Kruger all about defense as UNLV prepares to mount March run

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Thursday, March 10, 2022 | 2 a.m.

If you were to hand Kevin Kruger a piece of chalk and send him up to a blackboard to write out UNLV’s formula this season, it would read something like: Bryce Hamilton + Defense = Win.

It’s a simple equation that has produced good results in Kruger’s first year as head coach, as his Scarlet and Gray finished the regular season 18-13 and claimed fifth place in the Mountain West with a 10-8 league record. But that was the regular season. Now that March Madness is upon us, the formula may require a bit of a tweak.

When asked earlier this week for his coaching philosophy on what wins in March, Kruger put added weight on one particular side of the equation.

“We would love for it to be defense,” Kruger said. “When we went on that stretch where we were winning games, we were keeping teams in the 50’s and 60’s, and I think that’s our DNA. That’s our identity when we win is to guard like crazy.”

That’s not to take Hamilton for granted; UNLV needs its best player to continue to perform at the highest level when it comes to scoring, facilitating, controlling tempo and generally carrying the offense. But the team understands they’ll win or lose in this week’s Mountain West tournament based on their defensive play.

Since the calendar turned to February, UNLV has posted a 6-4 record. In the six wins the Scarlet and Gray held their opponents to an average of 53.5 points, while in the four losses opponents scored 80.3 points. When holding opponents below 60, UNLV went 6-0; when allowing more than 60, they went 0-4.

It’s a very clear line for UNLV: Play defense and win. Don’t, and the season will end.

Senior center Royce Hamm, one of the backbones of UNLV’s 99^th-rated KenPom defense, believes he and his teammates are locked in and determined to make life difficult for opposing offenses.

“I definitely feel we get that message,” Hamm said. “As a team, our identity when we play our best is on the defensive end. I think if we can continue throughout the tournament to lock in on defense, I think that will really help us.”

That effort begins on Thursday, when No. 4 UNLV takes on No. 5 Wyoming in the tournament quarterfinals. It will be a rematch of a contest played just eight days earlier, when UNLV won the one and only meeting between the teams by a score of 64-57.

The Scarlet and Gray turned in an excellent defensive performance on that day, limiting Wyoming’s post-heavy offense to 34.4% shooting. Sophomore center Graham Ike, the league’s second-leading scorer, was held to 14 points on 6-of-19 FGs.

While Hamm and junior center David Muoka will handle Ike most of the time, Wyoming also likes to utilize guard Hunter Maldonado in the post. Maldonado’s size (6-foot-7, 203-pound) makes him a unique threat, but between junior forward Victor Iwuakor and junior wing Donovan Williams UNLV has enough versatility to match up.

By having multiple players capable of single-covering Ike and Maldonado, UNLV shouldn’t have to help as much and compromise its team defense.

Williams will give up some weight at 6-foot-6, 190 pounds, but his attitude when defending the post is to not give an inch.

“I’m never going to let anyone treat me like a baby in the post,” Williams said. “In the post and in the paint is where grown men live. If I want to be a man and if I want to play at the level I feel like I can play, I have to hold my own down there. The more I do that, the more Royce does that, the more Vic does that, the more David does that, it gives confidence to the guards and everyone else on the perimeter to know that if the ball goes inside, we’re good.”

So while it would be nice if Hamilton got hot and scored 120 points over the next three days to lead UNLV to a trio of pretty victories, Kruger has a more realistic idea of what a run through the Mountain West tournament has to look like.

That formula begins — and ends — with defense.

“For us, and even as far back as I can remember, usually those teams that guard and rebound are the ones that are the most dangerous in tournaments,” Kruger said. “With our team specifically, we don’t want to play catch-up. We don’t want to be looking at it and saying we’ve got to hit a whole bunch of shots for three consecutive days to win the tournament.”

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