CHICAGO -- Look at it this way, UNLV fans: There's no way you get another game like that from Kevin Kruger.
I'm talking about that oh-for-Friday shooting performance, Kruger's worst effort this season. Eight times he cocked. Eight times he fired. And eight times he missed.
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| Kevin Kruger goes 0-for-8 from the floor -- that won't happen again. (Getty Images) |
That's why Rebels fans should be relieved. Kruger rarely suffers back-to-back nightmare games. In fact, the last time he failed to hit a field goal -- in fact, the only time this season he was blanked -- was a Jan. 10 loss to Wyoming where he exited with a bruised hip two minutes into the game.
And then there is this: As bad as Kruger was -- and he couldn't connect on wide-open looks against Georgia Tech -- the Rebels still won. They won because Wendell White and Michael Umeh scored where Kruger could not. They won because Umeh and Wink Adams shut down Javaris Crittenton, with Umeh forcing a critical five-second call against Crittenton in the last minute. And they won because they outrebounded, outhustled and outclassed the Yellow Jackets.
"Rebounding is all about will," said Georgia Tech's Jeremis Smith. "You have to have the will and heart to rebound out there. As you can tell, they had a lot more will than we did under the glass."
What they didn't have, of course, was Kevin Kruger. The guy who averaged nearly 14 points a game this season never got it going, and don't ask him why. He had no idea when asked afterward. When someone suggested it might have something to do with the United Center -- a notoriously tough place to shoot -- Kruger shrugged and rolled with the question.
"Sounds like a good excuse for me," he said. "I'll take it. Anyone else?"
Well yeah, actually, it was almost everyone else. While UNLV sank 19 field goals it also missed 40. That's a shooting percentage of 30.8, folks, and that might cut it against someone like Georgia Tech; it's not going to work when the Rebels have to play Wisconsin on Sunday.
But that's where Kruger comes in. He absolutely, positively must improve his performance, and that's not exactly difficult to do when that performance includes nothing but blanks.
"Kevin had some good looks," said coach Lon Kruger, Kevin's dad. "A lot of them were just right off the heel and they didn't go. He'll work at it tomorrow and the next day and will be anxious to step back out there. He's been around the game a long time, and he knows that if he's not making shots there are a lot of other things to do."
And Kruger did them. Once he drove the baseline and engaged two defenders before kicking the ball out for an open 3. Mostly, though, he was invisible -- with Adams and Umeh stepping into the void to shut down Crittenton and combine for 32 points.
That was good; Kruger's shooting was not. Trust me, that won't happen again. I don't know what chance UNLV has Sunday, but what I do know is that Kevin Kruger cannot and will not produce another stinker.
"I wasn't going to quit because I hadn't made a shot," said Kruger. "I've watched a lot of games in the United Center, and some nights it's not going to fall -- and some nights it is. There's nothing I can do but get up a lot of shots tomorrow and before the game on Sunday."
