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All those steals and turnovers sent UNLV off and runnin' for a string of easy baskets against TCU.
Tre'Von Willis had 22 points, seven rebounds and five steals to lead No. 25 UNLV to an 83-49 rout Saturday night.
Chace Stanback had 15 points and seven rebounds for the Rebels (13-3, 1-1 Mountain West Conference), who bounced back from an 89-77 conference loss to BYU on Wednesday. They opened a 49-28 lead in a dominant first half as the Horned Frogs (9-8, 0-2) committed 14 turnovers to only three for UNLV.
''We had a lot of transition opportunities,'' UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. ''We didn't try to do anything extra; we did a good job sharing the ball.''
The Rebels went on a 24-0 run that gave them a 32-12 lead with 7:55 left in the opening half. The spurt started with Carlos Lopez converting two free throws with 13:24 to go and included seven points from Willis and six from Justin Hawkins.
''We've got to keep striving to get better every day,'' Willis said. ''As far as running up and down the floor was concerned, I thought we drove and kicked back.''
The Horned Frogs had eight turnovers that led to Rebels points during the 24-0 run. For the game, TCU committed 23 turnovers (10 by Ronnie Moss) to 10 for the Rebels, who finished with 13 steals.
''They were valuable. They gave us the opportunity to score. Whenever you convert them into transition opportunities it makes them even more significant,'' Kruger said.
Hawkins had four steals during the first 12:03 and Anthony Marshall handed out four assists in the first half. Stanback topped the Rebels with 14 first-half points. UNLV connected on 55 percent (18 for 23) of its field goal attempts while TCU went 10 for 28 (36 percent).
The Rebels led by as many as 25 points during the first half.
''We've got to make sure positive things happen for our team,'' TCU coach Jim Christian said. ''We've got to have something positive happen to us so we can believe in ourselves again.''
Hawkins finished with 13 points, Marshall had 11 points and five assists, and Lopez scored 10. UNLV shot 51 percent (30 for 59) from the floor while TCU was held to 31 percent (16 for 51).
''My role is to be a defensive player first and foremost,'' Hawkins said. ''We were just looking out for each other.''
Garlon Green led the Horned Frogs with 11 points and six rebounds. Hank Thorns scored nine.
''We've got to get back to what we were doing earlier in the year - playing fundamental basketball,'' Christian said. ''We've got to get hungrier. Our better players, the leaders of our team, have to take over.''
