When the Jayhawks take the floor about 6 tonight, it’ll be the first time in nearly a decade that Kansas University has taken on the University of Nevada-Las Vegas’ Runnin’ Rebels.
And locally, that decade seems to have taken a toll on how much fans know about tonight’s foe. Either that or they’re taking the game lightly.
KU fan Curtis Marsh, of Lawrence, knew more about UNLV than many people who were out Friday afternoon on Massachusetts Street.
“I think that would be Lon Kruger,” Marsh said of the Rebels’ coach. “The past coach of Kansas State, who we beat in 1988 to go to the Final Four.”
Other fans, however, didn’t care that they didn’t know who the UNLV coach was. Perhaps they’ve already written tonight’s game off as a KU victory.
“I don’t know their coach, but I know KU’s going to win,” fan Skyler Malone said.
One fact known by most fans, including Bart Baska, of Lawrence, was the UNLV men’s basketball team’s mascot: the Runnin’ Rebel, whose name is actually Hey Reb.
Baska said he’s been following UNLV for quite some time because of a family connection.
“My mom used to go to Vegas often, so I had quite a bit of UNLV stuff growing up,” he said.
Of course, what was not known by many is the Runnin’ Rebel is actually the mascot only of the basketball team.
According to the university, the rest of the teams are simply known as the Rebels, except for the baseball team, which often goes by the name Hustlin’ Rebels.
Hey Reb hasn’t always been the mascot for UNLV, which plays in the Mountain West Conference. He took over in 1983 for the university’s first official mascot, a wolf named Beauregard dressed in a gray Confederate uniform.
Hey Reb is one of college athletics’ more recognizable mascots, who has taken part in the Capitol One Mascot of the Year competition and made appearances in ESPN SportsCenter commercials.
