Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

UNLV basketball taking advantage of extended offseason

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Steve Marcus

UNLV Rebels head coach Kevin Kruger watches play during the Rebels season opener against the Gardner-Webb University Bulldogs at the Thomas & Mack Center Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021.

It’s only July, but the UNLV basketball team is about to enter perhaps its most important stretch of the offseason thanks to an upcoming trip to the great white north.

Kevin Kruger's squad just wrapped up its sixth week of summer workouts, which, under normal circumstances, would put them pretty close to the end of the offseason. The NCAA allows teams to hold eight weeks of organized team sessions in June and July, with four hours of on-court instruction per week, but UNLV won’t be stopping there.

The Scarlet and Gray are set to head to Canada next month for a series of exhibition games — schools can schedule a foreign exhibition trip once every three years — and teams are allowed to hold 10 full practices leading up to such a trip.

That means there is plenty of court time ahead for UNLV’s rebuilt roster, and no one is happier about that than Kruger.

While summer workouts are mostly focused on individual development, the second-year head coach intends to use the exhibition trip (and the preceding practices) to mold his crew into a cohesive unit that’s ready to hit the ground running.

“The main benefit we want to get out of the Vancouver trip is that when October rolls around and we’re into official practices, they’re ready for it,” Kruger said. “We’re going to introduce a lot of the terminology and the way we conduct a practice, and just try to hammer home the culture and the way that everyday life is here, with morning practices and breakfast and weights and just getting in a routine. So they’re not surprised and there’s no learning curve with drills and terminology. That’s what we want to accomplish on this trip.”

UNLV’s three exhibitions will be played at the University of British Columbia (Aug. 16), University of Calgary (Aug. 17) and Fraser Valley (Aug. 19). That leaves time for two more weeks or workouts, a few days off, and then the 10 practices before UNLV hits the road for points north.

UNLV will feature five returning players and eight newcomers in 2022-23, which puts a premium on team bonding — on and off the court.

“We’ve got an incredibly competitive group,” Kruger said. “We’ve got some guys that played major college basketball coming over with some younger guys. I think it’s a great blend. It’s a great group. Every day, they’ve worked really hard.”

All 13 scholarship players are now on campus, including the two final signees, Arizona transfer Shane Nowell and juco product Karl Jones, and most are participating in workouts; returning senior forward Victor Iwuakor (shoulder) and senior guard Elijah Harkless (knee) are still rehabbing from offseason surgery and will not play in the Canada exhibitions. Kruger said he does expect Iwuakor and Harkless to be available for the start of the regular season.

In addition to the players’ chemistry, Kruger also reported his reconfigured coaching staff is making strides in that regard. The team lost assistants Tim Buckley and Carlin Hartman this offseason, and Kruger replaced them with former SMU assistant John Cooper and Texas Tech assistant Barret Peery.

Following a full recruiting cycle and six weeks of summer workouts — and with plenty more offseason remaining — Kruger is pleased with the state of his staff.

“I think we’ve had a really good transition. Losing coach Buck and coach Hartman was tough, of course, but we couldn’t have done any better [with replacements] than coach Cooper and coach Peery. They hit the ground running, and they’ve blended in well with the staff. The guys like them and enjoy being around them. It’s about as seamless a transition as we could have had.”

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

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