A Big Night for UNLV?

Not only are the Bruins facing their first road game of the season against a Division I team tonight at Nevada Las Vegas, they will face a Thomas & Mack Center crowd ready for celebration.

At halftime--which should occur close to 10:30 p.m. because of the late, late start--UNLV will retire the uniform numbers of 1970s legends Reggie Theus (No. 23) and Glen Gondrezick (No. 25).

They were on the 1976-77 Final Four team that went 29-3.

UCLA played at Alaska Anchorage in the loser’s bracket of the Great Alaska Shootout last month, but Anchorage is a Division II school. The Bruins also lost to North Carolina at Anchorage, a neutral site.

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Bruin freshman swingman Rico Hines left the team to be with his family in North Carolina after the death of a relative. He is due back next week.

TONIGHT

at Nevada Las Vegas

* 9:30 * ESPN

Site--Thomas & Mack Center.

Radio--AM 1150.

Records--Bruins 7-1, Runnin’ Rebels 5-4.

Update--This is the Bruins’ last game with an incomplete lineup: Suspended center Jelani McCoy will be reinstated for Tuesday’s game against Illinois. UCLA would have liked to use him to match up against 6-foot-9 freshman Kaspars Kambala, who is averaging 18.3 points and 11.7 rebounds.