UNLV had the best player on the floor for long stretches Sunday night. It just did not have enough bodies to survive everything else.
The Runnin’ Rebels’ season ended with a 77-66 loss to top-seeded Tulsa in the NIT second round on March 22, 2026, at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. UNLV finished 18-17 after leaning heavily on Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and Tyrin Jones in a shorthanded rotation that never found a way to solve Tulsa’s rebounding and bench punch.
Gibbs-Lawhorn poured in 29 points on 12-for-24 shooting, including 3-for-10 from deep. Jones added 18 points on 7-for-9, plus eight rebounds, seven assists, three steals and three blocks while playing all 40 minutes.
Tulsa (28-7) got balanced scoring with Miles Barnstable and Ade Popoola finishing with 16 apiece. Romad Dean posted 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Myles Rigsby scored 10 off the bench as the Golden Hurricane advanced despite playing without leading scorer David Green.
A short bench, a long night
UNLV entered the night without Howie Fleming Jr. (ankle) and Jacob Bannarbie (back), and the box score told the story of how thin it got. The Rebels received zero bench points, while Tulsa’s reserves delivered 20.
UNLV also faced a mountain on the glass. Tulsa won the rebounding battle 49-23 and grabbed 18 offensive boards, turning those extra possessions into 16 second-chance points. UNLV had answers offensively in the second half, but it rarely got the kind of defensive rebound that ends a possession clean.
Cold start, then a second-half swing
The first half is where UNLV dug the hole. The Rebels shot 10-for-29 and went 1-for-11 from 3. Tulsa took a 36-24 lead into halftime. The Golden Hurricane also hit seven straight shots during one stretch. UNLV then went scoreless over the final four minutes.
UNLV came out of the locker room with real bite. The Rebels hit nine of their first 12 shots in the second half. That surge cut the deficit to 45-40 with 15:00 left. Jones scored inside early. Gibbs-Lawhorn kept getting downhill, too. UNLV finished with 40 points in the paint.
But Tulsa responded with the kind of run that separates a top seed at home. The Golden Hurricane pushed the lead back to 63-47 with under seven minutes to go, and it did it with the math that kept repeating: extra possessions and 3s. Tulsa finished 10-for-28 from deep, getting four 3-pointers from Popoola (4-for-8) and three from Barnstable (3-for-10).
UNLV never fully folded. A quick 7-0 burst got it back within 63-54 with 5:25 left, and the Rebels hovered around seven points a few times late. However, every small surge ran into another Tulsa offensive rebound, another trip to the line or another made shot to reset the margin.
The weird part: UNLV won the turnover fight
UNLV protected the ball, committing just seven turnovers while forcing 15. The Rebels also won points off turnovers 20-9. On most nights, that is the blueprint.
This one was different. Tulsa’s rebounding and depth decided it, and UNLV’s missed chances helped seal it. The Rebels finished 6-for-26 from 3 and 6-for-13 at the line, too many empty trips to overcome a 26-rebound deficit and a night with no bench scoring.
The final line matched the feel: UNLV competed, but Tulsa controlled the possessions that matter most, ending the Rebels’ season in the NIT’s second round.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
