Matt Styck, left, content creator for UNLV Athletics, and Ricky Witt, director of new media and video production, pose in front of the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022.
Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022 | 2 a.m.
UNLV basketball player Reece Brown was walking through a resort in Mexico during winter break when someone spotted him.
Reece is featured in a viral social media video titled “What’s in the box?” that was posted by the athletic department’s creative team. In it, Brown and his UNLV teammates take turns reaching into a box to guess its contents, only to have their hands pricked by a pineapple inside the box.
It’s the type of creative and edgy content the basketball program has posted to its social media channels since the summer with the intention of giving fans an inside look at all things UNLV. The goal is simple: Help increase interest in the team, both with fans and, most important, with recruits.
On TikTok, the pineapple video has 22.2 million views, 2.8 million likes and 7,000 comments. It was picked up by “SportsCenter’s” Instagram account, where it’s been viewed 6 million times. In total the video has been viewed for 154,000 minutes.
For Ricky Witt and Matt Styck, part of the brain trust leading the creative charge on the enhanced social media strategy, the popularity of the video validated their efforts to bring more notoriety to the department.
They watched the pineapple video post grow from 1 million viewers to 5 million in a handful of days. Then “SportsCenter” picked it up and it went viral. Even the chain store Target liked it.
“That’s was the ‘We made it moment,’” said Styck, the department's content creator, on the video being shared by ESPN. “We were watching the (views) in real time. I was like, ‘OK, this is not stopping.’ ”
Most of the effort has been put into the men’s basketball team, where first-year coach Kevin Kruger was determined during the offseason to find ways to build excitement for the program. He played on UNLV’s Sweet 16 team in 2007, when the Rebels had a bigger following and routinely played in front of near-capacity crowds at home.
Getting more eyeballs on the team was paramount, and Witt and Styck were the ideal duo to lead the effort.
They are both Las Vegas locals, graduates of the university and diehard UNLV fans. (Styck preferred Wink Adams over Kruger on that 2007 team).
“It’s unbelievable the interest and the engagement they have sparked, not only in the community and the city but in the recruiting world,” Kruger said.
When Kruger met last May with the athletic department’s creative team, Witt and Styck came armed with a handful of ideas to grow the social media following. They would do the obvious, like posting Jordan McCabe’s no-look pass that led to a dunk against Wichita State, or the locker room celebration after beating Colorado State.
But they would also go behind the scenes to help fans start to the know the players, which was a top priority considering the roster had 10 new members. Witt and Styck started by filming players arriving on campus to start summer workouts, whether that was coaches greeting someone at the airport or helping them move luggage into their new on-campus apartment.
Officials loved the concept and gave the duo plenty of freedom to be creative, even if it’s something that could be considered edgy. After UNLV defeated UNR two weeks ago, they posted an archived photo of Jerry Tarkanian smoking a cigar and having a shot of whiskey on Twitter with the message, “Smokin’ on that Wolfpack.”
“From the moment the (players) got here coach Kruger was like, ‘We want you guys at everything,’” said Witt, the director of new media and video production. “We told him, ‘As long as you tell us, we will be there.”
They work in unison with Andy Grossman, the senior associate athletics director of strategic communications, and Mark Wallington, the senior assistant athletic director of communications, on content. Kruger said he had complete trust in the group to take the creativity to the next level.
The basketball program went from having eight followers on TikTok on the day of the meeting to 132,000 followers as of this week. It’s the third-highest following of any collegiate basketball program, behind Duke and North Carolina.
“(Kruger) gave us the keys and we ran with it from there,” Styck said.
Witt started in video production by working with the Foothill High dance team when he was student at the Henderson school. That paved the way for him to assist in a similar capacity with the Rebel Girls, UNLV’s dance team. Eventually, he caught on with the athletic department.
Styck, 24, graduated from UNLV with a degree in premedicine but spent most of his time around athletics. He grew up a few miles from the university, living and dying with the result of each UNLV game.
As a middle school student, the first item he put in his daily planner was the UNLV basketball schedule. Now, he’s is part of the team.
The duo attends every game, including those on the road, and is front and center documenting all team activities — from team bonding experiences on the Strip to community outreach projects at a grade school. When there’s a great play, they’ll have something posted within minutes.
“In any job when you have that connection and that sense of pride, you only do it that much better,” Kruger said. “Matt and Ricky have a pride and passion for (UNLV).”
The players have been receptive and willing participants in the posts, realizing the added attention on social media is also strengthening their personal brand. Brown being recognized on vacation certainly reaffirms those claims.
“We try to push the envelope as much as possible” Witt, 25, said. “Our mentality with social media is if you aren’t going to be risky, you are never going to reap the benefits.”
