Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

UNLV could have inside man in recruiting of 2019 star Josh Green

Josh Green UNLV Recruit

L.E. Baskow

Earl Watson Elite’s Josh Green (10) congratulates teammates after edging out Expressions Elite during their Fab 48 AAU tournament game at Desert Oasis High School on Friday, July 28 2017. As a UNLV recruit, Green is an Aussie native playing high school basketball in Arizona.

UNLV Recruit Josh Green

Earl Watson Elite's Josh Green (10) gets a shot off over Expressions Elite's Jalen Graham (10) during their Fab 48 AAU tournament game at Desert Oasis High School on Friday, July 28 2017.  As a UNLV recruit, Green is an Aussie native playing high school basketball in Arizona. Launch slideshow »

If recruiting really is all about relationships, then UNLV should have a pretty good head start when it comes to Class of 2019 superstar Josh Green.

His brother, Jay Green, is an incoming freshman for the Rebels, which should give Marvin Menzies and his staff an edge on the competition when it comes time for the younger Green to make his college decision.

And that competition is going to be fierce. Josh Green already has scholarship offers from schools such as Arizona, Stanford and Washington, and more are sure to follow, as the 6-foot-5 guard has superstar potential. That was clearly on display Friday afternoon at a Fab 48 contest at Desert Oasis, as Green totaled 26 points, five assists, three steals and three rebounds while leading his Earl Watson Elite team to an 88-85 victory over Expressions Elite.

Green was incredibly efficient, connecting on 10-of-13 shots from the field (3-of-5 from 3-point range). Even his misses were impressive — one of his misfires came on a dunk attempt as the springy junior-to-be tried to throw down a windmill on a fast break.

There were no UNLV coaches present for Green’s dominant performance, but the Rebels are hot on his trail nonetheless. They’ve already offered him a scholarship, and they’ve got a man on the inside.

“We talk daily,” Green said of his relationship with his brother. “He meant to be here at my game today, but I’ll probably see him later on. We talk constantly. Not everything is about basketball, we mainly talk about off-the-court. But I know that he’s been really enjoying himself at UNLV.”

The Green family are natives of Australia, and like his big bro, Josh is playing his high school ball in Arizona at Hillcrest Prep. Last year, Josh averaged more than 18 points per game as a sophomore and climbed to No. 28 in Rivals.com’s rankings for the Class of 2019.

Green said his main focus this summer is improving his guard skills and making himself more attractive to college programs as an all-around prospect.

“I’ve been trying to tighten up my handles and improve my shot,” he said. “I think that would help me a lot. It’s improving in those areas. And I always look for the open man and make sure I get my teammates involved, because at the end of the day it’s a team game.”

Though Green said it’s too early in his recruitment to talk about specific schools, he did allow that he would be intrigued by the chance to call his brother a teammate.

“That would be great,” Green said. “Just to have the opportunity to play with my brother would be a great blessing. I’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out.”

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

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