Analysis: Can Victor Iwuakor shore up UNLV’s interior defense?

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Wednesday, June 16, 2021 | 2 a.m.

It’s no secret that UNLV’s frontcourt rotation in 2020-21 was way too slow and, except for Mbacke Diong, way too small. New head coach Kevin Kruger has tried to address that issue via the transfer portal, bringing in a handful of big men who figure to change the way the team looks and plays on the interior.

Kruger seems to want to build a physically imposing team in terms of size and athleticism, and one incoming player who fits that mold is Oklahoma transfer Victor Iwuakor.

Iwuakor is a chiseled specimen at 6-foot-7, and the former 3-star recruit was once rated as the No. 27 center in the country coming out of high school. Just from the dissonance created by his height and position, you can probably guess that Iwuakor can really jump. That would be an accurate assumption, as he is a plus athlete who uses his athleticism to defend taller players in the paint.

Iwuakor got limited playing time in two years at Oklahoma (only 10.8 minutes as a sophomore last season), but UNLV has a ton of playing time up for grabs in its frontcourt rotation, so the opportunity is there. Will Iwuakor be able to seize it and become a significant contributor this season?

The first question you ask about a center, especially an undersized center, is can he protect the rim? Iwuakor has potential in that regard; at Oklahoma he was often in good position to challenge shots, but he mostly seemed to come up a fraction short:

Iwuakor recorded a modest block rate of 3.1% last year, and you get the feeling that if he were 6-foot-9 instead of 6-foot-7 he’d be an intimidating presence in front of the rim. As it stands, he’ll have to figure out a way to defend the interior without towering over his opponents.

One way Iwuakor can make an impact on the defensive end is with his mobility. He is quick and fluid and capable of staying in front of smaller ball-handlers. The Oklahoma coaching staff (which was headed by de facto UNLV consultant Lon Kruger and included current UNLV assistant Carlin Hartman) seemed to be fine with letting Iwuakor switch onto guards and defend them straight up.

He more than held his own, and even when he was beaten off the dribble he usually made them work for it:

His footwork and agility also gives the coaching staff options when designing the defensive game plan. Oklahoma liked to task Iwuakor with hedging on pick-and-rolls, meaning his job was to jump in front of the ball-handler, cut him off at the point of the screen and turn him back toward halfcourt, and then scramble back to defend the screen-setter.

It’s a lot to ask of a big man, but Iwuakor not only handled it, he actually made plays in as the hedger:

UNLV employed a hedging defense under T.J. Otzelberger, which returned mixed results with Mbacke Diong not always being able to scurry back into position. Iwuakor can recover and then some.

Another main responsibility of a big man is to hit the glass. Iwuakor’s rebounding numbers were not anything special at Oklahoma, as he averaged fewer than three boards per game and posted a defensive rebounding rate of 13.1% last year. In the games I watched he certainly put a lot of effort into that aspect of the game, often fighting through and around his man to get his hands on the ball.

His physical approach led to him getting his share of tip-outs and impressive boards:

As mentioned above, Iwuakor only played 10.8 minutes per game last year, and he had himself to blame for that lack of court time. Unsurprisingly for a raw, physical big man, Iwuakor tended to foul a lot, in just about every situation: battling for rebounding positioning, hand-checking on the perimeter, contesting shots, etc.

Iwuakor averaged 8.9 fouls per 40 minutes in conference play, showing a pathological need to hack that would make Dwayne Morgan blush.

Iwuakor earned every single one of those whistles:

Conserving fouls is something a player might be able to improve with experience, and with three years of eligibility remaining there is hope that Iwuakor will figure it out, especially since there is playing time to be had at UNLV.

On the offensive end, Iwuakor was the fifth option whenever he was on the court. There aren’t a lot of skills to work with yet, and despite his athleticism and leaping ability he did not provide vertical spacing in the Oklahoma offense and didn’t do a lot of finishing around the rim.

Iwuakor took only 2.0 shots per game and hit an unimpressive 48.9% of them. He did convert at 59.3% around the rim, but he is strictly a catch-and-finish guy at this point in his career.

Based on Iwuakor’s offensive skill set, I wouldn’t expect him to do much more than set screens and subsist on garbage baskets.

It’s pretty clear that UNLV recruited Iwuakor for his defensive potential. If it ever clicks for him, he can be the kind of athletic, switchy defender that anchors the frontcourt. There is still a lot of development left, and fortunately the UNLV coaching staff has three years to get it out of him.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.