensive rebound, Anthony, Augmon or Anderson Hunt would zoom downcourt for an easy or uncontested basket.

“I guess they’ve got good enough players that they can release two or three guys,” Mayberry said. “We weren’t really expecting them to run like that.”

Another unexpected event was the play of Miller. Everyone knew he was good, but no one, including Richardson, would have dared predict Miller’s Sunday statistics.

Check that: Miller predicted grand things for himself. He also said that if he played at least 29 minutes, the Razorbacks would win.

Miller played 33 minutes. Sorry, Really Big O--one out of two isn’t bad.

“Hey, Oliver killed them,” Mayberry said. “We wish we could have gotten him the ball more.”

So does Miller, who shrugged his shoulders at the suggestion.

Meanwhile, Arkansas resumes its Southwest Conference schedule, while UNLV resumes its march toward greatness. A month or so from now, who knows? A rematch in the NCAA tournament isn’t out of the question.

A loss by the Rebels, though, might be.