Transfer senior guard from Mercer visiting UNLV this weekend

By Taylor Bern

Wednesday, April 15, 2015 | 1:30 p.m.

Findlay Prep product Nigel Williams-Goss won’t be the only transfer guard taking an official visit to UNLV this weekend. Mercer guard Ike Nwamu, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard, will also be coming to campus, a source confirmed.

As a junior last season, Nwamu averaged a team-leading 15.1 points, while shooting 47.7 percent on 2s and 35.7 percent on 3s. Nwamu has completed his undergraduate work and is eligible to play immediately at his next destination under the grad transfer rule, while Williams-Goss is expected to sit out a year with two years of eligibility after that.

Nwamu, who started his career at Cleveland State before playing two seasons at Mercer, is probably best known for his dunking ability. He also scored 11 points off the bench as a sophomore in No. 14 seed Mercer’s upset of No. 3 seed Duke in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

Louisville and Pittsburgh are a couple of the other teams pursuing Nwamu on the transfer market, and Nwamu is expected to head to Pitt right after Las Vegas. If he chose the Rebels, Nwamu would likely compete for UNLV's starting shooting guard position.

UNLV currently only has one official signee in the class of 2015 (Canadian guard Jalen Poyser) but commit Derrick Jones of Philadelphia is expected to sign his letter of intent on Thursday. Today is the first day of the spring signing period. There are still a lot of moving pieces, but once Jones signs, the Rebels will have three open scholarships with a fourth possible, depending on sophomore Christian Wood’s decision whether to stay or leave for the NBA Draft.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.