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UNLV transfers prove that transition process can be worth the wait
Dynamic duo of Willis and Stanback leads UNLV against Air Force at Thomas & Mack Center
Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
UNLV vs. Air Force
UNLV Rebels (16-4, 4-2) vs Air Force Falcons (8-10, 0-5)
Where: Thomas & Mack Center
When: 7:30 p.m.
Coaches: Lon Kruger is 128-57 in his six seasons at UNLV and 446-290 in 24 overall seasons; Jeff Reynolds is 34-45 in his three seasons at Air Force and 116-79 in seven overall seasons.
Series: UNLV leads 21-8
Last time: UNLV won, 46-43, in Las Vegas on March 4, 2009.
Line: UNLV by 19
TV/Radio: The Mtn./ESPN Radio 1100-AM
THE REBELS
G Oscar Bellfield (6-2, 180) 9.6 ppg, 4.6 apg, 2.6 rpg
G Derrick Jasper (6-6, 215) 6.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.8 apg
G Tre'Von Willis (6-4, 195) 17.6 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.1 apg
F Chace Stanback (6-8, 210) 10.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg
F Brice Massamba (6-10, 240) 4.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg
Bench: G Kendall Wallace (6-4, 190) 6.5 ppg, 1.8 rpg; F Darris Santee (6-8, 225) 4.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg; G Justin Hawkins (6-3, 190) 3.6 ppg; F Matt Shaw (6-8, 240) 6.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg; G Anthony Marshall (6-3, 200) 4.7 ppg, 2.2 rpg; G Steve Jones (6-1, 220) 1.8 ppg.
What to watch: Can Tre'Von Willis keep his streak alive? He's scored 20-plus points in six consecutive games. At this point, he's in a neck-and-neck race with BYU's Jimmer Fredette to be the Mountain West's Player of the Year.
THE FALCONS
G Evan Washington (6-4, 195) 15.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg
G Michael Lyons (6-6, 192) 6.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg
G Todd Fletcher (6-2, 180) 4.3 ppg, 2.2 rpg
F Derek Brooks (6-5, 195) 6.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg
F Taylor Broekhuis (6-10, 210) 3.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg
Bench: F Grant Parker (6-8, 228) 15.5 ppg, 6.4 rpg; F Tom Fow (6-6, 200) 10.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg; C Mike McLain (6-8, 235) 6.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg; G Mike Fitzgerald (6-6, 190) 4.3 ppg; G Avery Merriex (6-2, 185) 2.5 ppg.
What to watch: Despite losing Saturday at Utah, 71-54, the Falcons got a boost from senior forward Grant Parker, who missed the previous 10 games with a hip injury. The team's leading scorer and rebounder on the season gives Air Force a big boost ... and, boy, do they need it.
Related Sun Content
- Tre’Von Willis named Mountain West Conference Player of the Week
- Box Score: UNLV 79, TCU 70
- Willis, Stanback stay hot as UNLV scorches TCU, 79-70
- Notebook: Competition for time bringing out the best in UNLV bigs
- Live Game Blog: Again behind Willis and Stanback, UNLV survives scare at TCU, 79-70
- 2009-10 UNLV Schedule/Results
- All Sun UNLV men's basketball coverage
When UNLV recruited transfers such as Tre'Von Willis and Chace Stanback who were looking for second chances in their college hoops careers, Lon Kruger and his staff knew that more seasoning might be needed beyond the redshirt year transfers must take per NCAA rules.
"I think as a staff, our personality is one of challenging and pushing in a positive way, but also understanding that it's a process," Kruger said. "It's not going to happen overnight, and oftentimes, it's not going to happen as quickly as we'd like to see it happen.
"But just keep making progress, stay consistent, keep expecting, but understand that there's a necessary patience level, too."
It isn't as simple as grabbing transfers from programs such as Memphis, UCLA and Kentucky, then throwing them together and hoping they mesh.
The need for time and patience is being proven of late by the productivity from Willis, who Monday was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week, and Stanback.
In Mountain West games, Willis is leading the league in scoring at 24.2 points per game, including a career-high 30 points in Saturday's 79-70 victory over TCU. In that same stretch, the 6-foot-8 Stanback is utilizing his dangerous mid-range jump shot and averaging 14.5 points per contest. He's also averaging 6.8 rebounds a night over those six games.
They'll combine to play the headlining role as UNLV (16-4 overall, 4-2 MWC) returns home to face Air Force (8-10, 0-5) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Thomas & Mack Center tipping off at 7:30 p.m.
Of course, both saw growing pains in their early phases at UNLV, and both said that, at times early on, they felt like freshmen all over again.
"I was a perfect example last year," Willis said. "The game was just so fast. You can't simulate that in practice. I'm starting to get in the groove right now. It took me almost until the middle of last year, and you're seeing that with Chace and Derrick Jasper right now — they're really coming into their own."
Kruger said he saw Willis break through that funk last season in a 79-64 home victory over Arizona, when Willis scored 19 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists in what, at the time, was the team's most impressive showing of the year.
Where Willis has improved this season is in making those types of performances more of a regular occurrence. His scoring is up from 11.4 points per game as a sophomore to 17.6 as a junior, and that bump has been a byproduct of better efficiency.
His field-goal percentage is up from 37.9 to 49.3, and he's making better use of his trips to the free-throw line, shooting a team-best 86.4 percent as opposed to 73.7 a year ago.
Much of the improvement has been attributed to on-court maturity, which was on full display Saturday as Willis was able to keep from speeding up when TCU made its push midway through the second half, calmly scoring from almost anywhere he wanted on the other end without rushing things.
Stanback's transition has gone a bit faster, which is even more surprising, considering this is the first time he's been relied upon for heavy minutes since he was a senior at Fairfax High in Los Angeles three years ago.
"He didn't play a lot as a freshman at UCLA (5.8 mpg in 25 games), he didn't play any as a sophomore here," Kruger said. "And now, you're playing at a level that's totally different than high school."
In Stanback's opinion, the most overlooked factor in the whole transfer process is the slowing effect that sitting on the sidelines and only participating in practice can have.
"Just not being able to compete or being out there in a real game, with a real arena, crowd, referees, you miss that stuff for a whole year. It's hard to come back from that," he said. "It's hard to get used to."
If history tells anything, Kansas transfer Quintrell Thomas will have the same adjustment next season when he returns to action as a sophomore for the Rebels.
Still finding his role and his footing at this point in his first season of eligibility at UNLV is Derrick Jasper, who made a different adjustment than Willis or Stanback.
Not only did he have not the ability to practice much of last season while building his left knee back up following microfracture surgery the previous spring, but he's no longer simply playing point guard. Instead, the 6-foot-6 Jasper has played four different positions.
Still, he's put up solid numbers, averaging 6.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists a game.
"Us coming from big schools, people put big expectations on us, but as long as we're winning, it doesn't faze me," Jasper said. "It's not really about me, but I know I need to contribute a lot more for us to win big games. So I'm going to keep trying to be more aggressive.
"I'm playing four positions, so it's a big transition for me. I'm trying to get into my own a little bit, but it's all just a matter of me being aggressive, because I know I can do it."
And another lesson drawn from recent history would suggest Jasper is likely to find his groove eventually.
"It's not easy to step right in and just assume that it's going to keep happening," Kruger said of steady production. "You grow into the role a little bit, and it's great to see that progress."
A look at Air Force ...
Already struggling to bounce back from a winless season in Mountain West Conference play a year ago, injuries have only made things tougher for Air Force so far this year.
"Any time, with any team in our conference, if you take two or three guys out of their lineups, it makes things difficult," Kruger said. "(Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds) has battled the injuries as much as anyone in our league has this season. It makes things tough."
The Falcons haven't won a game since Jan. 2, a 72-65 triumph in their non-conference finale against Texas Pan-American.
They'll be without center Sammy Schafer, who has played only three games this season after suffering a concussion and a back injury. He was averaging 7.3 points and 4.3 boards when he went down. Also out is forward Taylor Stewart, who underwent wrist surgery.
In all, 16 players have seen action for Air Force this year.
However, the Falcons did get some positive news over the weekend, despite losing to Utah, 71-54, in Salt Lake City.
Star forward Grant Parker, who missed 10 games with a hip injury, returned in a reserve role and scored four points in 15 minutes. He's the team's leading scorer (15.5 ppg) and rebounder (6.4 rpg) on the season.
One thing Air Force can do well when things are clicking is slow opponents down. The Falcons already this season have held high-scoring opponents down somewhat, allowing only 67 points to BYU in a home loss and 58 to UTEP in a road defeat. In the last meeting between Air Force and UNLV, the Rebels pulled out an ugly 46-43 victory March 4 at the Mack. It was the second-lowest scoring output by UNLV in a victory in program history.
The Falcons rank second in the league in points allowed at 62.9 per game, but are last out of nine squads in scoring at 60.8 per game.
Discussion: 12 comments so far…
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Chace has been a great surprise. He has easily been our best and most consistent outside shooter. That pull up jumper is lethal. Not too surprised with Tre's breakout. You could see in games last year(Utah, Arizona etc) that he had the potential to be a big time scorer. Obviously we all wish that Jasper would score a little more. But the more I watch him and the more I think about his career at UK the more you realize that is not his game. Derrick does not want to be the man. He likes to defer to his teammates and be the jack of all trades. I think he does this a little too much at times. I think we would be a better team if he looked to be more of a scoring threat. Hopefully he will continue to gain confidence and he will work on his outside shot. If he ever became a double digit scorer we could really be tough to guard.
Interested to see how we deal with playing against zone tonight. Would be nice to see guys like Oscar and Kendall find their touch again. Runnin' Rebels!
All 3 of these transfers have been great in their own ways and really meshed well so far. I'm interested to see what the numbers will look like at the end of the year. Black out tonight at the Mack everyone!
Ryan, you bring up a good point about Jasper not even practicing last year. I had forgotten about that. And with the knee injury, I'm sure it's been a tough couple of years for him.
I like the role he is playing on this team. He had nine rebounds in the last two games each. Sure it seems like he could be a little more aggressive to score, but he is a great athlete and adds so many of the small things on the court. Think he is only going to get better too.
Go Rebels! Don't play down the competition tonight. Air Force always seems to give us fits.
Wendell "The Bull" White was another JC transfer that struggled his first year before having a great senior campaign.
Stanback could become a great player over the next 2 years as he gets stronger and more mature. He's already hitting the mid-range jumpers with confidence and rebounding well. If he can add a strong drive and finish to the hole like Tre, he'll be averaging over 20 a game also.
The transfer basketball players are proving they are indeed good.
I however wonder how they are doing in the class room
What gives you any reason to wonder how they are doing in the classroom?
Kruger's kids do very well in the classroom. You would know right away if there was any problems in the classroom cause Kruger would bench them right away or kick them off the team right away. His graduation rate is great! GO REBELS!!!!!
Sports in LV are lame. There is no interest in teams only betting lines. It's sad... both for the players and fans. You wonder why our education consistently ranks near the worst in the country... because the elders don't teach the youth values and long term goals. Sad.
LVMD, Keep up the enthusiasm. Glad to have Las Vegans like you in town. If you don't like sports, go post up some BS in a news article. Take some pride in Las Vegas for a chance.
LVMD, its fans like you that are the reason we don't have a better sports atmosphere in Vegas.
LVMD, What are you doing? You wrote the same post on another article today. I mean word for word. What's your agenda? It's obviously not UNLV Basketball or Football
When you have these morons like LVMD posting on this site, it is best to just ignore them and not respond at all. They probably had troubled childhoods and feel that the only way they can get attention is to do things to stir up the pot! Or they are drunk or stoned! Just ignore them and they will go away.