Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
StumbleUNLV BASKETBALL:
Notebook: Chace Stanback ready to bounce back from injury
Sophomore UCLA transfer missed FirstLook with ankle sprain, expected back soon
Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009 | 2:10 a.m.
Chace Stanback (left) and Anthony Marshall sit at Monday's UNLV practice at Impact Academy. A sprained left ankle has sidelined Stanback, and a right hamstring injury has kept Marshall from playing.
Anyone itching to see Chace Stanback in UNLV’s late-night scrimmage Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center was no doubt disappointed when he didn’t leave the bench.
Stanback, who has been itching to play in a game that matters for more than a year, felt that pain.
The worst ankle sprain of his life has sidelined Stanback. Assistant coach Steve Henson still spotted discoloration high above Stanback’s left ankle after Sunday’s practice.
“It’s getting a lot better though,” Stanback said. “I should be back real soon, probably in a week or so.”
Stanback has been moving gingerly. Saturday and Sunday, he watched practice from a courtside seat with his left leg stretched out on two seats.
Monday afternoon at Impact Academy, Stanback had enough. He picked up a basketball on a side court and took some shots. One of his first launches caromed off the rim and backboard, darting two feet to his right.
He didn’t make the slightest jerk or instinctive move for the ball. No need to aggravate the heavily wrapped left ankle.
“It’s getting better every day,” said Stanback, a 6-foot-8 sophomore who last wore a uniform in a game for UCLA in the Final Four two years ago. “The swelling’s gone down a lot, but it’s cool.
“Guys have been getting better every day and I’m proud to see them progress. There’s a lot of intensity, a lot more than we had last year. Everyone seems a lot more focused.”
UNLV sixth-year coach Lon Kruger is one of the many parties interested in seeing Stanback on the floor.
“You feel for him because when you sit out all season you’re anxious to go, then you can’t go when everyone else is,” Kruger said. “That makes it more difficult.”
The Marshall Plan
UNLV guard Anthony Marshall drives to the basket during the Rebels FirstLook scrimmage Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Anthony Marshall has joined Stanback and Quintrell Thomas, the 6-8 forward who is redshirting after transferring from Kansas, on the sideline.
Marshall, a 6-3 lefty guard from Mojave High, has a tender right hamstring but he tried to play a bit at Friday’s scrimmage.
“That was my first basketball action in a couple of days and I kind of tweaked it that night,” he said. “It’s a pretty big nuisance, but it’s getting better every day.”
Marshall started the scrimmage for the white squad, and a minute into it he converted a nice feed down low to Brice Massamba, who put in a reverse layup.
He missed a jumper and he committed a turnover the rest of the first 10-minute half. In the second half, he grabbed a defensive rebound.
For both Stanback and Marshall, today is a welcomed day off for the Rebels. They both will undergo treatment and won’t have to endure watching a practice in which they can’t participate.
“I’ll test it (today) and see how it feels,” Marshall said. “Some time this week, I hope it’s 100 percent. A day off to get extra treatment and ice, I think that will help a lot.”
Kruger is hopeful that Marshall will practice Wednesday. “Chace,” Kruger said, “is on a little slower time frame.”
Court for rent?
With U.S. Foods having booked the Thomas & Mack Center and other on-campus venues being used, the Rebels were relegated to the Impact Academy facility Monday afternoon for practice.
They will return Wednesday to Impact, in a shell of a sports complex that has seen better days at Sunset and Las Vegas Boulevard South.
“It’s a nice facility,” Kruger said. “It’s a college-size court, and there aren’t too many of those in town – most are 84 feet, this is 94 feet. It’s regulation size, so it works out.
“It’s great. I really appreciate the folks at Impact. They’ve been very, very helpful.”
Joe Abunassar runs Impact, which has become an offseason training haven for NBA players. Chauncey Billups’s No. 7 and Tayshaun Prince’s No. 22 are two of the 56 player banners that hang around the perimeter of the court.
An on-campus practice facility specifically for his basketball team has been discussed over the past few years, and Kruger said those talks are still taking place.
Like everything else, though, the economy has affected the progress of such a building.
“We continue to have conversation about it,” Kruger said.
Getting defensive
The first four days of practice for the 2009-10 season have gone to Kruger’s script – that is, they’ve mostly been about defense, defense and defense.
Talking, boxing out, talking, switching, talking … and more talking have been the priorities.
That will be the case for the next week and a half, too, but fundamentals and lessons learned over the first two weeks also will be regularly reviewed and revisited throughout the season.
“Certainly, to start with, you want to get the fundamentals and principles in there,” Kruger said. “The first couple of weeks, we’re really pounding away on the habit. It’s definitely every day, then we’ll stay with it. You don’t ever stop doing it.”
For freshmen, like Carlos Lopez and Justin Hawkins, it can be an intense indoctrination.
“There’s usually a transition, but these guys do a good job,” Kruger said. “Carlos has a good feel. He needs strength and weight. Justin has a real good feel and has been well schooled in the fundamentals, defensively. He brings a good set of habits with him.”
After four days of practice, Kruger has been pleased with what he’s seen from his squad.
“The enthusiasm has been great and the energy has been great,” he said. “This group handles the ball well and they’re pretty skilled, offensively. And the effort will be there defensively.”
Dates to remember
(All games at the Thomas & Mack Center)
Nov. 10 (7 p.m.) – Washburn (exhibition).
Nov. 14 (7 p.m.) – Pittsburg State
Nov. 18 (7:30 p.m.) -- UNR
Nov. 21 (7 p.m.) – Southern Illinois, in the Mountain West- Missouri Valley challenge
Nov. 25 (7 p.m.) – Holy Cross
Discussion: 19 comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy.
Post a comment
Never can get enough UNLV analysis and chatter? Then this is the stop for you. Join the Sun sports staff in The Rebel Room for your fix.
Breaking down UNLV football's spring practice
Follow the Rebels
Widgets
Jerry Tarkanian: Kentucky the class of the NCAA Tournament
Email Newsletters
To view/update your newsletter subscriptions and interests, please visit our Preference Center.
- Locally owned and independent since 1950; Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, best news website in the nation & DuPont Award for broadcast journalism
You probably weren't saying that when he led them to the sweet 16?
Having your own practice facility also helps in recruiting, but I doubt you knew that.
We need to stop comparing every coach we get to Tark. There will never be another Tark, so give Kruger a chance. I guarantee he will come through.
Good points, Josh.
Practice facilities have become recruiting facilities. It is flawed to think you can recruit top prospects consistently these days without one. Glad to hear there is talk for one. It would be a program changer. Hopefully a private donor can step up during these tough economic times.
hey rob, you know if they are changing the "stats scoreboard" in the t and m this year?
Actually, Sufferin said that Kruger would never make it to the ncaa tournament. Then when he did (and won) Sufferin called it luck and said he would never do it again.
Then when he did it again, Sufferin (again) called it luck and said he would never do it again.
Sufferin cares more about the University hiring coaches he has approved than adding facilities and improving the program.
He doesn't want to see UNLV improve under Kruger's leadership, because he didn't like the hire and said Kruger would never have any success at UNLV.
He's not big enough to acknowledge that his predictions about Kruger have been dead wrong.
What other coach in the MWC has done anything on the national scene?
The MWC disappears off the map in the last half of this decade if not for Lon Kruger.
runrebs, I'll ck on that ... thanks
Here's a thought (and its just a thought because believe me I want UNLV football to succeed)...
Imagine the savings and what we could do with that cash if UNLV got rid of its football program and devoted those expenses and capital to the Basketball program. We could build a world class basketball complex right next to the T&M. Complete with athlete dorms (for all sports), a pro style weight room, physical therapy and strength & conditioning facility, luxurious locker rooms & offices, like 2 collegiate practice courts, an auditorium for team meetings and video review sessions and even classrooms. lol! We would be able to recruit anybody based on facilities alone and have exclusive contracts with Nike etc. Who wouldn't want to come to Vegas and play for UNLV with its world class pro style facilities and exclusive apparel contract outfitting players with the newest prototype gear etc... lol! ok ok I'll calm down and get real. Just having a little fun :)
He is a Soph. not a Jr.
While I like the articles the small errors are frustrating. If you follow the team these are things that you should not get wrong let alone use as a headline or lead in?
bornnraise, I wrote sophomore in the story. Sub-hed has been fixed. Thanks. Guess what, we're human. Am glad so many others are absolutely perfect.
sufferin, er, robert, is name-calling part of your shtick? c'mon, you're better than that. That reduces the rest of your writings to mere scribblings, even when you make a valid point. Your discounting of a Sweet 16 appearance is just as laughable.
Sufferin,
Stand up guys like Rene, Curtis, Kevin, Wendell, etc. are talentless and in effect worthless? I don't think so. You know what they showed and what you simply fail to grasp? They showed HEART!
30-7 in the 06/07 season is not luck. Yes I know, you'll never be convinced.
AS for this "loser", I've been a fan since 1988 (Age 3), so far as long as I can remember. I've got pride, I'll be in section 109 cheering for my team. Does your pride lie somewhere in between Durham and Chapel Hill, NC?
So if Kruger is not sufficient, then who is? Who is on your list to replace Kruger? Let's see your solutions.
If this season does not pan out, I'm not expecting a National Championship (sure would be nice) and we perform like last year, I will have to question the program and Kruger. Otherwise Sufferin, strap on your seatbealt and enjoy the ride.
See all of you on Nov. 10th!
Calm down Sufferin, its just basketball.
For entertainment purposes only and a means to go to college and possibly play professionally for the student athletes. More to life buddy, but I guess you wouldn't know that living in your parents basement rambling on message boards about the way things were for UNLV in the 70's, 80's and 1990/91.
SMB, touche!
I would like to have lottery picks too, but to get in those recruiting races the university and coaches would have to be willing to suffer the circumstances. Do you think they want sanctions? The things that are coming out about Calipari at Memphis are further proof that a nonBCS school that recruits over BCS schools is asking for trouble. Tark challenged the system and he got this school a national championship, one of the highest winning percentages in NCAA history, and a lifetime label of being a cheater. (cue the hot tub pic)
Kruger has a winning philosphy for this school. Good kids who are coming here who want to play hard for 3 or 4 years, graduate and make the world a better place in which to live. He is starting to get some more athletic kids and the program will continue to grow, maybe not at a rate that you approve, but you don't matter -in case you didn't know that. I don't matter either for that matter. Kruger may not win a national championship this year, or ever, but the team will always have a chance to go to the post season because they won't be sanctioned and disqualified from post season play from trying to hang with the BCS schools' "recruiting practices".
On a more personal note...
Sufferin' your Ricky Bobby, "If you ain't first, yer last" mentality is not healthy. You do realize that you are a caricature, right? You are a knock-knock joke, a one-liner that everyone and their grandma knows, a sad cliche` of a bitter old monday morning quarterback who's high school team would have won state if coach would have "Just put you in..."
Dude, you gotta make a change in your life.
Lol @ the Sufferin' Robert cyber-intervention. Hahaha!
Sufferin your delusional. Nothing more to it. You're basically saying that we MUST be #1 at all costs! lol! "I will not accept mediocrity" man stop whinning you are flat out hilarious. We all want to win, but its more about the Journey my friend. Sit back and enjoy yourself. You act like the bball program is in the same situation as Football. UNLV is no question a top 50 program and that say's A LOT
And please tell me what coach can UNLV hire today to make us a top 10 program! And don't say guys like Huggie bear and Calapari.
I'm all for freedom of speech...but please ban Robert...errrr, I mean Sylvester the Cat. Not because (or not just because) his posts are usually full of nonsense, and usually hate, but because he clutters every discussion about UNLV to the point where others don't contribute, or don't want to contribute.
There's a reason this fool was banned from nearly every message board he's posted on. Isn't going to take a death threat (from him that is...like he did to Bayno) for you guys to realize that free speech has limits? The guy's cheese has slipped off his cracker many moons ago....ban him.
Btw...this is the same looney that worked for UNLV as a free-ticket distributor (to players' families) and was let go from that job....a volunteer job!!! Hard to get let go when you're working for free...lol!!!
No doubt rebelx ... we know that history ... and didn't his face run into another fan's fist? Trust us, the diatribe has its limits. There is a fine line, and the moment that is crossed ...
If you all want him to go away or atleast dilute his venom, all must ignore him.
But admit it, he is your guilty pleasure. The assinine posts keep it lively and everyone knows it..that's why the puddy tat is still here.
ha ha ha ha, grayback ... bravo.
@ Gray
Puddy tat? I think the "d" and "s" keys on your keyboard were accidently switched. You might want to look into that. Sorry. I had to do it.
I agree with Gray. Sometimes I enjoy reading Sufferin's foolishness. It keeps me on my toes to look for the many holes in his so called arguments. Keep writing Sufferin'.