UNLV Runnin' Rebels Head Coach Josh Pastner: "I Can’t Get On The Floor To Play For Them"

The UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's basketball team suffered another brutal loss in their most recent matchup against their in-state rivals, the Nevada Wolf Pack, by a score of 89 - 76. UNLV has now lost three games in a row and dropped to 5 - 5 in Mountain West Conference play, dropping them completely out of the regular-season conference championship picture. Following the loss, Rebels head coach Josh Pastner spoke about the game and his struggling team.

UNLV Runnin' Rebels Head Coach Josh Pastner On His Team's Loss To The Nevada Wolf Pack

"The end of the first half we missed a lot of layups, where we could have taken the lead, and then the start of the second half was the difference," Pastner said. "We left a lot of points on the board at the end of the first half and then the start of the second half we had some turnovers where we didn't gets shots up. Just unforced errors and they went down the other way and obviously took advantage of it. We also didn't get enough paint presence from our five-men and we needed more rim protection. Not having Tyrin (Jones) in there made a big difference."

Pastner On The Rebels Having Little To No Hope Of Being In Contention For The Mountain West Conference Regular-Season Title

“My heart hurts right now. Really, my heart hurts. I feel pains in my heart,” Pastner said.

Pastner On The Importance Of Each And Every Possession

“I can’t get on the floor to play for them, so I’ve got to have the guys to understand; it’s life or death every possession.”

Pastner On The Rebels' Current Record

“Not an acceptable record at all for UNLV Runnin’ Rebel men’s basketball at all, I get that. And that’s on me. We’ve got 10 games before we play the conference tournament. So we’ve gotta see — can we get better, improve, clean some things up, hold the fort down until Tyrin gets back, and let’s see what we can do to be better than 5-5.”

Pastner On The Team's Subpar Defense

“We weren’t good defensively. There was no defense. What really started off the second half was our first four possessions. We turned it over. And you can’t (do that) at this level.”

Pastner On Guard Howie Fleming Jr

“He’s gonna be better for us. He’s been a stat sheet stuffer this year, but 1-for-6 (from the field) with two turnovers in 22 minutes, we need more from Howie.”

Pastner On How He Feels About Their Current Group Of Players

“I love our group. We’ll continue to get better. We’re going to figure it out. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. No one can save us but ourselves. We’ve got to just get back to the drawing board.”

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