UNLV’s Hamga still handling the hype

By Rob Miech

Friday, Dec. 12, 2008 | 2:10 a.m.

UPDATE: Hamga granted release from UNLV

For a moment, UNLV freshman center Beas Hamga opens up. A simple question isn’t so simple. He asks for it to be repeated. Twice. Then, he gets it.

His eyes brighten. He smiles widely.

Yes, he says. His grandfather, a strict Christian, took him to a church choir in Cameroon when he was very young. They sang gospel songs in their native Douala dialect.

He remembers telling a visitor that story 17 months ago, when he arrived in Las Vegas.

“Even here, when I am down, I just think of those songs,” Hamga says after practice this week. “Of course, first of all, I love to sing.”

The 20-year-old 7-footer often struggles to convey simple feelings and thoughts.

Some see Hamga sitting on the Rebels’ bench game after game and wonder just how much he’s struggling on the court, in practice, so far away from the stardom that was predicted.

Hamga says all he concerns himself with is his own improvement, however incremental, and the expectations of fifth-year UNLV coach Lon Kruger.

When pressed about those expectations, Hamga steps aside and forms an imaginary brick wall with his two hands.

“I cannot see the future,” he says. “There is a big wall in front of me and I cannot see through it. I cannot tell what will happen.”

Hamga does have a message for anyone who misreads his expressions or believes his lack of playing time has left him disenchanted with UNLV.

He said earlier this week he's happy, “very happy,” at UNLV and he is going to finish his collegiate career as a Rebel.

But Friday, Hamga was granted a release from the UNLV basketball program.

"We wish Beas the best,” Kruger said in a news release. “His attitude and work ethic has been very outstanding and because of that, we think he will develop into a very good player.”

Before a Rivals.com report became public Thursday evening about his possible release, Hamga said this week he was in Las Vegas to stay.

“I came here because I want to be here,” Hamga said. “I’m not going anywhere. I want to be here. I cannot control what other people think or what other people say.”

Patience

Inside the Cox Pavilion practice gym this week, Hamga exchanges laughs with Joe Darger, pats DeShawn Mitchell on his rear and playfully pushes Tre’Von Willis, who pushes back.

When told it looks like he’s just another Rebel, Hamga smiles.

“Yeah, you can tell,” he says. “You can see it. I don’t know what people are thinking.”

Some might think Hamga is distant from his teammates; that he’s aloof, arrogant, petulant or even resentful that three games can pass – his latest stretch – without him even taking off his sweats.

Way off base, Hamga says. The main person he has to please, he says, is Kruger. Not any so-called recruiting “experts” who have tagged him with five stars or fans who expected him to be Kareem Abdul-Jabbar out of the gates, although he thirsts to entertain those fans.

Hamga’s growth is all about patience.

“That’s exactly it,” Kruger says. “We tell him to keep doing what he’s doing, work hard and keep a good attitude, be patient, and everything will work out.

“It’s tough in the short term. We understand the potential frustration. Still, it takes time.”

Encouraging words

Senior forward Rene Rougeau soared for a rebound Wednesday and put it back in on the left side, all in front of Hamga.

Earlier, from the left side of the lane, Hamga turned to his left, dribbled once and skied with his right hand, air balling a 6-foot hook.

His teammates only encourage Hamga, whose first name is pronounced BE-oz.

“He doesn’t feel any pressure around us. We try to make him feel at home, joke around and stuff,” Rougeau says. “We keep his head up. The more we joke around with him the more he’s not worried about all the hype.

“We talk to him about what he can do better, in a positive way that helps him.”

In an open-gym pick-up game in July, Hamga dribbled the ball up the court. Thought he was a point guard. Someone lurched at him to steal the ball.

“Beas did a spin move and the guy fell,” says junior walk-on guard Scott Hoffman. “That’s the best play I’ve seen on the court.”

Rougeau learned more about Hamga when he roomed with him during UNLV’s tour of Australia over the summer. Rougeau dared Hamga into the Pacific Ocean. Hamga didn’t bite.

Heck no, Hamga told Rougeau, that’s something he'd never do.

“I still give him a hard time about that,” Rougeau says. “He’s basically a laid-back guy. He might not be as sociable. At the same time, it takes a lot for him to understand people.

“He’d rather be quiet at times.”

We need you

Willis points at Hamga, as both laugh, and tells him that he’s no longer African, that he’s American. Like brothers, they high-five each other and hug.

“He’s a cool dude,” Willis says. “I try to get him to loosen up. Sometimes, I feel he keeps to himself. He won’t talk to the guys or do certain things we do.”

Willis might know Hamga better than anybody. They redshirted together last season, Willis after transferring from Memphis and Hamga when the NCAA questioned his academic transcripts.

While the UNLV regulars watched film before practice last season, Hamga and Willis shot in the gym and talked, about defending the first unit and life.

Willis knows when Hamga isn’t in a good mood. That’s when Hamga hums those gospel songs he learned from Hamga Martin, his late grandfather who raised him.

“I try to help him out, give him advice and keep him upbeat,” Willis says. “I make him to want to come to practice and want to work hard every day.”

We need you, Willis tells Hamga. It doesn’t matter how many minutes you get. Push it in practice. Get better every day. You never know when your name or number will be called.

Willis has coaxed Hamga to come along when the bowling basketballers hit the oily lanes at the South Point. A 7-footer rolling a 16-pound ball at 10 pins? Priceless.

“Now, we can joke with him,” Willis says. “At first, we couldn’t. He was sensitive. He wasn’t used to us. He’s adjusting. He’s coming around. We like having him around.

“He fits in with us well. He’s used to us. He’s one of the guys. We love him.”

Lost in translation

One of the most challenging aspects of Hamga’s learning curve is digesting English and immediately applying the lessons of Kruger and his assistants to the next play.

That wasn’t so critical last season, on the scout squad.

Now, there’s some urgency as he fields directions from an elite coaching staff for the first time in his life when he might have to implement those instructions in a game in the next day or two.

He and fellow freshman Brice Massamba spell junior Darris Santee, who helped Midland (Texas) College win a national junior college championship two seasons ago.

Hamga sometimes walks off the Thomas & Mack Center court for water as an assistant explains what should have just happened differently on a play in practice. He stops. His eyes widen.

Eureka! Hamga gets it. It might be a few seconds late, but it sinks in. The toughest class he has taken at UNLV is a recent half-semester English course.

“Coach (Kruger) brings him to the side after plays, after the fact, to reassure him about what he did right and what he did wrong, just so he understands what’s going on,” says Hoffman.

“That would be very hard, I think, especially when everything is moving real fast. In high school, you can get away with being 7-feet against 6-5 guys. Now, it’s a whole different ballgame.”

Kruger notes that Hamga is very smart, and he processes what Kruger and his assistants tell him more quickly by the week.

“The most difficult part is the level of experience he came in with and balancing that with wanting to play, wanting to contribute,” Kruger says. “He understands that it takes time. It’s a process.”

A very big man on campus

Even the shoeshine guy at McCarran International Airport last week asked the Rebels about “the African.”

When peers pass the 7-footer on campus, they know. They stare. It’s Beas!

“The students around campus give him a lot of love,” Hoffman says. “Everyone wants to know about Beas. He’s getting better every day. Expectations are very high for him. I think he’ll live up to them.”

Hamga recoils when asked what fans should know about him. He doesn’t grasp the question. It is reframed twice. He seems agitated.

“I just want to make the fans happy,” he says. “I don’t know. I want to have a good (rapport) with the fans. Those are my expectations.

“I don’t know what they think about me. I’m just me. I don’t want to offend anybody. I do what I have to do. That’s it. I just want to be me and do the right things.”