GAME NOTES: The UNLV Runnin' Rebels return to the Thomas & Mack Center on Wednesday night to entertain the Portland Pilots in a non-conference showdown in the desert.

Back on their home floor for the first time since Nov. 29, the Rebels are hoping to push their current win streak to three in a row as well. Since bowing to Arizona State by a lopsided 77-55 score on Dec. 3, UNLV has defeated St. Katherine at Orleans Arena (113-53) in Vegas and then set down South Dakota in Sioux Falls over the weekend, 75-61.

While the Rebels should be somewhat pleased with their 6-2 mark to this point, the Pilots are showing a record even better than that at 7-2, although they have split the last four outings. After going down against Oregon State in overtime, 65-58, back on Dec. 6 Portland has responded with an 80-75 victory over Sacramento State on Sunday night.

UNLV has won all three previous meetings between the squads, and that includes a 68-60 triumph in Oregon two seasons ago.

In order to overcome 19 turnovers, the Pilots connected on an impressive 52.9 percent of their field goal attempts against the Hornets on the road, not to mention 9-of-20 behind the 3-point line, en route to the five-point victory. Thomas van der Mars knocked down all but one of his 10 field goal tries as he tallied 20 points, to go along with eight rebounds, followed by Bobby Sharp with 16 points. Volodymyr Gerun registered a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Alec Wintering came up a point shy of his own double-double as he handed out 12 assists.

Adding his name to the Portland record books as the latest to score 1,000 points in his career, van der Mars is someone who has the potential to post a double-double every time he takes the floor. He currently averages 10.9 ppg and a team-best 8.2 rpg, his scoring efforts behind only Wintering (11.3 ppg) and an injured Kevin Bailey (13.1 ppg) who is listed as questionable for the meeting against UNLV due to a bruised foot.

The Rebels shot a mere 14-of-24 at the free-throw line and knocked down just 5-of-21 tries from beyond the arc against South Dakota, but thanks to forcing 17 turnovers and limiting the hosts to only 2-of-17 out on the perimeter, the visitors still found their way into the win column. Rashad Vaughn accounted for a team-best 18 points for UNLV, followed by Jelan Kendrick and Patrick McCaw with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Christian Wood was on the floor just 22 minutes due to foul problems but still managed to post 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Vaughn, who has led UNLV in scoring this season more often than not, accounts for 16.4 ppg even though he is shooting only 28.9 percent on the outside and 62.5 percent at the charity stripe. Wood checks in with another 13.0 ppg and 9.6 rpg, but he too is a liability at the charity stripe (.605) and yet the team as a whole is shooting even worse at the line (.589) which is quite hard to believe.

Historically this would probably be an easy win for the Runnin' Rebels, but this is a different time and Portland is by no means an easy target. With that said, as long as the Pilots don't shoot themselves in the foot, this could end up as a major feather in their cap.