As Jovan Mooring goes, so goes UNLV basketball

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018 | 2 a.m.

Who has been UNLV’s most valuable player so far this season? That’s up for debate. Freshman center Brandon McCoy is the team’s leading scorer and a future pro, junior forward Shakur Juiston is the team’s plus/minus leader and a double-double machine, and senior guard Jordan Johnson brings unparalleled energy and playmaking ability.

Any one of them can be UNLV’s best player on any given night. What’s not up for debate, however, is that the Rebels need Jovan Mooring in order to win.

Mooring is enjoying a strong senior season, averaging 15.0 points, 3.4 assists and 2.1 3-pointers per game. And after Saturday’s loss to Boise State, it has become apparent that the Rebels’ fortunes are tied directly to his offensive prowess.

Mooring struggled with his shooting touch against Boise and finished with eight points on 2-of-14 shooting in an 83-74 defeat, and it wasn’t the first time this season that an off-night for Mooring has resulted in a loss for UNLV.

Against Northern Iowa on Nov. 29, Mooring shot 3-of-17 from the field and 2-of-10 from 3-point range in an overtime loss. One game later, he went 2-of-8 and missed all three of his 3-point attempts in an OT loss to Arizona.

The splits are staggering. In UNLV’s 11 wins this season, Mooring is averaging 16.7 points while making 48.2 percent of his shots and 43.9 percent of his 3-pointers. In three losses, he has put up just 8.7 points on 17.9 percent from the field (17.4 percent from 3-point range).

Simply put, UNLV hasn't been able to win without Mooring.

The key for the Rebels — especially against the upper tier of the Mountain West — will be finding a way to coax consistent production out of a player who has fluctuated between super-efficiency in 11 victories to bench-worthy accuracy in three losses.

After the Boise State game, head coach Marvin Menzies said Mooring may have been pressing too hard to make something happen.

“It’s happened before,” Menzies said. “It doesn’t happen often, but it’s happened before. I think he was hunting the shot a little bit in the first half, then I think he settled in in the second half…He was just kind of out of sorts.”

Mooring’s low turnover rate (2.1 per 40 minutes) and high free-throw rate (82.4 percent on 5.3 attempts per game) still make him a highly efficient offensive player, but the Rebels will need him to make shots in order to beat good teams. His teammates certainly believe he's capable of it.

Shot selection may be a factor in his game-to-game extremes, but Mooring’s peculiar skill set complicates the issue. He excels with the ball in his hands, and that extends to his shooting. According to Synergy Sports data, he actually makes shots at a higher rate off the dribble (35.7 percent) than he does on catch-and-shoot jumpers (30.6 percent).

In a system where Johnson runs most of the offense and opposing defenses focus on stopping Juiston and McCoy down low, the Rebels have to rely on Mooring to make more of those open catch-and-shoot jumpers. Against Boise State, Mooring made just 1-of-5 off the catch.

Menzies doesn’t want to take away Mooring’s aggressiveness, as no other guards on the team possess his explosive scoring potential on the perimeter. Mooring has made 29 3-pointers this season, while the rest of the starting lineup has combined for 42 and the bench has made just 14. But the coach does want Mooring to contribute in other areas on nights when his shot isn’t falling.

That didn’t happen against Boise State, but there will be other big games over the second half of the season, and the Rebels know they’re going to need Mooring to come through.

“It was just one of those nights for him when he didn’t get the ball to go down at the percentage that he normally does,” Menzies said. “But you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em, and do some other things to help us win.”

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