Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

He’s the one player UNLV basketball has lacked under Dave Rice

2015 Runnin’ Rebels First Practice

Chris Obekpa (34) throws down a reverse dunk during the Rebels' first basketball practice of the season at the Mendenhall Center on UNLV campus Monday, Oct. 5, 2015. Launch slideshow »

Jerome Seagears is everything UNLV basketball faithful hoped the program had last season in Cody Doolin.

Seagears will be the best, and arguably first, pure point guard to lead the Rebels in Dave Rice’s five-season coaching tenure when they open next month.

The senior can pass, score, defend and will be one of the Rebels’ best shooters. He’s smart, confident, experienced and athletic. He’s the guy who can organize the up-tempo offense and full-court defense Rice has unsuccessfully flirted with in past seasons.

Those traits were all supposed to belong to Doolin, who was wrongly labeled last season as the next Kevin Kruger. Kruger in 2007 transferred to UNLV for his final season of eligibility and led the Rebels to the Sweet 16 with his leadership and competitiveness.

Doolin also transferred in for his final season, but quickly became overmatched. UNLV expected to be a NCAA Tournament qualifier; it somehow finished seventh in a middle-of-the road Mountain West. Seventh is still mind-boggling, right?

With Seagears leading the way, the Rebels won’t finish seventh. They might actually compete for the league title.

Here’s how highly thought of he is: Despite having to sit out last season after transferring from Rutgers, the 6-foot-1, 180-pound Maryland native was still a UNLV captain. He never saw the court, but was one of the program’s most crucial pieces, especially with managing UNLV’s talented freshman class.

“I wanted to jump off the bench every game, whether we were winning or losing, but understood (sitting) was part of the process,” he said. “(I) set an example for the younger players and taught them the right way.”

Seagears started for most of his three seasons at Rutgers, averaging 7.1 points, 3.2 assists and two rebounds per game in 21 minutes as a junior in 2013-14. Don’t let those numbers scare you. While they don’t jump off the page as a player who is going to lead UNLV to NCAA Tournament wins, it’s not because Seagears lacks ability.

At Rutgers, they ran a deliberate and slow-paced offense, one not meshing with his skill-set. In 2013-14, Rutgers played with a below-average pace, ranking 256th out of 351 Division I teams in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted tempo metric.

At UNLV, he’ll be asked to push the ball up the court and let his athleticism take over. It’s a perfect marriage.

“Here it is let the point guard make decisions and make reads instead of being in a set offense,” he said.

UNLV teams under Rice have featured some of the most talented players in the Mountain West, if not the entire West Coast. But the teams lacked a togetherness, and it often appeared players were competing more for individual achievement and NBA Draft status than to win games. They missed a team leader running the point.

They say this year’s team is different. They say players are each pulling in the same direction and understand their roles. While that won't be settled until the season begins, you can easily argue the Rebels have the right pieces.

They have veterans such as Seagears, Mercer transfer Ike Nwamu and Oregon transfer Ben Carter, and talented younger players such as sophomores Pat McCaw and Goodluck Okonoboh, and freshman McDonald’s All-American Stephen Zimmerman.

They have player depth with as many as 10 players expected to be part of the regular rotation, meaning they are more equipped to handle injury. It got so bad last year that they were crippled when lightly used reserve Dantley Walker injured his knee.

More important, they finally have the piece of the puzzle they’ve desperately lacked in a skilled point guard.

“I have the ability to do whatever is asked of me,” Seagears said. “Whether that is pass the ball or whether that is get assists; whether it is to score or whether that is to play defense. That is what makes me unique. I think i can do everything.”

If he does, Rice’s Rebels could finally have a memorable March.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy