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March 28, 2024

rebels basketball:

UNLV’s David Jenkins not letting quarantine slow him down

Rebels Practice with New Coach

Wade Vandervort

Rebel player David Jenkins (5) practices at Mendenhall Center at the UNLV campus, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019.

David Jenkins is determined to get off to a fast start next season.

That seemed like an inevitability until the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the offseason down to a crawl. The junior guard played two seasons under T.J. Otzelberger at South Dakota State and managed quite well, averaging 17.8 points while making 42.0 percent of his 3-point attempts. Jenkins then transferred to UNLV last offseason and redshirted in 2019-20, giving him a full year to acclimate to his teammates and the program.

Given those circumstances, it seemed no player in the country was as poised as Jenkins for an explosive start to the year.

Now quarantined with his family in his hometown of Tacoma, Wash., Jenkins is doing his best to make sure his transition back onto the court goes as smoothly as was expected before the coronavirus changed the timeline.

“I haven’t really missed a beat,” Jenkins said. “I’m making sure I’m doing the right things every day. Working on my handle, I’m getting shots up every day.”

Jenkins has a basketball hoop at his home as well as access to a gym, which he is using in his daily workouts.

Always a vocal presence, Jenkins has also taken a lead role in making sure the rest of the Rebels stay on schedule during the shutdown. In addition to the team’s weekly video meeting with the coaching staff, Jenkins has joined forces with junior guard Marvin Coleman to schedule weekly conference calls with their teammates every Friday.

Those video chats include the returning Rebels as well as the incoming 2020 recruits.

“Me and Marvin kind of orchestrated that,” Jenkins said. “We’re just making sure we interact with the young players. Building relationships each and every day with them is ultimately going to help in our team’s success next season."

Even granting the importance of getting the young players, acclimated, the biggest factor in UNLV’s success next season will be the pairing of Jenkins and junior guard Bryce Hamilton, who enjoyed a breakout 2019-20 season by averaging 16.0 points per game and earning All-Mountain West honors.

Jenkins believes he and Hamilton can form a special backcourt tandem.

“We’re going to be one of the most dynamic duos in the country,” Jenkins said. “The combination of my shooting with the way he attacks the hole, I just feel like it’s second to none… I feel like we’re going to complement each other well and be one of the top scoring duos in the country.”

Hamilton averaged 20.9 points in conference play last year on 16.0 field goal attempts, and Jenkins took 14.0 shots per game in his last year at South Dakota State, so there is a question of how the two high-scoring guards will mesh together. Jenkins isn’t among the concerned.

Though the Rebels haven’t been able to hold any summer workouts, Jenkins is confident he and Hamilton will play well together because the pairing has worked in practice.

“We’re both willing to give up the ball,” he said. “There was a point in the season where Bryce was having a little drought and coach put him on the scout team with me, and we were playing against the starting five. He and I just went back and forth when it came to scoring, so I’ve already seen it work once before. I have no doubt in my mind that we can do it for the whole season.”

And whenever the season (or offseason) gets back to normal, Jenkins wants to make sure his entire team is as prepared for a fast start as he is.

“I talk to my guys each and every day just to make sure they’re ready,” Jenkins said. “We don’t have time next year to try to get guys going and then they get going late in the season. We need to hit it from day one because we want to be really successful next year.”

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

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