UNLV will be the exact opposite type of opponent that Wright State was for the University of Cincinnati. The Runnin' Rebels are more athletic, will apply more pressure defensively and want to attack the basket.

        UC beat Wright State by 29 points Tuesday night. This should be a different kind of game.

LINEUPS

CINCINNATI Player Ht Yr PPG I. McElroy 6-4 Sr. 8.0 Jason Maxiell 6-7 Fr. 5.0 Donald Little 6-11 Jr. 6.0 Leonard Stokes 6-6 Jr. 14.0 Steve Logan 6-0 Sr. 26.0 Coach: Bob Huggins (302-97, 13th season; 470-169, 21st overall). UNLV Player Ht Yr PPG Chris Richardson 6-6 Sr. 8.5 Dalron Johnson 6-9 Jr. 23.5 Omari Pearson 6-8 So. 2.5 Marcus Banks 6-1 Jr. 16.0 Vince Booker 6-1 Sr. 3.5 Coach: Charlie Spoonhour (2-0, first season; 351-171, 17th overall).

        Point guard Marcus Banks and forward Dalron Johnson are the UNLV players most likely to give the Bearcats problems when the teams meet today at Shoemaker Center.

        Johnson, a 6-foot-9 junior, is averaging 23.5 points a game, including a career-high 29 points in just 19 minutes against Nicholls State on Tuesday night. He is shooting 65.6 from the field.

        One of Johnson's uncles died earlier in the week and he returned home to Los Angeles on Wednesday. He rejoined the team Friday in Cincinnati.

        The 6-1 Banks may have been the best junior-college point guard in the country last season. He is the Runnin' Rebels' No.2 scorer (16 ppg).

        “He's really fast,” UC assistant coach Dan Peters said. “He's a lot like (Kenny) Satterfield is in terms of really pushing the ball.”

        “They've got the makings of what's going to be a heck of a team,” UC coach Bob Huggins said. “This is more the way all of our games are going to be.”

        UNLV is off to a 2-0 start, defeating Wisconsin (74-69) and Nicholls State (97-54) at home. The Rebels are shooting 58.5 percent from the field as a team. Three starters are shooting better than 65 percent.

        Charlie Spoonhour, hired in March, is the seventh UNLV coach since Jerry Tarkanian, whose teams were 509-105 in 19 years. Rollie Massimino, Tim Grgurich, interim coaches Howie Landa and Cleveland Edwards, Bill Bayno and Max Good followed.

        Spoonhour is trying to restore pride to the tradition-rich program that has produced Sidney Green, Reggie Theus, Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony, Isaiah Rider, Keon Clark and Shawn Marion.

        “I don't want to give anybody the impression that this team is in midseason form or anything like that, because we're not, but what we have is a bunch of guys who are trying to learn a new system and are working at it,” Spoonhour said. “They've given us good effort.

        “We were fortunate. We caught Wisconsin breaking in a new team. Then Nicholls State came in, and they had some people out. We played hard and we shot the ball well in those two games. We're a long way from being ready for a Cincinnati or anybody like that. But we haven't got any choice. We have to play.”

        Spoonhour is most concerned that this is his team's first road game and it's at The Shoe, of all places.

        He is also worried about UC's size inside. UNLV's front line is 6-8 Omari Pearson and 6-6 Chris Richardson; the Bearcats have 6-11 Donald Little and 6-7 Jason Maxiell. Jamaal Davis, UC's 6-8 senior who left the team for two days and did not play against Wright State, will see action today.

        “They're not real big guys,” Peters said of UNLV's inside players. “They're not real physical guys. But they're good athletes. They move good. They run real well. They get on the boards. But as we have proved many times with this group, size is no factor.”

        PARTY TIME: The first of six “Jam Sessions” — the basketball version of Bearcat Village — is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. today. There will be food, drinks and entertainment in the Laurence Hall gym. Other Jam Sessions will be Dec.1 (11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 4-6p.m.), Dec.8 (4p.m.), Jan.19 (Noon), Feb.15 (7 p.m.) and Feb.22 (5 p.m.).

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