Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

What we learned from UNLV basketball’s Canada exhibition trip

UNLV Rebels Practice

Wade Vandervort

UNLV Rebels guard Jackie Johnson III (24) and guard Elijah Parquet (1) attend practice at Mendenhall Center Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022.

UNLV wrapped its preseason exhibition trip through Vancouver on Friday with a 91-70 win over the University of the Fraser Valley. The victory allowed the Scarlet and Gray to escape the country with a 2-1 record, but aside from the results on the scoreboard, the games gave us an early look into how the 2022-23 UNLV team is going to shape up.

What we learned from the exhibition contests:

Defense could maybe be good

UNLV could be a good defensive team this season, but the exhibition games showed that it’s not a given. This roster isn’t going to overwhelm opponents with sheer talent, so things like sustained intensity and adhering to the scouting report are going to determine how many stops they get.

Some of the defensive possessions in Canada were worrisome. There were times when it seemed UNLV was disinterested at that end of the floor, and they got burned for it:

Mountain West opponents will dissect UNLV if that’s the kind of defensive effort they put forth in the regular season. Kruger will have to coach them hard and stay on top of them throughout the year.

Luis Rodriguez is going to play a lot

One player who made the most of the trip was Luis Rodriguez. The senior transfer from Mississippi was not the headliner of UNLV’s incoming portal class, but he adds value in a number of ways, making him a proper glue guy.

Rodriguez tired quickly, so his conditioning will have to improve, but he played solid defense and even showed some offensive spark in the final game, connecting on four 3-pointers.

He also closed out the final game with a steal and alley-oop pass to Keshon Gilbert:

That play kind of encapsulates what UNLV is hoping to get out of Rodriguez this year.

Shooting remains a question

When asked to describe the team’s offensive philosophy, Kruger laid out a simple plan: “We are going to hunt catch-and-shoot 3’s,” he said. That’s a solid strategy, but does UNLV have the shooters to pull it off?

Canada didn’t provide an answer one way or the other. The shooting wasn’t horrendous — UNLV made 33.7% from long range over three games — but it wasn’t good, either. As a team, their accuracy was medium-bad.

If 33% turns out to be the floor throughout the season, then UNLV should be in good shape. If that’s the ceiling, however…Kruger may have to re-think the plan on the fly.

Elijah Harkless is needed

While judging UNLV’s performance this week, it’s important to remember that the Scarlet and Gray were without their presumed best player, senior guard Elijah Harkless.

Harkless has yet to take the court this summer while he works his way back from a knee injury, but when watching video of the three exhibitions, it’s easy to see areas in which he could have made a big difference.

UNLV’s offense stagnated frequently — Harkless excels at penetrating the defense.

Defensive intensity waned — Harkless is a bulldog who always brings it on that end.

And so on.

It would be wishful thinking to expect Harkless to solve all of UNLV’s issues when he returns (Kruger said he will be ready for the start of the regular season), but the team won’t be complete until he’s back and playing big minutes.

Jackie Johnson is fast

There is a competition of sorts happening at point guard, even if it’s happening by default.

Because of their size, 6-foot senior Jordan McCabe and 5-foot-11 sophomore Jackie Johnson are limited to playing on the ball. While taller guards like Gilbert, Harkless and Eli Parquet can be shuffled around in different combinations and defend multiple positions and share the floor together, there’s really only room for one of Johnson or McCabe to play at the same time.

In the battle for those minutes, Johnson certainly looked like the more effective player in Canada. He led UNLV in scoring in the first two games and his burst off the dribble added a dimension to the offense:

McCabe is a veteran and a favorite of the coaching staff, and there is still a long way to go before the season even begins, so nothing has been decided yet. But as of now, Johnson has a head start.

UNLV is going to take a lot of charges

When UNLV was locked in on defense, bodies were flying everywhere — in a good way.

It’s apparent that Kruger has assembled a group who are willing to put their bodies on the line and step in front of barreling opponents in order to draw charges. Gilbert, Johnson, McCabe, Parquet and Justin Webster all took charges over the three games:

For every offensive foul drawn, there were a number of other times when they hit the floor but just didn’t get the call.

It’s a scrappy team, and it’s a physical team. If Kruger can get them all on the same page over the course of the season, opponents will think twice before driving into the lane with abandon.

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

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