Given how much UNLV thrashed their opponents in each of the next three rounds, Ball St deserve a huge amount of kudos in retrospect for keeping it this close
I was privileged to see bith these teams to play the opening rounds in Salt Lake and The Ball State/Louisville game was great. Ball St beat Oregon St led by the Glove Gary Payton 54-53 then Felton Spencer and Labradford Smith Cardinals 62-60. UNLV was a different beast during that time it was a fun time
UNLV wasn't as dominant as they would be the following year. They lost at UC Santa Barbara and only beat them by 2 at home. They also squeaked by Utah State by 2. They only beat Fresno State by 5, a team that finished 9th out of 10 in the conference and had a 10-19 record.
i remember that ball state team- nobody that was anybody wanted to schedule them. they were criminally underrated all year. when they finally got the chance to show what they could do on the big stage- they definitely made the most of it.
Ball State matched up well w/Vegas. Very physical team, really strong defensively and on the boards. Had absolutely no fear of Vegas. And Vegas probably wasn't as sharp as they were in other games- they expected to play the Louisville Cardinals, not the Ball State Cardinals. They probably took Ball State a little lightly.
@@posysdogovych2065 A lot of that was due to injuries and suspensions They only really came together in the latter stages of the season and the NCAA Tournament
David Butler in an interview said at first they was saying where Ball State at as the game went into halftime he said they said we need to turn it these dudes legit
The difference for UNLV between the '90 and '91 teams is that they lost David Butler and Moses Scurry from their frontcourt in '91. Their scoring and particularly Scurry's rebounding and toughness was sorely missed vs Duke in the 1991 Final Four.
What also hurt them against Duke was that Greg Anthony was the only true PG they had, and when he fouled out they really were rudderless. They tried Anderson Hunt but he was an undersized SG, not a PG. They just weren't as deep in 91 as they were in 90.
One of the most confusing NCAA tournament broadcasts ever. Musberger trying to call play-by-play of two games at once down the stretch. Plus UNLV in a half-court grinder against a mid-major underdog in which nobody could buy a basket in the last 5 minutes.
