Kruger signs up Rebels for ultimate road trip

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, May 6, 2004 | 9:20 a.m.

The Lon Kruger era of UNLV basketball will get a head start of about two months thanks to the addition of a Labor Day weekend trip to Canada.

The Rebels will play four games in three days in Vancouver starting on Saturday, Sept. 4. It marks UNLV's first foreign tour since 1987 when the team visited Australia and New Zealand.

"We've got a signed contract for the trip," senior associate athletic director Jerry Koloskie said Wednesday. "But they're still working the exact details of what teams we will play on what days."

Because of an NCAA rule that prohibits a team from missing school for such a trip, the Rebels will fly to Vancouver immediately after classes on Friday afternoon and then return on Monday night after a Labor Day game.

"That's one of the great things about it," Kruger said. "The kids won't have to miss any class."

But the biggest plus of the short Canadian tour is that the NCAA permits the Rebels to practice 10 times before departing. That gives Kruger and his new staff invaluable extra practice time before the regular start of basketball practice in mid-October.

"I think it's a good opportunity to get us to work together early in the year, especially with everything being so new," Kruger said. "Getting those 10 extra practices is a big part of this. It gives you kind of a head start going into the season."

Senior point guard Jerel Blassingame said, "I'm really looking forward to that trip. It should be a lot of fun."

Ricky Morgan, a 6-foot, 182-pound point guard from Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Mich., is set to visit UNLV this weekend.

Morgan originally attended Iowa State after starring at Northern High School in Pontiac, Mich., where he led his team to the state Class A title while averaging 15 points and 9.8 assists per game. The Detroit Free Press named him to its boys Dream Team his senior year.

Morgan started 11 games as a freshman in 2001-02 at Iowa State under Larry Eustachy and averaged 2.6 points and 3.1 assists per game. Prep fans in Las Vegas may remember him as a member of the talented Michigan Mustangs travel team that takes part in the Big Time Tournament here each summer.

The Rebels, who already signed 6-foot-9 forward Dustin Villepique of Dixie State College in St. George, Utah, are still waiting for a decision from 6-foot-9 center Joel Anthony of Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College.

Henson, 36, starred for Kruger as a player at Kansas State from 1987 to 1990 and went on to become a second-round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in 1990. He spent six years in the NBA and also played another three years in the Italian and Greek leagues before turning to coaching in 1999 as an assistant to Kruger at the University of Illinois.

Henson then followed Kruger to the NBA as an assistant coach and advance scout with the Atlanta Hawks (2000-2003) before serving the last season as an assistant at the University of South Florida.

"He's been very successful everywhere he's been, both as a player and a coach," Kruger said. "I think he'll be a terrific addition to our staff."

Junior F/C Louis Amundson has already put on 16 pounds in that span and appears noticeably thicker from the waist up. And starting guards Romel Beck and Blassingame also have added about seven pounds of muscle each.