Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

With scholarships filled, UNLV basketball happy with ‘good fit’

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Steve Marcus

UNLV Rebels head coach Kevin Kruger calls out from the sidelines during the second half of an NCAA basketball game against the Omaha Mavericks at the Thomas & Mack Center Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021.

It took a while, but the UNLV basketball roster is set for the 2022-23 season, and according to head coach Kevin Kruger the final product is pretty close to what he envisioned back in March before the transfer portal officially opened.

UNLV filled its final two scholarships last week with the twin signings of Shane Nowell and Karl Jones, bringing the roster to the NCAA limit of 13 players. Nowell is a sophomore wing from Arizona, while Jones is a juco big man with two years of eligibility remaining.

According to Kruger, those are the two general skill sets he sought to round out the team, and he felt comfortable waiting until relatively late in the summer until he found exact matches in Nowell and Jones.

“We weren’t in any rush,” Kruger said. “We wanted to make sure it was a good fit. We had been talking to Shane since he went into the portal and developed a good relationship with him. And with Karl, adding that big body, a guy who plays hard, a team guy, I thought he was a great addition as the last piece.”

Nowell and Jones have signed letters of intent but are not yet on campus as they finish their classes at Arizona and Los Angeles Southwest College, respectively. Nowell is a former 4-star recruit who only played 66 total minutes with the Wildcats last year, while Jones, a 6-foot-10 center, averaged 10.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.8 blocks.

They are part of an eight-man incoming class that includes seven transfers and one high-school recruit.

UNLV is midway through its eight-week summer workout schedule, during which coaches are allowed four hours of on-court instruction per week. Kruger said Nowell and Jones are expected to arrive soon.

The team is also without senior guard Elijah Harkless, a transfer from Oklahoma who is waiting to be cleared, and senior forward Victor Iwaukor, who continues to rehab following shoulder surgery.

In the big picture, Kruger is happy with the way the offseason played out.

“We brought in guys that are high character, hard working, motivated guys, and added them to a group [of returners] that was very similar,” Kruger said. “At the beginning of the transfer portal, that’s what we always talked about, bringing in motivated guys that enjoyed playing hard and wanted to be at UNLV. And I think we did that.”

Kruger said most of the work done so far has focused on individual skill development. UNLV is set to play a series of foreign exhibition games in Canada from Aug. 15-20, and NCAA rules allow teams to hold 10 additional practices leading up to those contests; Kruger plans to use those practices to focus more on playbook installation and X’s and O’s.

“With the foreign trip, that changes things a little bit,” he said. “Having those practices in August, we’re not doing anything too crazy right now. Essentially we want to be healthy for August.”

UNLV roster:

RETURNERS

Justin Webster, senior

Victor Iwuakor, senior

Jordan McCabe, senior

David Muoka, senior

Keshon Gilbert, sophomore

TRANSFERS

Elijah Harkless, senior

Elijah Parquet, senior

Luis Rodriguez, senior

Karl Jones, senior

Isaiah Cottrell, junior

Jackie Johnson, sophomore

Shane Nowell, sophomore

HIGH SCHOOL RECRUITS

Keyshawn Hall

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

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