Kruger adds ‘pitchman’ to his unofficial titles

By Rob Miech (contact)

Friday, July 18, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Barely rested from trips to Australia and Florida, UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger was back at the Thomas & Mack Center this week — hawking the Yellow Pages.

Standing behind a table stacked with phone books bearing a photo of him cutting down the net at the Mountain West tourney, Kruger also was promoting his Rebels.

Kruger landed on the cover of the Embarq Yellow Pages through a deal arranged by the public relations company he enlisted to keep UNLV basketball on people’s minds.

The first 100 people who brought old phone books to recycle at Wednesday’s event also received an autographed basketball from Kruger. Other fans walked around the NBA Summer League events at the Thomas & Mack and Cox Pavilion holding thick Yellow Pages Kruger had signed.

“The idea of recycling is good, and we get a little promotion for the Rebels out there,” said Kruger, who just got back from watching son Kevin play in the NBA Summer League in Orlando. “In a town that’s growing like this, the Rebels need to be more front and center. That’s our effort right now.”

UNLV went 57-15 over the past two seasons and has won games in consecutive NCAA Tournaments for the first time in 17 years. Fans jumped back on the UNLV bandwagon and improved the atmosphere at the Thomas & Mack.

Kruger doesn’t want that momentum to wane.

“This can be a premier program in the country,” he said. “That’s what we’re after. We have to get more people in the building. We want it to be where it’s tough for teams to come in here and leave feeling good.

“To really be on the map, the big map, you have to have that.”

Most in an initial wave of fans Wednesday wanted to know about UNLV’s recent trip to Australia.

The Rebels went 4-2. Wink Adams led the team in scoring, and fellow seniors Joe Darger, Mareceo Rutledge and Rene Rougeau provided the leadership that Kruger expects of them this season.

Kruger also expects sophomore guard Kendall Wallace to lose the deer-in-the-headlights look he often sported last season.

“Sometimes for a guy who wants to do everything well and is so competitive, it’s more difficult to break through than if you don’t care,” Kruger said. “He’s been a good player all his life.”

New point guard Tre’Von Willis, a sophomore transfer from Memphis, apparently learned valuable lessons about keeping the team cohesive in the final two minutes of games.

But 7-foot freshman center Beas Hamga has a lot of work to do to become a dominant interior player. He looked frail, almost timid, in practice, and he shot free throws poorly, making only 50 percent from the line Down Under.

“We don’t want the expectations of others to affect him in a negative way,” Kruger said. “We tell him to let it be motivation. He’ll be fine. We like the progress he made in the past month.

“Is he where he’ll be as a junior? No. Is that where people want him to be right now? Probably. We have to be careful. Our message to him is, ‘You’re doing fine.’ ”

Kruger said budget cuts and other department limitations made him seek the help of adman D.J. Allen. The coach was mum on who was paying his salary, but it’s obviously not the cash-strapped university.

Allen, who writes a regular Kruger e-mail newsletter, said each game next season will have a theme or promotion. The Rebels open at home Nov. 15 against the University of San Diego.

“It’s a big boost,” Kruger said of Allen’s work. “Guys in house (the athletic department) can only work so many hours a week. Now we have a guy onboard thinking and talking 24 hours a day about Rebels basketball.”