Tyrin Jones returns to lead Runnin’ Rebels past Missouri in final exhibition

The three exhibition games are over, the three tests against Power 4 opponents, the three opportunities to see what type of team UNLV basketball might have this season.

Sure looked like more than a capable one Thursday night.

The Runnin’ Rebels beat Missouri 90-81 at Thomas & Mack Center, where Tyrin Jones made the most of his first game action since last year’s NIT.

The UNLV sophomore scored a team-high 21 points to go along with eight rebounds, two blocks and four steals in 23 minutes.

The Rebels still weren’t at full strength, including senior transfer guard AJ Storr continuing to be NCAA ineligible. Storr joined a case with several other athletes in Texas this week but was not granted an injunction to play as of late Thursday night.

If he fails to get one there, he will take his case to a different state.

The Rebels would use a 10-0 run early in the second half to take a 53-52 lead, their first advantage since 35-33 with just over four minutes remaining in the first half.

UNLV would increase its lead to 10 when Cam Miles banked in a 3 with under 12 minutes remaining. It would then grow to 15.

But the Tigers would cut the deficit to five when Jones made one of the game’s biggest plays, following his fourth steal with a thunderous dunk while being fouled.

He made the free throw for an eight-point lead with 1:19 remaining and that was that. A 49 percent shooter from line last season, Jones made 5 of 6 Thursday.

Return of Tyrin

Missouri led 48-43 at halftime in which the officials certainly got use of their whistles over the opening 20 minutes.

In all, 24 fouls were assessed in a half where each team reached the double bonus.

It all marked the return of Jones to action for the Rebels, the 6-foot-10 forward having played all of last season with an injured shoulder.

He would be his active self early on, totaling 13 points, five rebounds and two steals over just 11 minutes of the half. He had sat out previous exhibition losses against Utah and BYU.

But there is an obvious difference with him on the floor. He had eight of UNLV’s first 14 points by doing what he does best — scoring from inside and adding hustle points.

“What I loved about today is we learned how to win,” UNLV coach Josh Pastner said. “I thought that was a real positive for us. Our guys are going to play hard. That’s the standard. That’s a non-negotiable. What we can control and the fans are going to demand is our effort and how we compete.

“We got a lot out of these (three) games. We’ve been able to see things we do well and things we have not done well and need to get better at. I really like our group.”

It starts for real on Tuesday night against Northern Arizona at the Thomas & Mack, where Pastner hopes Las Vegas will show out to support the Rebels.

And now the games count.

Fan base

“I’ll say it again — the professional teams in this city are owned by individual owners,” Pastner said. “Our owners are the fan base. The stakeholders of this team is the fan base. We need them to get to the arena and see the team play. This is their team. I recognize that.”

And now it begins (again). UNLV trying to play well enough that games in March will eventually matter. That this might be the year it returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.

Long ways to go but the goal is obvious.

Let the madness begin.

Contact Ed Graney at [email protected]. Follow @edgraney on X.