UNLV Plays It Cool, Turns Up Heat, 71-57 : Big West: Rebels fall behind by eight before beating Irvine.

The 1991-92 version of the Nevada Las Vegas team has at least one trait that is reminiscent of the dominant UNLV teams of the past two seasons. The Rebels like to relax in warmups.

Coach Jerry Tarkanian doesn’t mind that so much as he minds this team’s tendency to start slowly once the game begins. UNLV trailed UC Irvine by eight points in the first half Saturday before taking a four-point halftime lead and turning it up in the second half to send Irvine to a 71-57 defeat in front of a sellout crowd of 5,006.

“We start every game like we’re real cool guys,” said Tarkanian, who is in his last season at UNLV and was given a rousing pregame ovation. “It seems like we start every game down 10. We don’t get excited in warmups. Last year’s team didn’t either, but it got excited at the start of the game. These guys don’t get excited ‘til they’re down 10. We’re too lackadaisical.”

The Rebels trailed Cal State Fullerton by two at halftime in a victory Thursday night.

Against Irvine, UNLV (10-2 overall, 2-0 in the Big West Conference) opened the second half with a 16-5 run, and added an 8-0 run midway through the half for good measure. The Rebels led by as many as 21 points, shooting 72.7% in the second half.

J.R. Rider scored 18 points, and 7-foot center Elmore Spencer added 14 points and nine rebounds.

Irvine led, 27-19, with under nine minutes left in the first half, mostly on the strength of five three-pointers and two three-point plays.

The Anteaters (3-8, 0-2) shot 29% in the game, making 20 of 68 shots, but made 10 of 26 three-pointers.

Irvine missed leading scorer and rebounder Elgin Rogers, who watched in street clothes serving a one-game suspension Coach Rod Baker said was for personal reasons. Rogers said it was a disciplinary measure, “to set an example for the younger players.”

Rogers is averaging 13 points and 6.6 rebounds a game.

UNLV, which started in a man defense, switched to a zone, and Irvine’s offense was stymied.

“I thought our zone defense forced some terrible shots,” Tarkanian said. “They worked to get shots, using 30 seconds off the clock, but they’d still end up with a bad shot.”

Jeff Von Lutzow had 18 points for Irvine, making seven of 15 shots--four of seven three-pointers. Keith Stewart finished with 12 points, but made only four of 17 shots.

“You’ve probably been hearing about how they lost a bunch of first-round picks from last year, but that ain’t a bad team,” Baker said.