UNLV’s Ben Carter, Ike Nwamu say players share blame for Dave Rice’s firing

Taking a cue from their former coach, UNLV's basketball players accepted part of the blame for their role in underachieving which led to Dave Rice's dismissal Sunday.

Well, two of them did.

Ben Carter and Ike Nwamu were selected to deal with the media Monday prior to practice at the Mendenhall Center as the Rebels (0-3 Mountain West, 9-7 overall) prepared for Tuesday's 7 p.m. game with first-place New Mexico (3-0, 10-6) at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Patrick McCaw, the sophomore point guard whose recent subpar play has been a contributing factor to the team's struggles, didn't have to speak. Same for highly-touted freshman Stephen Zimmerman Jr., who has had his fair share of struggles transitioning to the college game. Mum was the word from Jerome Seagears, Jordan Cornish and Dwayne Morgan as well.

Instead, Carter, the junior forward from Bishop Gorman, and Nwamu, a fifth-year senior guard, spoke for the entire team as the Rebels' season-long media policy of having only selected players made available remained intact Monday.

"I'm very sad about what's happened," Carter said. "Me and Coach Rice are very close and we have a long relationship. That's not going to change.

"But there's definitely things that need to be fixed. We obviously have to cut down on our turnovers and be a little sharper in our execution."

Nwamu said: "We're all disappointed. But we have to move forward. We need to stay together right now. We still have a season to play for."

Todd Simon, who was named interim coach Sunday, said that was his point of emphasis to the team prior to Sunday night's practice, a practice that was without Rice for the first time in 4½ years. Nwamu said it "was a little weird."

"There's 15 games to go," Simon said. "There's still a chance for this group to do something special."

Simon said he will try and simplify some components of the playbook in the hopes of achieving some consistency.

"Pressure does a lot of things," he said. "We've been under pressure the past few weeks. Once you've blown a game or two, that pressure mounts.

"We need to get our guys to relax. We've shown we're capable of playing good basketball. We led wire-to-wire against Indiana. We led wire-to-wire against Oregon. We need to reduce the amount of turnovers and work at improving our free throws."

For Nwamu, who graduated from Mercer and used his graduate year of eligibility to come to UNLV in the hopes of being part of something special, there's no second-guessing on his part.

"It's been difficult," he said. "I'm trying to give the team everything I can and get better. But this is about the team. It's not about my personal status."

Carter said it's up to players as himself and Nwamu to provide leadership as they try and salvage their season.

"Obviously, things haven't gone well for us the last couple of weeks," Carter said. "For guys like me and Ike and Jerome, we need to lead this team and it's up to us to turn our season around."

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj