Harris' 20 Not Enough as UNLV Drops Badgers
November 18, 2001 | Men's Basketball
The Wisconsin men's basketball team opened its 2001-02 season tonight with a 74-69 loss to UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev. Freshman Devin Harris scored 20 points for the Badgers, the second-highest point total in UW history for a freshman playing in a season-opener.
The Runnin' Rebels opened the game with a 13-1 run and Wisconsin never got closer than four points after that. UNLV opened its biggest lead of the game, 31-17, with 5:40 left in the first half. The Badgers cut that lead in half by halftime, going on a 12-5 run to end the first stanza.
A 10-3 run early in the second half cut the Badgers' deficit to four points (43-39) but UNLV answered by scoring the game's next six points. After trailing 59-47 with 5:29 left in the game, Wisconsin ran off eight straight points, the last six on consecutive three-pointers by Harris. Harris was 5-8 from beyond the three-point line in the game. After two free throws by the Rebels' Dalron Johnson, a Travon Davis lay-up cut the lead back to four. That was as close as Wisconsin would get, however, as UNLV scored seven of the next nine points to put the game away.
This game marked the UW head-coaching debut for Bo Ryan as well as Charlie Spoonhour's first game at the helm for UNLV. Kirk Penney chipped in 15 points for Wisconsin and Davis scored a career-high 11. Senior Charlie Wills paced the Badgers on the glass, collecting 10 rebounds. Marcus Banks led the way for UNLV, scoring a game-high 21 points while Johnson had 18. Lou Kelly and Chris Richardson added 17 and 15 points, respectively, for the Runnin' Rebels.
Wisconsin bounced back from a poor shooting first half (.355) to shoot 51.9 percent (14-27) from the field in the second stanza. UNLV shot a blistering 61.5 percent in the first half and made 31-55 field goals in the game (.564).
The Badgers are now off to Hilo, Hawaii, to participate in the Big Island Basketball Invitational. Wisconsin plays host Hawaii-Hilo on Friday at 11:30 p.m. CT. Be sure to listen to the game live on UWBADGERS.com.
