Richardson wows ‘em at Fan Jam

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 1999 | 10:39 a.m.

As soon as Chris Richardson reached for the chair, the Rebel faithful gathered at the Thomas & Mack Center on Tuesday night suddenly got louder.

A year after Richardson wowed the fans with a monster dunk over a sitting Matt Siebrandt, he was back for more.

With a re-mix of the single "What Y'all Want" by Eve, the first lady of the Ruff Ryders' rap collaboration, playing over the loudspeakers, Richardson missed two dunks before he finally looked like he was ready to defend his slam dunk title in UNLV's annual Fan Jam put on by the men's and women's basketball teams.

This time, it was Rebel Donovan Stewart propped up on a chair hoping he wouldn't get kicked by Richardson's long legs and this time, there was a little something different about Richardson on the inside.

With former Rebels Michael Lloyd, Tyrell Jamerson and John Flowers looking on, he successfully leaped over Stewart to beat out Dalron Johnson, Kenny Dye and Sylvester Dotson to become slam dunk king.

What he didn't do was walk away thinking that the dunk was going to define his season like he did last year.

Before the contest, Richardson said he didn't even feel like participating since the result of his spectacular dunk over Siebrandt never translated to success on the court.

Despite the hype after Fan Jam, he averaged 1.7 points and 1.4 rebounds in 21 games.

"I was just expecting too much," Richardson said of last season. "Being the man out of high school, I thought I was better than everyone.

"I'm just a lot more mature now. Over the summer I talked to coach (Bill Bayno), my mom and decided I had to grow up."

He scored 14 points in the intrasquad scrimmage on four dunks, a 3-pointer, a layup and a free throw.

The Rebels gave the fans a peek at how they hope to play this season-- up-tempo with lots of easy baskets.

Kaspars Kambala showed no ill effects from having surgery on his right knee and scored most of his 20 points inside while Trevor Diggs made three 3-pointers en route to his 19 points.

Danny Brotherson, a scrappy guard who is challenging for playing time, looked solid and added 15 points.

But Bayno was cautious when assessing the team.

"It's good for the fans," he said. "Playing against each other isn't a real test.

"We're gonna have to get better on defense and continue improving each day."

The Lady Rebels held a 3-point shooting contest instead of a slam dunk contest.

Sharpshooting Erin Johansson beat Kinesha Davis and preseason third-team All-America selection Linda Frohlich for the title.

Though the Lady Rebels looked a little raw during their scrimmage, head coach Regina Miller thinks the team will peak at the right time.

"We haven't scrimmaged much so it's actually good for the players to play in front of people," Miller said. "The team was very nervous out there.

"This team is gonna look different in March."