Hello Rebel fans,


March Madness is upon us. As we get ready to head into some of the best few weeks of being a college sports fan, we wanted to get a quick message out to you. It's a GREAT time to be living the Scarlet. Gray. Every Day. We hope you enjoy reading this update about YOUR Rebels.


#WearWhite this Saturday for Runnin' Rebel Senior Day White Out

Justin Hawkins, Anthony Marshall and Quintrell Thomas have played a key role in once again establishing UNLV as one of the top programs in the West. In fact, Justin and Anthony will become the first Runnin' Rebels since Stacey Augmon and Chris Jeter (1988-91) to appear in four NCAA Tournaments with UNLV. (Quintrell transferred from Kansas after his freshman year.) So please do them a favor and #WearWhite to the game this Saturday at 3 p.m. vs. Fresno State. And please come early for the Senior Day ceremony.

These three young men deserve your support for all they have done for this program, this university and this community. In fact, Justin and Quintrell graduated last spring with degrees and Anthony will be getting his later this year... And, we will be going for our 99th win over the past four years (and 50th in the past two seasons) against the Bulldogs tomorrow. Not many college basketball players experience that many victories in a career. With the way Dave Rice's squad is peaking to end the year, that number has a chance to keep rising over the next few weeks.


Lady Rebs to play in MW Tournament next Thursday at 2:35 p.m. - Use Your Tickets

As you may have heard, a young UNLV women's basketball team has fought through injuries to put together a more than impressive 8-7 mark in league play heading into Saturday's regular-season finale at Fresno State. The Lady Rebels have clinched the No. 4 seed in Mountain West Tournament and will be playing in the quarterfinals at 2:35 p.m. on Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center. We know many of our men's basketball fans have all-session packages. Please find a way to either use these tickets yourself to check out our Lady Rebels (it gives you a reason to skip out of work early on Thursday) or give them to someone who will... You'll get a chance to see all-time great Lady Rebel Kelli Thompson (a senior) as well as some young talent, including freshman Réjane Vérin, who is a strong candidate for MW Freshman of the Year.


Rebel Reading Challenge produces 2,393,960 pages read - Wow!

The winning students of this year's Rebel Reading Challenge are set to attend Saturday's Runnin' Rebel game. Created by SuperPawn and UNLV Athletics as a community outreach initiative four years ago, the Rebel Reading Challenge is a 30-day competition designed to motivate students to read and has evolved from a 16-school competition to include nearly 7,000 fourth and fifth graders from 35 schools this year...

Get this, 2,393,960 pages were read as a result of the challenge with Ms.Crawford's class at Reynaldo Martinez Elementary and Ms. Hill's class at Robert Lunt Elementary claiming first place for fourth and fifth grade, respectively. Mrs. Vidrios' fourth-grade class at Elaine Wynn Elementary and Ms. McNeil's fifth-grade class at Joseph E. Thiriot Elementary achieved second-place finishes. Jo Mackey Elementary was recognized as the top school for reading the most pages throughout the challenge and received a $500 grant from SuperPawn to enhance its library. Youth reading represents a key area of focus for our community outreach efforts and we are happy to use the powerful platform of UNLV Athletics to urge students throughout the valley to read.


Hot Rebel Baseball team heads to Stanford for challenging weekend

Tim Chambers' Rebel baseball team (10-3) has won six games in a row. Featuring 16 student-athletes from Southern Nevada, the young roster will be tested this weekend with a three-game series at Stanford starting tonight at 5:30 p.m. The nationally ranked Cardinal features one of the top pitching staffs in the nation. You can catch the action live via audio on UNLVRebels.com this weekend. UNLV opens conference play next weekend at home vs. New Mexico, which was picked to win the Mountain West.


Excited for Rebel Football; Spring practice underway

It was a gorgeous day in the valley this past Monday when the Scarlet & Gray took the field at Rebel Park for the first of 15 spring football practices. (All of the practices are free and open to the public.) It was nice to head out to a spring practice and see a lot of familiar faces - it's the first time in my tenure as AD that's been the case. Eighteen starters return from last year's team which showed strong progress. That progress will result in more wins next season for fans to enjoy.


A Few More Rebel Tidbits...

Check out the Rebel Girls' national championship routine. This aired on ESPN last week. (There is no truth to the rumor that I am the choreographer.)... The Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters teed off this morning in Las Vegas. It's one of the most prestigious college golf tournaments in the nation. Hope to see some UNLV fans out at the course cheering on the Rebels... This season's television coverage of the Runnin' Rebels has been great in what we as a conference called a "bridge year." As many of you may have heard, we have some exciting opportunities in the near future for MW television and we look forward to sharing all of the details with you soon. It should be great for even more national exposure for the conference and your Rebels… We preach building our student-athletes athletically, academically and socially. It's important that we all grow. Along those lines, our friends with special events will be bringing the Jillian Michaels "Maximize Your Life" Tour coming to the Cox Pavilion on April 13 at 7 p.m. Tickets go on sale today and are $48, $68 & $152 and available for purchase at UNLVtickets.com, (702) 739-FANS or the TMC Ticket Office.

Thank you for believing in UNLV. It means the world to us.

And, don't forget, #WearWhite.


For the Rebels,

Jim Livengood
Director of Athletics