UNLV basketball trying to close talent gap on rival UNR

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019 | 2 a.m.

Heading into today’s game between UNR and UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center, the two in-state rivals couldn’t be further apart. UNR is 19-1 and ranked No. 8 in the nation, while the Runnin’ Rebels are 11-8. The Wolf Pack is coming off a Sweet 16 appearance and looking forward to another deep NCAA tournament run, while UNLV is still in the beginning stages of a long-term rebuilding process.

Why is one program thriving while the other is struggling? The answer is obvious, according to Marvin Menzies.

Talent.

The UNR roster is loaded with All-America candidates like Caleb Martin (17.2 points per game), Jordan Caroline (18.7 points, 9.7 rebounds) and Cody Martin (11.9 points, 5.1 assists). And while Menzies is trying to close the gap on the recruiting trail, it’s going to take a while before UNLV can go toe to toe with its one-time “little brother” in terms of pure ability.

One the eve of the teams’ first meeting of the season, Menzies said he thinks UNLV is moving in the right direction.

“There was a time when the Rebels were up [in the rivalry], there was a time when the Wolf Pack was up, and it kind of went back and forth,” Menzies said. “I think all the games have been pretty engaging, except for transitional games, like my early games. Obviously, personnel-wise we weren’t in any position to compete with these guys. But now that we’re growing it and building it back, I think that makes it a little more special that we’re heading in the right direction and putting some guys together that are going to battle their guys.”

Advanced metrics support the idea that UNR is simply out-talenting its opponents this season. The bulk of the Wolf Pack offense comes from isolation plays — in other words, giving the ball to the best players and getting out of their way.

UNR has run an isolation play on 169 possessions this season; only seven Division-I teams have run more, and none have done it as efficiently as the Pack (0.941 points per possession, according to Synergy Sports data). The big three of Caleb Martin (67 iso plays), Caroline (38) and Cody Martin (26) have accounted for 131 of UNR’s 169 isolation possessions.

Menzies called Martin, Martin and Caroline future NBA players and cited that trio as the key to what makes UNR so difficult to defend.

“Just the superior talent and position-less basketball,” Menzies said. “They’ve just got a lot of good talent. I think at the end of the day when you have really good guys, it’s a tough guard because you’ve got to pick and choose your poison.”

Can Menzies eventually raise UNLV’s talent level to the point where the Rebels can challenge UNR? He’s working on it, as he brought in the No. 2 recruiting class in the Mountain West in 2018 and is set to have the No. 3 class in 2019.

The Rebels currently have four 3-star recruits on the roster, led by guard Bryce Hamilton, who was rated as the No. 50 player in the country as a senior by 247Sports. Sophomore guard Amauri Hardy was a 3-star and is enjoying a breakout season (12.4 points, 6.0 assists in MWC play). And while first-year wing Joel Ntambwe was an unranked recruit, he looks like the front-runner for the conference’s Freshman of the Year award (16.9 points, 7.0 rebounds in MWC play).

UNR coach Eric Musselman adheres to a different recruiting philosophy, generally opting for transfers over high schoolers, but he still goes after guys with pedigree. UNR currently has three 3-star recruits, two 4-star recruits and one 5-star recruit on the roster.

The Martin twins (both 4-stars) will graduate after this season, as will Caroline (unranked). Next year’s Wolf Pack squad figures to be built around senior Lindsey Drew (sitting out this year as a medical redshirt) and incoming transfers JoJo Anderson and Jalen Harris. Drew, Anderson and Harris were all 3-star recruits.

The Pack could also return Jordan Brown, a 5-star recruit who was rated as the No. 20 player in the country as a senior. Brown was thought to be a one-and-done player, but the 6-foot-10 big man has averaged just 10.7 minutes per game.

Hardy looks at the machine Musselman has built at UNR and believes UNLV can attain that level of success in the future.

“Personally, I envisioned that coming here,” Hardy said. “I think our other guys have the same vision. Credit to [UNR], they put in the work, they got the guys there to do it, but it would definitely be great to see that happen here. This town deserves winning. If we could pull off something like that, it would be amazing.”

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