Anderson Hunt scorched the nets during the Rebels’ championship run, including a 29-point performance in the blowout final over Duke. We phoned the ace shooting guard in his native Detroit for his perspective looking back at making UNLV history.

It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long. Twenty-five years? That makes me feel old.

People still come up to me. “Didn’t you used to play for UNLV?” I get that a lot and it’s a surprise because I’m only 6-2. There are a lot of 6-2 people in the world.

The year before we won, we went to the final eight. When you get that far, all those teams get to try on Final Four rings. So we tried them on before we played Seton Hall, and we were talking about, “I’m gonna get my ring on this finger,” and this and that, and weren’t as focused on the game. We got beat. The next year, we were much more focused. Eyes on the prize.

It started in the locker room. We always felt like it was us against the world. The fans were a big part, too. Ain’t no fans in the world like Rebel fans.

We were rock stars. There was a lot of crazy stuff off the court. During the tournament, you’d get a police escort if you went anywhere. I remember, plain as day, we were in Salt Lake City for the first round and a few of us were in this bus, going to the mall, and some ladies pulled up on us. “That’s the Rebels in there?” I don’t know how they even saw us. But they drove up and started pulling up their shirts.

People say we were wild, and we were, but we were controlled. We lived on a set schedule. I never went to the Strip, unless I had people in town or maybe to eat some $2 breakfast special.

We practiced so hard that once the games came around we couldn’t wait to see someone with a different-color uniform.

A lot of people don’t realize: All you have to do is go on a six-game winning streak.

When we played Loyola Marymount in the tournament, there was never a point in our minds that we could lose to them because we beat them already that season and when we played them again, Hank Gathers had passed. They were playing off emotion and that can only take you so far. When Bo Kimble shot those left-handed free throws in other games, they would go on a run right after. When he did that against us, we went on a run.

What was I thinking in the championship game? I was thinking about September, running on the track at three in the afternoon when it was 110 degrees outside. Once we saw they weren’t getting back, we kept running. If we got up 10, we wanted to be up 20. If we got up 30, we wanted to be up 40. We had a different mentality.

For a young kid, that’s an experience you never forget and you’ll always be able to tell somebody. I’m in the record books for life. When we got home, driving up to the Thomas & Mack, there were kids on the sidewalks holding signs and that gave me goose bumps ... to see all those people with respect for what you did and thankful for what you did. I would love for the program to get back there again.