Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Top Baltimore prospects set unofficial visits to UNLV

UNLV edges out Air Force Basketball

L.E. Baskow

UNLV head coach Marvin Menzies directs traffic during overtime versus Air Force in their game at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

Marvin Menzies may have his hands full coaching the Rebels on the court, but he and his staff have also been busy behind the scenes, working on the recruiting trail to attract young talent to UNLV.

The latest blue-chippers to pop up on the radar are Class of 2020 prospects Che Evans and Justin Lewis, a pair of Baltimore products who will be taking a joint unofficial visit to UNLV on Feb. 4.

Evans is a dynamic, 6-foot-6 shooting guard who is considered one of the top players in his class, while Lewis, a 6-foot-7 power forward, was one of 19 players in the Class of 2020 invited to the USA Basketball men’s junior national team mini-camp in October.

Evans and Lewis are close friends and considering attending college together. That decision is still a long way off — both are freshman in high school, and of course a lot can happen between now and then — but it makes sense that they’ll be traveling to Las Vegas together. UNLV offered both in October.

"Justin is basically like my brother," Evans said. "We've grown up with each other since we were like three or four years old. He's always been around. We work out together, we play AAU together. We plan to go to college together."

Menzies came to UNLV with a reputation as a good recruiter, and he appears to be living up to it already. Despite his late hiring in April of 2016, Menzies did a good job with his initial truncated recruiting cycle, bringing in promising long-term prospects such as freshmen Cheickna Dembele and Troy Baxter. And with Evans and Lewis coming to town for a visit, business is really starting to pick up for the Rebels.

The biggest target is still 2017 big man Brandon McCoy, a top-15 recruit who has UNLV in his final five. According to sources, McCoy is still very much considering the Rebels as a legitimate option.

Evans said current Rebel Dwayne Morgan has been a big influence on him.

"Dwayne is from Baltimore, and he always gives me a heads-up," Evans said. "He lets me know [about UNLV], what they're doing on the court, the program, things like that. Him being from Baltimore, he's always trying to take care of us."

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

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