Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Rebels basketball:

Morgan to leave UNLV basketball, transfer closer to home

UNLV Defeats Oregon at MGM Grand

L.E. Baskow

UNLV forward Dwayne Morgan (15) signals “LV” on the court while celebrating their big win over Oregon in their basketball game at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Friday, December 4, 2015. L.E. Baskow

In what could be the first of many player departures, sophomore forward Dwayne Morgan will ask to leave the UNLV program, per multiple sources. Morgan, a Baltimore native, plans to transfer closer to home.

UNLV is closer to announcing its next coach — Cincinnati’s Mick Cronin is in town right now, so we’ll know soon whether it’s him or on to the next candidate — but players have grown restless with the uncertainty in the program that goes back to Dave Rice’s firing on Jan. 10. Many still want assistant Stacey Augmon to take over the program, and if/when someone else is selected there could be more departures.

Over two seasons, Morgan, a 6-foot-8 forward, averaged 5.4 points on 40.1 percent shooting and 3.8 rebounds in 18.1 minutes per game. Morgan made 26 starts and did what he could to fill in as UNLV’s center late last season before a Feb. 20 shoulder injury added him to the crew in street clothes on the bench for the rest of the year.

Foul trouble limited Morgan’s minutes at UNLV, as he averaged 3.05 fouls per game and fouled out five times.

Morgan picked the Rebels over Maryland and Georgetown, and he came to UNLV in one of the top-ranked recruiting classes in program history. It also included Rashad Vaughn, Pat McCaw, Goodluck Okonoboh and Jordan Cornish, with Morgan ranking second in the group as the nation’s No. 23 overall prospect, according to 247sports.com.

Now both Morgan and Okonoboh have transferred out of the program, McCaw and Cornish’s futures are up in the air and Vaughn was drafted No. 17 overall in June, though he was recently sent to the NBA Developmental League. Elsewhere on the roster, freshmen Stephen Zimmerman Jr. and Derrick Jones Jr. have decisions to make about their professional future, and there's no guarantee that guys like junior Ben Carter or freshman Jalen Poyser will remain in the program, either.

Morgan has two years of eligibility remaining and there are reports that Morgan’s mother, former Clemson basketball player Tabitha Chambers, hasn’t been in good health, so it’s unclear at this stage whether or not he would need to sit out a season.

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

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