1989–90 UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team

The 1989–90 UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team represented the University of Nevada Las Vegas in the 1989–90 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were led by 17th-year head coach Jerry Tarkanian. The team played its home games in the Thomas & Mack Center as a member of the Big West Conference. They finished the season 35–5, 16–2 in Big West play to win the regular season championship. They defeated Cal State Fullerton, Pacific, and Long Beach State to win the Big West tournament championship. As a result, the received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 1 seed in the West region. They defeated Arkansas–Little Rock, Ohio State, Ball State, and Loyola Marymount to advance to the school's second Final Four in 4 years. In the Final Four, they defeated Georgia Tech to advance to the championship game where they defeated Duke for the school's only national championship.

1989–90 UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball
NCAA tournament National champions Big West tournament champions Big West regular season co-champions
Conference	Big West Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 2
AP	No. 2
Record	35–5 (16–2 Big West)
Head coach	Jerry Tarkanian (17th season)
Assistant coaches	Tim Grgurich (9th season) Keith Starr (4th season) Ron Ganulin (2nd season)
Home arena	Thomas & Mack Center
Seasons ← 1988–89 1990–91 →

1989–90 Big West men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 UNLV†	16	–	2		.889			35	–	5		.875
No. 24 New Mexico State	16	–	2		.889			26	–	5		.839
UC Santa Barbara	13	–	5		.722			21	–	9		.700
Long Beach State	12	–	6		.667			23	–	9		.719
Utah State	8	–	10		.444			14	–	16		.467
Pacific	7	–	11		.389			15	–	14		.517
Cal State Fullerton	6	–	12		.333			13	–	16		.448
San Jose State	5	–	13		.278			8	–	20		.286
Fresno State	4	–	14		.222			10	–	19		.345
UC Irvine	3	–	15		.167			5	–	23		.179
† 1990 Big West tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Previous season

The Rebels finished the 1988–89 season 25–8, 16–2 in Big West play to win the regular season championship. They defeated UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, and New Mexico State to win the Big West tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 4 seed in the West region. They defeated Idaho, DePaul, and No. 1-seeded Arizona to advance to the Elite Eight where they lost to Seton Hall.

Season summary

NCAA tournament

UNLV won three of its tournament games by 30 points, but got a scare from Ball State in the regional semifinal, winning by just two points.

In the 1990 Tournament -

• UNLV at the time had the largest accumulated victory margin (112 points), over the entire tournament by a championship team that played 6 games. To date it is the sixth-largest.
• UNLV's 103–73 win over Duke marked the first, (and to date, only), time in the history of the tournament that at least 100 points were scored in the championship game.^[1]
• UNLV's 571 points over six games set the record for most points scored by a single team in any one year of the tournament.^[2]
• UNLV is the only team in tournament history to average more than 95 points per game, over six games. In six tournament games, they won three by exactly 30 points, while scoring more than 100 points in each 30-point victory.^[3]
• UNLV and UCLA in 1965 are the only teams in tournament history to win three games all while scoring at least 100 points in each win. (Loyola Marymount also scored at least 100 points in three games in the 1990 tournament, but lost their last game, where they scored 101 points, to UNLV, by 30 points. UNLV also scored at least 100 points in three victories in the 1977 tournament, but their last one was in the Final Four consolation game.)^[4]
• UNLV's 30-point margin of victory in the championship game is also a tournament record.^[5] ESPN called it the 36th "worst blowout in sports history".^[6]
• To date, UNLV remains the last team from a non-power conference (AAC, ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC) to win the national championship, since Louisville in 1986.^[1] (Louisville was in The Metro Conference in 1986, which was considered a major basketball conference throughout its history, 1975 - 1995.)
• The championship game was UNLV's eleventh-consecutive win. They would eventually run the win streak to an astounding 45 games. That is the fourth-longest win streak in NCAA Division 1 basketball history, and the longest win streak since the longest one ever (by UCLA) ended in 1974.^[7]

(The nickname "Runnin' Rebels" is unique to men's basketball at UNLV. The default nickname for men's sports teams at the school is simply "Rebels", while all women's teams are known as "Lady Rebels".)

Roster

1989–90 UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown C 00 David Butler 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Washington, D.C. F 4 Larry Johnson 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Jr Dallas, Texas G 5 Stacey Cvijanovich 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Sr Oxnard, California G 12 Anderson Hunt 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 176 lb (80 kg) So Detroit, Michigan G 13 Travis Bice 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 152 lb (69 kg) So Simi Valley, California G 15 Bryan Emerzian 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 165 lb (75 kg) So Waukegan, Illinois G 30 Dave Rice 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Claremont, California F 32 Stacey Augmon 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 206 lb (93 kg) Jr Pasadena, California F 33 Barry Young 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 223 lb (101 kg) Jr Ellicott City, Maryland C 34 James Jones 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Sr Cincinnati, Ohio F 35 Moses Scurry 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Sr Brooklyn, New York F/C 44 George Ackles   6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania G 50 Greg Anthony 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Jr Las Vegas, Nevada F 53 Chris Jeter 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 216 lb (98 kg) Jr San Diego, California	Head coach Jerry Tarkanian (Fresno State) Assistant coach(es) Tim Grgurich Ron Ganulin Cleveland Edwards Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt

1989-90 UNLV Roster and Stats ^[8]

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular Season
November 15, 1989*	No. 1	Loyola Marymount Preseason NIT	W 102–91^[9]	1–0	26 – Hunt	16 – Johnson	12 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (13,430) Las Vegas, NV
November 16, 1989*	No. 1	California Preseason NIT	W 101–81^[10]	2–0	25 – Johnson	10 – Johnson	11 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (11,777) Las Vegas, NV
November 22, 1989*	No. 1	vs. Kansas Preseason NIT Semifinal	L 77–91	2–1	21 – Hunt	9 – Tied	9 – Anthony	Madison Square Garden (10,546) New York, NY
November 24, 1989*	No. 1	vs. DePaul Preseason NIT Consolation	W 88–53^[11]	3–1	32 – Johnson	9 – Augmon	7 – Augmon	Madison Square Garden (15,116) New York, NY
December 9, 1989*	No. 5	at No. 12 Oklahoma	L 81–89^[12]	3–2	29 – Johnson	14 – Johnson	4 – Tied	Lloyd Noble Center (11,700) Norman, OK
December 16, 1989	No. 14	at Pacific	W 79–65	4–2 (1–0)	21 – Johnson	10 – Johnson	9 – Anthony	Alex G. Spanos Center (6,000) Stockton, CA
December 23, 1989*	No. 13	No. 16 Iowa	W 97–80	5–2	19 – Tied	8 – Johnson	7 – Hunt	Thomas & Mack Center (19,000) Las Vegas, NV
December 26, 1989	No. 12	Long Beach State	W 78–58	6–2 (2–0)	17 – Johnson	14 – Johnson	8 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (18,600) Las Vegas, NV
January 1, 1990*	No. 12	No. 11 Arkansas	W 101–93	7–2	28 – Hunt	13 – Butler	11 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (18,853) Las Vegas, NV
January 3, 1990	No. 10	Cal State Fullerton	W 94–66	8–2 (3–0)	28 – Hunt	10 – Tied	9 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (19,010) Las Vegas, NV
January 6, 1990	No. 10	at San Jose State	W 100–80	9–2 (4–0)	19 – Butler	15 – Johnson	5 – Anthony	Event Center Arena (4,595) San Jose, CA
January 8, 1990	No. 10	at New Mexico State	L 82–83	9–3 (4–1)	24 – Butler	11 – Butler	9 – Anthony	Pan American Center (12,719) Las Cruces, NM
January 13, 1990*	No. 7	at Temple	W 82–76^[13]^[14]	10–3	26 – Johnson	12 – Johnson	7 – Augmon	The Spectrum (13,206) Philadelphia, PA
January 15, 1990	No. 7	at Fresno State	W 84–75	11–3 (5–1)	28 – Johnson	13 – Butler	6 – Butler	Selland Arena (10,159) Fresno, CA
January 18, 1990	No. 9	UC Irvine	W 103–67	12–3 (6–1)	20 – Johnson	9 – Johnson	8 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (18,632) Las Vegas, NV
January 22, 1990	No. 9	at Long Beach State	W 86–77	13–3 (7–1)	30 – Johnson	12 – Johnson	5 – Tied	Long Beach Arena (7,438) Long Beach, CA
January 25, 1990	No. 5	UC Santa Barbara	W 69–67	14–3 (8–1)	28 – Johnson	14 – Johnson	4 – Tied	Thomas & Mack Center (19,061) Las Vegas, NV
January 28, 1990*	No. 5	at No. 16 LSU	L 105–107^[15]	14–4	31 – Hunt	9 – Tied	8 – Anthony	Maravich Assembly Center (14,072) Baton Rouge, LA
February 1, 1990	No. 12	Utah State	W 124–90	15–4 (9–1)	34 – Augmon	16 – Johnson	9 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (18,000) Las Vegas, NV
February 3, 1990*	No. 12	NC State	W 88–82^[16]^[17]	16–4	24 – Johnson	16 – Johnson	7 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (18,295) Las Vegas, NV
February 5, 1990*	No. 12	San Jose State	W 105–69	17–4 (10–1)	18 – Johnson	16 – Johnson	9 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (17,666) Las Vegas, NV
February 8, 1990	No. 9	Pacific	W 116–76	18–4 (11–1)	20 – Young	8 – Butler	7 – Cvijanovich	Thomas & Mack Center (17,685) Las Vegas, NV
February 10, 1990*	No. 9	Oklahoma State	W 100–84	19–4	23 – Scurry	15 – Johnson	10 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (18,780) Las Vegas, NV
February 12, 1990	No. 9	Fresno State	W 69–64	20–4 (12–1)	23 – Johnson	14 – Johnson	6 – Hunt	Thomas & Mack Center (17,885) Las Vegas, NV
February 15, 1990	No. 7	No. 25 New Mexico State	W 109–86^[18]	21–4 (13–1)	31 – Hunt	13 – Johnson	6 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (18,790) Las Vegas, NV
February 18, 1990*	No. 7	No. 20 Arizona	W 95–87^[19]	22–4	26 – Johnson	12 – Augmon	7 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (19,034) Las Vegas, NV
February 22, 1990	No. 4	at UC Irvine	W 99–77	23–4 (14–1)	25 – Hunt	11 – Johnson	10 – Anthony	Bren Events Center (5,000) Irvine, CA
February 24, 1990*	No. 4	No. 16 Louisville	W 91–81^[20]	24–4	22 – Johnson	15 – Johnson	9 – Anthony	Thomas & Mack Center (19,099) Las Vegas, NV
February 26, 1990	No. 4	at UC Santa Barbara	L 70–78	24–5 (14–2)	18 – Anthony	9 – Butler	6 – Anthony	The Thunderdome (6,387) Santa Barbara, CA
March 1, 1990	No. 2	at Utah State	W 84–82	25–5 (15–2)	31 – Johnson	12 – Butler	7 – Tied	Smith Spectrum (10,270) Logan, UT
March 3, 1990	No. 2	at Cal State Fullerton	W 103–85	26–5 (16–2)	26 – Butler	12 – Johnson	10 – Hunt	Titan Gym (4,003) Fullerton, CA
Big West tournament
March 8, 1990*	(2) No. 3	(7) Cal State Fullerton Quarterfinals	W 115–93	27–5	32 – Johnson	14 – Johnson	11 – Anthony	Long Beach Arena (9,025) Long Beach, CA
March 9, 1990*	(2) No. 3	(6) Pacific Semifinals	W 99–72	28–5	20 – Johnson	9 – Augmon	10 – Anthony	Long Beach Arena (10,597) Long Beach, CA
March 10, 1990*	(2) No. 3	(5) Long Beach State Championship	W 92–74	29–5	19 – Butler	15 – Johnson	7 – Anthony	Long Beach Arena (9,607) Long Beach, CA
NCAA Tournament
March 15, 1990*  CBS	(1 W) No. 2	vs. (16 W) Arkansas–Little Rock First Round	W 102–72^[21]	30–5	16 – Augmon	12 – Johnson	5 – Tied	Jon M. Huntsman Center (11,809) Salt Lake City, UT
March 17, 1990*  CBS	(1 W) No. 2	vs. (8 W) Ohio State Second Round	W 76–65^[22]	31–5	23 – Johnson	16 – Johnson	5 – Anthony	Jon M. Huntsman Center (12,896) Salt Lake City, UT
March 23, 1990*  CBS	(1 W) No. 2	vs. (12 W) Ball State Sweet Sixteen	W 69–67^[23]^[24]	32–5	20 – Tied	13 – Johnson	9 – Anthony	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena (14,262) Oakland, CA
March 25, 1990*  CBS	(1 W) No. 2	vs. (11 W) No. 21 Loyola Marymount Elite Eight	W 131–101^[25]^[26]	33–5	33 – Augmon	18 – Johnson	13 – Hunt	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena (14,298) Oakland, CA
March 31, 1990*  CBS	(1 W) No. 2	vs. (4 SE) No. 9 Georgia Tech Final Four	W 90–81^[27]	34–5	22 – Augmon	10 – Butler	7 – Hunt	McNichols Sports Arena (17,675) Denver, CO
April 2, 1990*  CBS	(1 W) No. 2	vs. (3 E) No. 9 Duke National Championship	W 103–73^[28]^[29]^[30]^[31]	35–5	29 – Hunt	11 – Johnson	7 – Augmon	McNichols Sports Arena (17,675) Denver, CO
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Sources 1989-90 UNLV Schedule and Results^[32][33]

Rankings

Main article: 1989–90 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Awards and honors

• Anderson Hunt, NCAA Men's MOP Award^[34]
• Larry Johnson, Consensus First-team All-American and Big West Conference Player of the Year
• Stacey Augmon – NABC Defensive Player of the Year (2)

Team players drafted into the NBA

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1991	1	1	Larry Johnson	Charlotte Hornets
1991	1	9	Stacey Augmon	Atlanta Hawks
1991	1	12	Greg Anthony	New York Knicks
1991	2	29	George Ackles	Miami Heat

^[35]

References

1. "Which is the only basketball team to have scored over 100 points in a NCAA championship game?". April 6, 2017.
2. "The Tournament" (PDF). NCAA. 2022. p. 93. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
3. "The highest-scoring men's basketball games in NCAA March Madness history". Ncaa.com.
4. "The Tournament" (PDF). fs.ncaa.org. 2022.
5. "March Madness History". HISTORY.
6. "100 worst blowouts in history: Nos. 50-26". ESPN. September 15, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
7. Wilco, Daniel (January 19, 2020). "The longest winning streaks in college basketball history". NCAA. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
8. "1990 NCAA Final Four program". March 1990. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
9. "No. 1 Rebels overcome Marymount". Las Vegas Sun. November 16, 1989. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
10. "Rebels take their show to the big city". Las Vegas Sun. November 18, 1989. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
11. "Rebels rise to the occasion". Las Vegas Sun. November 25, 1989. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
12. "Stormin' in Norman: Sooners win 89-81". Las Vegas Sun. December 10, 1989. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
13. "UNLV Repels Temple's Late Charge". Los Angeles Times. January 14, 1990. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
14. "UNLV 82, Temple 76". UPI Archives. January 13, 1990. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
15. "LSU 107, UNLV 105". United Press International. January 28, 1990. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
16. "Rebels beat Wolfpack at own game". Las Vegas Sun. February 3, 1990. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
17. "Rebels Forget Their Troubles, 88-82". Los Angeles Times. February 4, 1990. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
18. "Aggies trail the Hunt, 109-86". Las Vegas Sun. February 15, 1990. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
19. "Order on the court: Rebels win 95-87". Las Vegas Sun. February 18, 1990. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
20. "Rebels don't get mad at Louisville, just even". Las Vegas Sun. February 24, 1990. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
21. "UNLV 102, Arkansas-Little Rock 72". United Press International. March 15, 1990. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
22. "UNLV 76, Ohio St. 65". United Press International. March 17, 1990. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
23. "Rebels take the bounce out of Ball State, 69-67". Las Vegas Sun. March 23, 1990. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
24. "U.N.L.V. Repels Ball State Rally, 69-67". The New York Times. March 24, 1990. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
25. "Rebels roll to Final Four". Las Vegas Sun. March 25, 1990. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
26. "Augmon Is Main Man for the Rebels". Los Angeles Times. March 26, 1990. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
27. "UNLV Escapes Foul End, Downs Georgia Tech". The Washington Post. April 1, 1990. p. B1. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
28. "Rebels rule NCAA". Las Vegas Sun. April 3, 1990. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
29. "UNLV Takes Title Running Away". The Washington Post. April 3, 1990. p. B1. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
30. "Nevada-Las Vegas 103, Duke 73". United Press International. April 2, 1990. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
31. "U.N.L.V. Applies a Defensive Clamp and It Works". The New York Times. April 3, 1990. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
32. "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
33. "1989–90 UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball stats" (PDF). NCAA Career Statistics.
34. . cbs.sportsline.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2008.
35. "1991 NBA Draft". Sports Reference. Retrieved March 4, 2018.