Arena Adventures: Thomas & Mack Center

Arena Adventures: Entry #6

Arena: Thomas & Mack Center
City: Las Vegas, NV
Date: December 18, 2010
Teams: #22 UNLV vs. Southern Utah

As a work trip to Utah took me out west and the closest airports were Las Vegas or Salt Lake City (tough choice…I know), I flew into Vegas and decided I would catch a game at the Thomas & Mack. As the Thomas & Mack had hosted the NBA All-Star Game a few years back, I had fairly high expectations of the arena and its amenities for patrons. Turns out that the Thomas & Mack is a lot more of a college arena than a pro arena, that is for sure. The arena had a fairly standard bowl setup to previous basketball-only locales I have attended such as Crisler Arena at the University of Michigan or Assembly Hall for the University of Illinois. The seating bowl was quite steep in both the upper and lower levels, however, giving all fans a feeling of being close to the action…or a sense of “if I fall I’m heading straight down to the court.”

The highlight of the night had to be the extensive pregame introductions UNLV utilizes to kick off the game and pump up the fans. From rolling out a red carpet to bring the team out of the locker room to the flames from the top of the backboards and fireworks from above the scoreboard, one might have forgotten this game was being played indoors. I think the pyrotechnics show lasted a good five minutes and the smoke lingered for another 5 minutes of game action, creating a haze in the arena that was equal parts hilarious and unsettling.
Once the ball was tipped, both teams got off to an incredibly slow start, missing shots from all over the court. This wasn’t the best start for a UNLV team coming off back to back losses, including a home setback to UC-Santa Barbara. As the first half progressed, UNLV threw on a full-court press that the Southern Utah Thunderbirds simply could not handle. SUU struggled to get the ball across half-court and by the time they did and got set up, there was typically 15 seconds or less on the shot clock. As a result, the Runnin’ Rebels were able to build a 37-18 halftime lead. While UNLV star Tre’von Willis had a less than stellar first half, teammates Oscar Bellfield and Chace Stanback picked up the slack to lead the way. The second half brought more of the same for both UNLV and SUU, as UNLV kept pressing en route to a 72-50 win. This was a key game for UNLV to get back on track heading out to the Sprint Center in Kansas City (see Arena Adventures Entry 2 for discussion about the Sprint Center) to take on the Kansas State Wildcats in a nationally televised tilt.