UCI Starts Fast, Then Fades : Basketball: Anteaters stay close in first half, then Rebels run away for a 71-57 victory.

IRVINE —  The 1991-92 version of the Nevada Las Vegas basketball team has at least one trait that is reminiscent of the dominant UNLV teams of the past two seasons. The Runnin’ Rebels like to relax during warm-ups.

Coach Jerry Tarkanian doesn’t mind that as much as he minds this team’s tendency to start games slowly. UNLV trailed UC Irvine by eight points in the first half Saturday before taking a four-point halftime lead and turning it up in the second half to send Irvine to a 71-57 loss in front of a sellout crowd of 5,006 in the Bren Center.

‘We start every game like we’re real cool guys,” said Tarkanian, who is in his last season at UNLV and was given a rousing pregame ovation after a brief ceremony. “It seems like we start every game down 10. We don’t get excited in warm-ups. Last year’s team didn’t either, but it got excited at the start of the game. These guys don’t get excited till they’re down 10. We’re too lackadaisical.”

The Runnin’ Rebels trailed Cal State Fullerton by two at halftime Thursday before pulling ahead for a victory.

Against Irvine, UNLV (10-2, 2-0) opened the second half with a 10-2 run to take a 12-point lead in the first five minutes, and added an 8-0 run midway through the half for good measure. With its fast break running a little more smoothly--and with Irvine’s offense stymied by the Rebels’ zone--UNLV went ahead by as many as 21 points, shooting 72.7%, in the second half.

J.R. Rider scored 18 points and 7-foot center Elmore Spencer--a mountain man that Irvine has no match for--added 14 points and nine rebounds.

Irvine Coach Rod Baker is new to the Big West Conference, but UNLV isn’t new to him. Baker was an assistant at Seton Hall last season, and only the Runnin’ Rebels kept Seton Hall from going to the Final Four, with a victory over the Pirates in a regional final.

“You’ve probably been hearing about how they lost a bunch of first-round picks from last year, but that ain’t a bad team,” Baker said. “They’ve still got a lottery pick, a first-round pick, and a bunch of guys who have been to the Final Four.”

Irvine (3-8, 0-2) was without its leading scorer and rebounder, Elgin Rogers, who was on the bench in street clothes serving a one-game suspension that, according to Baker, was for personal reasons. Rogers said the suspension was a disciplinary measure, “to set an example for the younger players.”

Rogers is averaging 13 points and 6.6 rebounds a game.

“We won’t know how much difference he’d make until we go up there,” Baker said, stressing that the reasons for the suspension were important but “not a big deal” overall.

Before UNLV warmed up properly, Irvine had a 27-19 lead with about nine minutes left in the first half, mostly on the strength of five three-pointers and two three-point plays.

The Anteaters shot 29% in the game, making only 20 of 68 shots, but made 10 of 26 three-pointers.

UNLV, which started in a man-to-man defense, switched to a zone and Irvine’s offense was stymied. The poor shooting percentage was partly a result of Irvine’s sometimes too-wild attempts to close the gap.

“I thought our zone defense forced some terrible shots,” Tarkanian said. “(Even when) they worked to get shots, using 30 seconds off the clock, they’d still end up with a bad shot.”

Jeff Von Lutzow scored 18 points for Irvine, making seven of 15 shots and four of seven three-pointers.

Keith Stewart, Irvine’s most potent scorer, finished with 12 points, but made only four of 17 shots.

“You have to penetrate that zone, and when they get to you, you have to look to both sides to see if you have anybody open. Then you have to shoot over those trees,” Stewart said. “That’s difficult.”

Despite Stewart’s scoring potential, Baker said he is inclined to stay with Gerald McDonald as the starting point guard because of McDonald’s defensive intensity, and because he thinks he takes care of the ball better than Stewart does.

Stewart doesn’t voice any objections.

“I would love to start, but it’s the coach’s decision. I feel like I’m progressing, playing better each day, with each game.”

For Irvine, progress might come more slowly. When a questioner pressed Baker about whether his team’s youth or inexperience spelled its fate, Baker could only shrug.

“I’m just not sure we’re good enough,” he said.