Guess it’s save to say that Wink Adams is finally out of his almost month-long shooting slump, huh?

The 6-foot senior from Houston, who ended a 1-for-28 drought from 3-point range with a pair of treys against Santa Clara, put on the finest shooting performance of his UNLV career in Saturday’s 79-64 win over Arizona.

Let the record show that Wink connected on seven consecutive 3-point attempts from the 3:14 mark of the first half until the 8:01 mark in the second half. He did miss a mid-range jumper during that stretch, however, but was perfect behind the arc.

Not so coincidently, UNLV broke open what had been a close game during Wink’s hot streak. The Rebels led by five points, 26-21, when Adams nailed his first trey and were cruising with a 61-46 advantage after he hit his seventh.

Adams finished with a season-high 25 points including 7-of-12 from 3-point range.

Adams said he thought he was in for another long night when he missed his first two treys.

“Honestly, when the game started and I missed those first two three’s I was like, ‘Oh, here we go again … Man it’s going to be a long game,’” Adams said.

But his second 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds left in the half gave UNLV a little breathing room at intermission, 32-27, and seemed to give Adams some much-needed confidence.

“When I went into halftime, my teammates were rubbing my head and told me to keep shooting, we need you in the second half, and to stay aggressive,” Adams said. “The crowd got me into it, the momentum was going and I was just able to knock down some shots.”

Adams said he thought the only other time he shot as well in his career was in UNLV’s 76-61 victory over BYU in last March’s Mountain West Tournament championship game. He scored 23 points that night, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range.

“It was great to see that for Wink,” UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. “Wow. He’s been looking for that type of breakout through really 12 games. … I know there all of a sudden in the second half the bucket looked about four feet across instead as small as its been looking to him.

“We’re a different club obviously when he steps up and adds that dimension.”

Kruger had mentioned in his column in this week’s Rebel Nation that his team was still in search of a breakout game. They finally got it Saturday against the Wildcat squad that was coming off an impressive 69-64 upset of No. 4 Gonzaga.

“I think we took a step or two forward today,” Kruger said.

It was just like the good old days for UNLV basketball fans Saturday afternoon at the T&M.

Although the game wasn’t as close to being a sellout as we were led to believe – sections 212-217 in the upper deck were virtually empty during player intros – the game with the Runnin’ Rebels and Arizona had a NCAA Tourney feel to it.

UNLV leads at the half, 32-27, thanks in part to Wink Adams’ 3-pointer with three seconds to go which sent the T&M crowd into a frenzy.

The Rebels are leading despite getting hammered on the boards by the Wildcats, 25-15. In fact, Arizona has almost as many offensive rebounds (13) as UNLV has rebounds.

Senior Joe Darger has been the MVP for the Rebels, Besides scoring a team-high eight points, the 6-7 Darger spent the final eight minutes back in the post defending Arizona’s 6-10 future lottery pick Jordan Hill after both Darris Santee and Brice Massamba picked up their second fouls. Darger held Hill scoreless for almost six minutes before giving up a short jump-hook basket and rebound layup. Hill had 6 points and 7 rebounds in the half.

Rene Rougeau, Kendall Wallace and Adams all added six points for the Rebels. Rougeau has been remarkable on defense with five blocks and two steals.

With Saturday’s showdown with Arizona nearing sellout, UNLV sent out a press release today announcing the Thomas & Mack Center ticket office will open at 9 a.m. in anticipation for the large crowd for the early noon start. The school is urging fans to order and print their tickets at unlvtickets.com to avoid what could be some long lines at the box office.

For those who can’t roll out of bed that early, the game is also being televised by VERSUS.

Now that’s the Wink Adams we all know.

The preseason Mountain West Conference co-player of the year finally broke out of his month-long slump scoring 16 points and hit consecutive 3-point tries as UNLV (9-2) breezed past a pretty good Santa Clara team, 78-66 at the Thomas & Mack Center on Wednesday night.

UNLV led by as many as 22 points (68-46) with 6:52 to go following back-to-back baskets by senior swingman Rene Rougeau.

The Rebels, who host Arizona on Saturday, also got strong performances by freshman center Brice Massamba and junior forward Darris Santee. Both did a nice job of defending 6-11, 275-pound Santa Clara center John Bryant.

Bryant, who entered the game averaging 18.4 points per game, finished with 12 points but had just two in the second half. He also showed his frustration by elbowing Massamba with five minutes remaining. Officials called double fouls on the play.

The win was the 100th of Lon Kruger’s UNLV head coaching career. He was presented the game ball by his team  when he came into the locker room afterward.

Those who braved the chilly and snowy weather to get to the Thomas & Mack Center tonight were rewarded with UNLV’s finest half of basketball of the season.

The Rebels, playing their first home game since a Nov. 29 loss to Cincinnati, came out with an intensity that had been missing at times this year. And on top of that, the Rebels actually hit their shots for a change while taking a 42-28 lead.

Even Wink Adams.

Adams scored 11 points, including back-to-back 18-foot jumpers that stretched UNLV’s lead to 22-12. But the topper came when he nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, just his second trey in 29 attempts over the last 6 1/2 games.

UNLV was 5-for-11 on treys while shooting 50.0 percent from the floor. The Rebels also forced 10 turnovers.

Freshman center Brice Massamba (5 points, 2 rebounds) played well in seven minutes of action against Santa Clara’s 6-11, 275-pound John Bryant. Bryant, despite picking up two quick fouls, still scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds in just 14 minutes of action.

UNLV’s first basketball game in eight days wasn’t pretty but the Runnin’ Rebels managed to grind out a 70-61 victory over a physical Western Michigan (2-8) team that was whistled for 28 fouls.

Wink Adams led the Rebels with 18 points but continued to struggle with his shooting, at one point missing five straight free throws. Adams also was 0-for-7 from 3-point range and is now 1-for-26 on treys in his last six games.

Freshman center Brice Massamba provided a big lift underneath for the Rebels with eight points while Rene Rougeau added 11.

Wink Adams, Rene Rougeau and Mo Rutledge all scheduled to appear on Lon Kruger’s TV show tonight on Channel 8 at 11:30 p.m.

Very physical game. Wink Adams continues to struggle with his shooting. He missed five straight free throws at one point and is 0 for 6 from 3-point range. Wink is now 1-for-25 on treys in his last six games.

Darris Santee (7 points) and Oscar Bellfield (7 points) both have stepped up as has big Brice Massamba ( 6 points).

Big win for the Wildcats who visit the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday afternoon. A win over Arizona would carry a lot of wait in terms of RPI and potential March Madness seedings.

Rebel shooting woes continue. UNLV missed their first 8 treys until Oscar Bellfield finally connected with 2:46 remaining to give the Rebels a 26-24 lead. UNLV had blown an eight-point lead before that.

Right after Bellfield’s trey, Joe Darger hit a 3-pointer as UNLV ended the half with a 11-3 run.

Wink Adams hit two jumpers in the half, the final one at the buzzer from the left side of the key. However, he was 0-for-5 from 3-point range and just 2-for-4 at the foul line.

Rebels had six steals and forced 11 turnovers. Thanks to some good shooting in the final minutes, UNLV actually shot a respectable 40.6 percent (13 of 32) from the floor.

UNLV held a 18-4 edge in points in the paint. Rene Rougeau the star of the game for the Rebels so far with 8 points, 3 rebounds and two steals.

UNLV 13-7 with 10:59 to go in first half.

Rebels went on a 7-0 run over a 5 1/2 minute stretch. Wink and Rene both had steals and layups to spark the run.

Rene Rougeau, the reigning MWC Player of the Week, picking up where he left off eight days earlier at Nevada with 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal in nine minutes.

DeShawn Mitchell enters the game.

There was a moment of silence before the start for former Rebel star Chris Richardson who died at the age of 28 in Japan last week while touring with the Harlem Globetrotters.

Oscar Bellfield made his second straight start at the point ahead of Tre’Von Willis.

Wink Adams hit his first jumper (18-footer) near the top of the key but missed badly on a three.

It’s 4-4 at the 15:56 mark.

Rumors of the transfer of 7-foot center Beas Hamga have been hot and heavy recently on both rebelnation.net and Rebel-Net on Rivals.com. So it was not a major surprise on Friday morning when UNLV granted the 7-foot freshman center his release from the program.

What was a major surprise is that Hamga was just the third best big man on UNLV’s depth chart and had played a grand total of 26 minutes in just five game appearances for the Rebels.

Hamga was rated the nation’s No. 26 overall prospect in the Class of 2007 by Rivals.com and the fifth best center in the country ahead of folks like current Kansas star Cole Aldrich. He was ranked just three spots behind a forward from Oklahoma named Blake Griffin, considered the potential first pick of the 2009 NBA Draft. In the interest of full disclosure, Scout.com, which runs the rebelnation.net site run by Rebel Nation, did not rank Hamga in its Top 100 but had him No. 22 among center prospects.

After watching him play and practice, even that might be too high.

Hamga is a good shot-blocker with a 9-foot-5 wingspan and pretty good timing. But it was painful to watch him a); Try and catch a ball in the post, and b). try and do something with it if/when he caught it. He also lacked strength to defend players in the post.

In a word, he’s a project, even after sitting out a year at UNLV. It’s funny but I can remember when Hamga signed with UNLV that there were people afraid he’d actually bolt for the NBA after a year.

Maybe Hamga will wind up in the NBA one day … the old saying is you can’t coach height … but he better be prepared to work awfully hard in the weight room and perfecting his offensive game if he wants to have a chance. In that regard, he won’t find a better strength coach than UNLV’s Jason Kabo or a better coaching staff that develops big man talent (ask Lou Amundson and Joel Anthony).

He also better get a whole lot tougher. The one memory that immediately comes to mind when I think of Beas is a play I saw in practice prior to UNLV’s summer trip to Australia last June.

UNLV’s 40-year-old assistant coach Steve Henson, filling in because the Rebels were shorthanded that day, set a routine screen by the free throw line that Hamga, a foot taller and probably 30 pounds heavier, ran into. Hamga fell to the ground like he had been shot and laid there for a few moments before finally getting up.

I looked at a colleague of mine and we both smiled. “I don’t think we need to worry about Beas heading to the NBA soon,” I said with a chuckle.

One other word came to both of our lips. Lets just say it starts with a “w” and rhymes with “chimp.”

“We wish Beas the best,” UNLV coach Lon Kruger said today. “His attitude and work ethic have been outstanding and because of that, we think that he will develop into a very good player.”

Maybe. Personally, I think the Rebels are better off getting that scholarship back.

Right now Beas goes to the top of the list as perhaps the most overrated player in recent UNLV basketball history.