Commitment, conditioning at heart of UNLV’s full-court pressure defense

By Taylor Bern

Friday, Sept. 25, 2015 | 2 a.m.

The technical aspects of the UNLV basketball team’s full-court press, the once-promised and now-delivered swarming man-to-man defense that has dominated the Rebels’ offseason workouts, needs work just like everything else does in September. What’s going to ultimately make or break the press, though, has far more to do with the players’ conditioning and commitment to all-out effort than the particular Xs and Os.

“That mentality makes teams great,” said junior Ben Carter. “… It’s about the players finding it in them to do it.”

UNLV’s first official practice is a little more than a week away and the exhibition game is a month after that. On Thursday the team opened its hourlong workout to media and worked on the same thing that freshman Stephen Zimmerman Jr. said has been on the Rebels’ agenda “pretty much every day.”

Early in his tenure, UNLV coach Dave Rice talked a lot about a fast-paced, press-based running style that never came to fruition. In response to backlash he said he would no longer promise a specific style of play, so when the press returned to the conversation throughout this offseason, it was a clear sign that it was coming for real this time.

“This is something that Coach Rice has preached since we all got here,” said Carter, who was recently cleared for full-contact participation following microdisectomy surgery on his lower back.

The Rebels have 12 eligible scholarship players (senior Chris Obekpa is redshirting because of transfer rules) and seven of them are listed at at least 6-foot-7. That’s a lot of limbs flying around the court, and UNLV plans to channel that into a high-energy attack that can create chaos and turnovers with wave after wave of versatile athletes.

“They love it,” Rice said. “We’re not very good at it yet because it’s early but we’re just trying to learn how to play hard on every possession.”

Instead of speeding things up, Rice’s teams have slowed down each of his four seasons both in adjusted tempo and average offensive possession length, according to kenpom.com. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Rebels’ overall experience level has mostly mirrored the slowdown.

Last year’s roster, which relied heavily on freshmen and ranked as one of the youngest in the country, had little chance of playing at an accelerated pace even before injuries took their toll. Now the Rebels are the most balanced they’ve ever been with at least three players in each class and all of them capable of playing multiple positions.

“(The press) works with the personnel that we have and the depth that we have,” Rice said. “Our guys have got to understand that it’s not necessarily about the minutes they play. It’s more about the possessions they play, because we hope to play a lot higher possession games.”

In theory, UNLV will demand effort over all — a change from what’s been tolerated in recent years — because lackadaisical play will be more costly and even more obvious in a system that requires them to get up close to opponents immediately after every made basket and dead ball.

“It’s a lot of running,” said senior guard Jerome Seagears. “I think it’s going to work good with the team we’ve got.”

The Rebels envision being able to make wholesale line changes like it’s a hockey game. Carter likes the accountability it puts on players when Rice could say to any player, “If you’re not doing what you need to do, come sit next to me” without it affecting the overall talent on the floor.

UNLV has various traps ready to spring out of its defense, but the basic design is man-to-man. Pressure defense requires taking risks and the Rebels are going to screw that up plenty of times and get beat for easy baskets. It’s inevitable.

What matters most is whether those mistakes come from poor positioning and decision-making — things more easily corrected — or a lack of effort that should finally land even UNLV’s top players a seat on the bench.

Nearly Full Health

After missing almost all of the offseason, Carter was cleared on Sept. 17 and has been slowly working back in with the team over the last month. The only Rebel who didn’t participate on Thursday was junior college transfer Tyrell Bellot-Green, who’s dealing with a hamstring injury.

Coming Attractions

UNLV holds its first official practice Oct. 5 at the Mendenhall Center. Oct. 15, the Rebels will hold a scrimmage at the Thomas & Mack Center, and then Oct. 22 is the Runnin’ Rebel Madness event downtown that will feature a dunk contest, among other things.

The scrimmage and Madness events are both free and open to the public.

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