The UNLV Men’s Basketball team is set to kick off the 2019-20 season this Tuesday at home against Fort Wayne.
The Runnin’ Rebels finished with a 17-14 record last season, losing to San Diego State in the Mountain West tournament and eventually firing head coach Marvin Menzies.
UNLV will be seeking its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2013 this season, as well as its first Mountain West Championship since 2008.
New Man in Charge
Tuesday will mark the debut for new Runnin Rebel head coach TJ Otzelberger. Otzelberger went 77-33 during his three-year tenure at South Dakota State, along with two Summit League championships and two NCAA tournament appearances.
Otzelberger’s hiring this spring left many Rebel fans very skeptical, especially after names like Rick Pitino started floating around. Watching Chris Beard lead Texas Tech all the way to the National Championship game also didn’t help since Beard spurned UNLV for the Red Raiders back in 2016.
However, this season will serve as a perfect opportunity for Otzelberger and his staff to usher in a new era of UNLV basketball and show that this is a program capable of making an NCAA Tournament run down the line.
Returning Players
Otzelberger lost seven players to the transfer portal over the summer following the firing of Marvin Menzies.
However, there are some key contributors that opted to return to the program including junior guard Amauri Hardy. Hardy averaged 13 points, three rebounds and nearly four assists last year while starting 19 games for the Rebels.
Also returning is forward Mbacke Diong, a 6-11 junior who averaged nearly seven points and seven rebounds last year to go along with 1.5 blocks per game.
Both Hardy and Diong are going to see their roles expanded this year and will need to produce for what is currently a thin roster. Outside of Hardy and Diong, there isn’t much production returning from last year’s squad.
Senior forward Nick Blair is back and should start next to Diong in the frontcourt. Blair is solid defensively and will provide rebounding but won’t be counted on to provide much offensively.
Guard Bryce Hamilton, who stands at 6-4, will also see an increased role this year after playing sparingly as a freshman last year.
Notable Transfers
Otzelberger and his staff hit the ground running on the recruiting trail this summer as they scrambled to fill out the remaining roster spots. They landed several key transfers who will be expected to step in and contribute immediately.
The first commit of the Otzelberger era was 6-5 sharpshooter Jonah Antonio who transferred in after averaging 11.6 points and shooting over 40 percent from three-point range at South Plains College last season.
Antonio will space the floor and provide knockdown shooting which is essential in Otzelberger’s up-tempo offense.
Six-foot-seven forward Donnie Tillman also transferred in from Utah after averaging nearly 11 points per game last season and winning the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year award for the Utes.
Other notable transfers for the Rebels this year include senior guard Elijah Mintrou-Long who spent the past three seasons at Texas as well as 6-9 forward Vitaliy Shibel who spent the past two seasons at Arizona State.
David Jenkins Jr, a 6-2 junior guard, also Transferred in after playing the past two seasons under Otzleberger at South Dakota State. Jenkins could end up being Otzelberger’s biggest catch this recruiting cycle after starting every game last season, averaging nearly 20 points per night while shooting 45 percent from behind the three-point line.
However, fans will have to wait to see Jenkins until the 2020-21 season as he has been ruled ineligible due to NCAA transfer rules.
All other transfers are eligible to play this upcoming season.
Run, Run, Run
The Rebels’ new-look offense will embrace the pace this year. Otzelberger is determined to play fast and push the tempo of the game the same way his teams did during his time at South Dakota State.
Last season, the Jackrabbits averaged nearly 85 points per game, good for fifth in the country. They also finished third in field goal percentage at 50 percent and third in three-point percentage at 41 percent.
Otzelberger wants to get out and run, so expect to see smaller lineups throughout stretches of games, more three-point attempts and an emphasis on early offense.
SDSU was 29th nationally in transition efficiency last year and the upgrade in athleticism that this UNLV roster provides will allow Otzelberger to do much of the same.
Tempo, spacing, outside shooting and good shot selection will all be essential for this offense to function at its highest level.
Notable Non-conference Games
UNLV opens the season with a tough November schedule. They face Kansas State at home on Nov. 9th and then travel to California to take on UCLA on Nov. 15.
The Rebels will then go up against the Abilene Christian team that went 27-7 last season at home on Nov. 18.
Other notable non-conference matchups include SMU at home Nov. 23 as well as road matchups against Cincinnati and BYU in late November and early December.
Season Predictions
This should be seen as more of a transition year for the Rebels, one that will set them up to seriously compete heading into the 2020-21 season.
They lost four starters from last year and just aren’t as deep as some of the other top teams in the conference.
The Rebels will finish in the middle of the pack of the Mountain West yet again, however, the focus should be on continuing to embrace Otzelberger’s new system and developing what is a young roster.
If the Runnin’ Rebels show that they can be competitive in conference play and are seen as a program that can eventually get back to the NCAA Tournament in the near future, then the 2020-21 season should be viewed as a success.
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