Kruger, Rebels add their first ‘big man’ to commitment list

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, April 27, 2004 | 9:15 a.m.

New UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger said landing two big men would be his No. 1 recruiting priority this spring. He's half way there.

Dustin Villepigue, a 6-foot-9, 230-pound forward from Dixie State College in St. George, Utah, who originally began his college career at Gonzaga, has signed a national letter of intent to play with the Rebels according to his father, Tom Villepigue

"They should have gotten it (Monday) because I Federal Expressed it to them on Saturday afternoon," Tom Villepigue said. "My wife Debbie and I are all very excited that Dustin is going to UNLV. It sounds like a good fit for him and it's close enough that we'll be able to get out there to watch him play some games."

The Villepigues live in the Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley, about a four-hour drive from Las Vegas.

Dustin Villepigue figures to help fill a huge void on a Rebels front line that lost starting center J.K. Edwards and part-time starting forward James Peters to graduation. He averaged 9.3 points and 5.3 rebounds at Dixie State and shot 65 percent from the floor despite being hampered by an ankle injury much of the season.

It is against NCAA rules for Kruger or any UNLV coach to discuss a potential recruit unless they have a signed letter of intent in hand. The school was still waiting for the letter to arrive on Monday afternoon.

The Rebels also hosted another junior college big man, Joel Anthony (6-9, 245) of Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College, over the weekend. Anthony, a native of Montreal, also is being recruited by Nebraska, Penn State, DePaul, Georgia and Cincinnati according to his coach, Paul Swanson.

"UNLV got the first trip," said Swanson, a former Northwestern assistant while Kruger also was coaching in the Big Ten Conference at Illinois. "It's a wide-open situation. I've known Lon a long time and I respect him and the way he coaches. I would anticipate that Joel will take a few more trips before he decides."

UNLV got bad news Monday when another highly touted junior college big man who had planned a visit, 6-foot-10 Aaron Pettway of Hutchinson (Kan) Community College, chose Oklahoma State over Alabama and Georgia Tech.