LAS VEGAS -- UNLV's tallest player, who appeared to be critical as the Runnin' Rebels fought BYU's height, had all but one of his allotted fouls in the first half.

Size didn't mean anything at Thomas & Mack Center on Tuesday, however, as shorty UNLV dazzled the visitors with terrific outside shooting and a non-stop tenacity that never allowed BYU to find a rhythm.

The Rebels won, 70-41, marking BYU's most lopsided defeat in the 2 1/2-year-old Dave Rose coaching era.

Of course, coming one road game removed from a 27-point loss at Wake Forest ... and it appears that going away from home is a sure sign of defeat.

"We got beat up tonight," said BYU's MVP so far, Lee Cummard, who led BYU with 11 points but could muster just 4-of-9 shooting. "We just kept getting punched and taking it."

Yes, in the land of world championship boxing, this team was Apollo Creed. And the Runnin' Rebels were the pugnacious Russian Ivan Drago.

Death to the Cougars (12-5 overall, 1-1 Mountain West), who were blitzed right out of the opening tipoff. A 13-5 lead surged to 21 points with about five minutes left in the first half.

Hard pressure forced turnovers. It also kept BYU from using that noticeable height advantage inside. Getting the ball into the big fellas like 6-foot-11 Trent Plaisted -- three inches taller than UNLV's biggest, Matt Shaw -- was a chore. And when it happened, it often led to undesirable results. The junior center took just three shots, making two.

More often, he was fouled -- much to the delight of the crowd. And for good reason, with a 1-for-10 showing from the line.

"We need him to start making them and get his confidence back," Rose said quietly, with a blank look on his face, as he stood outside a sullen Cougar locker room.

Although it's not like Plaisted has the only fragile psyche away from Provo, where BYU has won 40 in a row.

The Cougars won at Long Beach State and Portland to open the season, then defeated then-ranked Louisville on a neutral court before hanging tough with still-top-ranked North Carolina.

It all seems like a decade ago at this point. Boise State (Dec. 29) showed BYU's vulnerability, while Wake Forest and now the Rebels in the past week have used athleticism, sound game plans and old-fashioned grit to whoop the team that is generally considered the best in the MWC.

Well, until last night.

Joe Darger, a Utah high school product who had five points, said he doesn't see the same aggressiveness as the Cougars had a year ago.

"But we did a good job of taking them out of what they wanted to do," he said.

And also doing what it wanted. Curtis Terry, UNLV's best 3-point shooter, made his first four attempts and sparked a 39-21 halftime lead. He led all scorers with 21 points. Rene Rougeau, who had a brilliant from-behind swat of Cummard on what appeared to be an open-court dunk early in the game, had 15 points and seven rebounds.

BYU, to little care at this point, scored the first four points after intermission.

"I thought that we had a chance coming out in the second half if we could slow them down a little bit and start to score," Rose said. "I thought the first eight or nine minutes in the second half we had the chance to make a few runs ... but we didn't have any post presence, we missed free throws, we had some issues that didn't allow us to be very consistent offensively."

That's putting it quite mildly.

BYU had a nine-minute stretch where it didn't score in the second half. Jimmer Fredette hit a 3-pointer to cut UNLV's lead to 13 points, but then 34 became a bad-luck number -- and one that was stuck on.

Rose's team didn't score again until 4:35 remained on an inside bucket from Chris Miles, who actually started in the second half because Plaisted was so ineffective and the coach thought Miles could get deeper touches inside to force UNLV's defense.

Miles' drought-ending score made it 58-36.

BYU tried to play man-to-man defense in the first half, and zone in the second.

"Neither one really worked," Cummard said bluntly.

Opponents who have succeeded against UNLV (13-4, 2-1) have usually used a 2-3 zone and made a short team shoot from distance.

But it was BYU that was forced to fire away. It made 3-of-21 from 3-point range (2-for-10 in the critical first half) and actually scored four fewer points (18) in the paint.

UNLV had 24 points off BYU's 19 turnovers. BYU snared eight turnovers for six points.

As for the 6-foot-8 Shaw, who was supposed to have his hands full inside against BYU? He managed to avoid that fifth foul ... almost. He got it with 28 seconds left -- just after he hit a 3-pointer that gave UNLV its final points.

• Jason Franchuk can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it