Sports briefs 3/16/04

College

Former Atlanta Hawks coach Lon Kruger was hired Monday as the new coach at UNLV. Kruger, 51, will take over for Jay Spoonhour, who has coached the Rebels since his father, Charlie, resigned for health reasons Feb. 17. Kruger coached the Hawks from 2001-03, and was an assistant for the New York Knicks until coach Don Chaney was fired in January. Kruger is a former coach at Texas-Pan American, Kansas State, Florida and Illinois. Jay Spoonhour will coach UNLV in the NIT .

Hockey

Former St. Louis Blues coach Joel Quenneville will coach defending champion Canada at the world hockey championships in Prague next month. Quenneville became the favorite to coach Canada when he was fired by St. Louis on Feb. 24. Quenneville, the NHL's coach of the year in 1999-00, won 40 or more games in five of the six full seasons he was with the Blues.

Tennis

Andy Roddick avenged his Australian Open loss to Marat Safin, and two-time defending champion Lleyton Hewitt was eliminated by Juan Ignacio Chela in the third round of the Pacific Life Open. Roddick beat Safin 7-6 (6), 6-2. Ignacio defeated Hewitt 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

-- From wire reports