Some Rebels weren’t surprised by Kentucky draw in NIT

The fact that UNLV, one of the top seven or eight teams not to make the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, got only a No. 5 seed in the Creighton Bracket of the NIT later that day was a big surprise for many around the Thomas & Mack Center who were hoping to host a game Tuesday night.

The top four seeds in each region get to host a first round game. The Rebels? They have to fly all the way to Lexington, Ky., to play Tuesday night against perennial SEC heavyweight Kentucky. The game will start at 6:30 PST and be televised by ESPN.

But some Rebels, including team MVP Rene Rougeau, knew before the bracket was announced they would be headed east.

“It’s funny,” Rougeau said Sunday night. “I was with Chace (Stanback) and Matt (Shaw) got a text from Derrick saying that we were playing at Kentucky. And this was before the TV show had even started.”

Derrick is guard Derrick Jasper, a two-year starter for Kentucky who sat out this season at UNLV after deciding to transfer closer to his Paso Robles, Calif., home.

Obviously Jasper still has some pretty good sources back in the Bluegrass State.

“He’s going to be our best scouting report,” Rougeau said.

The Rebels, who will barely have time to get in a morning practice on Monday before making the long flight over three time zones to Kentucky, will face a Wildcats team that has two first team all-Southeastern Conference players in guard Jodie Meeks and 6-foot-8 forward Patrick Patterson.

“Meeks is a big-time scorer,” UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. “And Patrick Patterson is a tough inside player. They’re very long and athletic and they obviously have a lot of other very good players.”

Meeks ranks fifth in the nation with a 24.7 average and made national headlines when he scored 54 points in a January game at Tennessee, breaking Dan Issel’s 29-year-old school record in the process.

Patterson, one of the nation’s top 10 prep prospects two years ago who turned down schools like Duke, Florida and UConn to sign with the Wildcats, was the only player in the SEC to rank in the top five in both scoring (18.4 ppg) and rebounding (9.2 rpg). So it will be a tough matchup for UNLV, especially with little practice time and a lot of travel.

“We’re definitely glad to get the chance to play again,” Rougeau said.