9 reasons to watch UNLV women’s basketball this season
After making a run in last season’s Mountain West tournament, the UNLV women’s basketball team returns an experienced group for the upcoming campaign.
The Lady Rebels return nearly the entire roster, including three starters. They were picked to finish fourth in the Mountain West conference poll of coaches and selected media.
Here are 10 things to keep an eye on as the Lady Rebels kick off their season with Concordia at the Thomas & Mack Center on Friday:
MOTIVATION
The Lady Rebels haven’t forgotten how last season ended.
UNLV made a run in the conference tournament before losing by six points to Fresno State in the Mountain West semifinals.
“Definitely I think it’s something we all carry with us. It’s too difficult to just push that aside considering we were down 20 against Fresno and came back and only lost by six. It just shows that this team doesn’t want to give up and we have a lot of potential and we’re ready to show it this year,” junior Brooke Johnson said. “We’re definitely using that as a little chip on our shoulders to push harder.”
EXPECTATIONS
The Lady Rebels were picked to finish fourth in the Mountain West in a preseason poll released last month behind Colorado State, Boise State and Fresno State.
“A main goal is just to do the best we can in nonconference, and when conference comes that we want to be top five in the conference, not in the lower half,” Johnson said. “Our main goal obviously for everyone would be to win the Mountain West tournament, but right now we’re just going one at a time.”
NONCONFERENCE SCHEDULE
The Lady Rebels should be prepared once the conference season comes around, thanks to a rather difficult nonconference schedule. Highlights include games against Southern California, Brigham Young and Oregon State, which made the Final Four last season.
“It’s definitely a really hard schedule, but I think it will be really good for us, because if we’re able to compete with the people we’re playing like Oregon State, teams like that, USC, then we’ll be fine in our conference,” junior Nikki Wheatley said. “Our goal is not just to try to go into the game to just play but to actually go to win and use that momentum into conference.”
REBOUNDING
The Lady Rebels graduated only two seniors last year, but the pair — Aley Rohde and Amie Callaway — were the team’s two top rebounders at 7.8 and 7.1 per game, respectively.
“They got us 20 rebounds between the two of them, so that’s our biggest concern, and the whole team knows it,” coach Kathy Olivier said. “How are we going to get those rebounds back?”
Wheatley is listed as just 5 feet 5 inches, but Olivier said she was probably the best returning rebounder. Wheatley was third on the team last year, averaging six per game.
“I always try to get in there and get as many as I can and use my hops to my advantage,” Wheatley said. “I don’t really feel pressure, but I feel like I should get a good amount every game.”
EXPERIENCE
The Lady Rebels don’t have any seniors on the roster this season, but they do have eight juniors.
They return three starters — Wheatley, Johnson and Dakota Gonzalez — on the experienced squad.
“I would say this is definitely a veteran group in the sense that we have a lot of people with a lot of experience returning, and that’s exciting because we’ve been able to really just hit the ground running as soon as we started practice and our new guys have been able to pick up on everything just as quick,” Gonzalez said. “So that’s super awesome to see and we’re just excited to play an official game and see how it translates.”
PARIS STRAWTHER
When asked who on the team might surprise some people, the first name Olivier came up with was Paris Strawther.
The Liberty High alum is one of only two Las Vegas natives on the roster, and she should grow into an expanded role in her second season.
She played in all 32 games last season, though she never started. This year, she should have a chance to start some. As a freshman, Strawther averaged 3.5 points per game and 3.6 rebounds.
BALANCE
A season ago, the Lady Rebels had three players who averaged 10 or more points a game with Gonzalez (13.8), Johnson (13.5) and Wheatley (10.0).
This year, Wheatley expects to see a lot of balance throughout the team, both in scoring and in rebounding.
“I think the cool thing about this team that we’ve recognized early is that I think there’s going to be a lot of different go-tos,” Wheatley said. “I think that’s going to be scary going into conference because it’s like you can shut down one of us and then there’s three more that can go and score 20 or whatever, so I think our identity is going to be that we’re a pretty evenly stacked team.”
IDENTITY
It might be too early still to figure out what the identity of the team will be like, but Olivier said it’s something they’ve already been talking about throughout the preseason.
“We know that we have to play smart, and I think this team is really taking that for what it’s worth,” Olivier said. “We want to be tough and we talked about being tough, not just physically but being tough mentally. That’s a big part of playing smart.”
They’ve also spent time talking about outworking people.
“If you don’t work hard, you’re kind of an outcast, which is great. Sometimes you have teams where if you’re the hardest worker, you’re kind of standing out,” Olivier said. “You don’t stand out (here).”
TWIN POWER
Gonzalez was the team’s scoring leader last season. This year, she’ll be joined in the starting lineup by her twin, Dylan.
“It was always fun to play on the court together, but it’s a different sense when you really get to start the game and so to have her out there is going to be huge, not only me but for the team,” Dakota Gonzalez said. “I think everyone really feeds off her energy.”
HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE
The Lady Rebels will play a majority of their home games at Cox Pavilion, but they’ll also play two regular-season games at the Thomas & Mack Center and will host the Play4Kay Shootout at T-Mobile Arena.
Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.
