Pressure on Rice to win, but UNLV roster is loaded

Now more than ever, Dave Rice feels the pressure to win. At the same time, the UNLV basketball coach is feeling better about the future.

Even after his top two players declared for the NBA Draft, Rice was able to build a talented roster that will put the Rebels in position to succeed next season. By winning recruiting battles in the spring, Rice and his staff can move more confidently toward the the fall.

“Everybody is coming back with another year under their belt, and the freshman class is really talented,” said Ike Nwamu, a 6-foot-5-inch shooting guard who announced last weekend he is transferring from Mercer to UNLV. “I feel like we’re going to be kind of loaded next year. I think we’ll be a pretty good team.”

By that, he means much better than the 18-15 team of last season, which put the pressure squarely on Rice’s shoulders.

But the Rebels’ revised depth chart appears “loaded” at each position, and there are two spots still to fill.

“I don’t know what everyone’s role is going to be exactly, but that’s why competition is so important,” Rice said. “There are opportunities for a lot of guys, but there also is competition.”

Nwamu, a senior graduate transfer eligible for the 2015-16 season, was recruited to help ease the loss of Rashad Vaughn, UNLV’s leading scorer as a freshman. Vaughn’s jump to the NBA was not unexpected. Nwamu, an explosive athlete who led the Bears in scoring last season at 15.1 points per game and shot 37.2 percent from 3-point range, is a similar player to Vaughn in some ways.

Patrick McCaw and Jordan Cornish return as sophomores to join him on the depth chart at shooting guard. The 6-6 McCaw is versatile enough to play multiple positions and probably will be on the floor frequently with Nwamu.

“They envision a big role for me,” Nwamu said of his talks with the Rebels’ coaches. “I expect to come in and start, more so because I’m confident in myself and what I can do. I want to come in and contribute at a high level and help lead the team.”

Nwamu had to give his coach at Mercer a list of schools he could possibly transfer to and get it approved. He put UNLV on his list, and did so without any prior connections to the program.

“I didn’t even know if any schools I initially put on the list would be interested in me, so it was a shot in the dark really,” Nwamu said. “Once it got out that I was transferring, different coaches were trying to get in contact with me. I had a whole bunch of interest from a lot of different high-profile programs. I found an ideal situation.”

He drew interest from Louisville and Oregon, among others, and committed to UNLV after taking an official visit to UNR. Nwamu said the Rebels’ “open and fast-paced style” of play best fits his game.

The Rebels have not run a lot in Rice’s first four seasons, but he is hoping to force a faster tempo on opponents next season.

“That’s the plan,” Rice said. “Ideally, we want to play pressure defense and push the pace on offense. I think we have the personnel and depth to do that, and you have to have those two things.”

He also needed the commitment he got in April from Stephen Zimmerman, a 7-foot McDonald’s All-American from Bishop Gorman High School. Zimmerman’s addition eases the subtraction of 6-11 forward Chris Wood, who left for the NBA after his sophomore season.

Zimmerman joins 6-10 Goodluck Okonoboh, a starter as a freshman, and 6-8 forward Ben Carter, a redshirt junior transfer from Oregon, on the front line. Dwayne Morgan, a 6-8 sophomore, and Derrick Jones, a 6-6 incoming freshman, top the depth chart at small forward.

Because of the versatility of those players, Rice said, “We have a lot of different lineups we can use.”

The point guards are Jerome Seagears, a redshirt senior transfer from Rutgers; 6-4 incoming freshman Jalen Poyser; and junior Daquan Cook.

Rice has two scholarships available, with the status of Justin Jackson, a 6-7 forward from Findlay Prep, still up in the air. Originally a 2016 recruit, Jackson might reclassify and join the Rebels’ freshman class.

UNLV is getting a visit from Tyrell Bellot-Green, a 6-7 forward from Hill Junior College in Hillsboro, Texas, this weekend.

Although he’s a threat to start and play a major role, Nwamu said he received a warm welcome from the Rebels’ players on his recruiting visit.

“I think that speaks to the character of our guys,” Rice said. “We have good guys on our team, and I think the players we have recruited have felt that.”

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyoumans247.