Top prospect Dwayne Morgan of Baltimore commits to UNLV

BALTIMORE — In need of some good news, the UNLV basketball program received a boost Wednesday when top prospect Dwayne Morgan orally committed to play for the Rebels.

Morgan, a 6-foot-7-inch, 180-pound junior small forward at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore, is ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 13 prospect in the class of 2014. He chose UNLV over Georgetown and Maryland.

“I want to thank all the schools in my recruitment,” Morgan said during a news conference at his high school. “It’s been a long journey. I’m grateful for this opportunity because a lot of people don’t get this opportunity. I’ll be looking to further my education out West at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.”

UNLV was the first school to offer Morgan a scholarship, and despite him being sidelined for parts of last summer with tendinitis, the Rebels stayed on him the hardest throughout the recruiting process.

“From day one, I was their guy. They made me a priority,” said Morgan, who wants to major in sports medicine. “I felt as though my loyalty was to them. I wanted to go out and do something different for once. There’s a lot of pressure put on the hometown kid to go to the hometown school, but this is a decision that I have to live with for the rest of my life, so I picked the school that I felt I would be the most successful at.”

His mother, Tabitha Chambers, said: “UNLV has been dedicated and showed their interest since day one. Even when he had tendinitis and had to sit out, their loyalty and expressing their interest was paramount for his decision today.”

Rebels coach Dave Rice continues to recruit at a high level, even after a season that fell short of expectations on the floor. UNLV finished 25-10 after losing its NCAA Tournament opener to California last Thursday.

Morgan, who averaged 17.0 points and 8.0 rebounds this season, is the first player to commit to Rice for next year’s recruiting class. He pared his list of college suitors from double digits to three on March 11.

But that was all for show, according to Morgan, who said he came to a decision about two weeks after taking an official visit to UNLV in February. During his visit, Morgan watched UNLV defeat New Mexico 64-55 on Feb. 9, and he raved about the Rebels’ up-tempo style of play and fan support.

Rice has five players signed or committed for this year’s class, highlighted by 6-10 forward Chris Wood of Findlay Prep. Wood is ranked the nation’s No. 36 prospect by Rivals.com.

Jalen Kendrick, a 6-7 guard from Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa, signed in November. Kendall Smith, a 6-2 senior guard from Deer Valley High in Antioch, Calif., committed Jan. 4. DeVille Smith, a 6-foot guard at Southwest Mississippi Community College, committed March 10.

Dantley Walker, a shooting guard from Lincoln County High, committed in February 2011 and is finishing a Mormon mission.

The Rebels are losing three seniors — Anthony Marshall, Justin Hawkins and Quintrell Thomas — and freshman forward Anthony Bennett is expected to declare for the NBA Draft.

Morgan also cited his connections to former Baltimore stars and current UNLV players Roscoe Smith and Daquan Cook, who also played at St. Frances Academy, as major factors in his decision.

Cook, a freshman point guard, played limited minutes behind Marshall in 25 games this season. Smith, a 6-8 junior forward who transferred from Connecticut, redshirted this past season, as did Demetris Morant, a 6-9 forward from Bishop Gorman High.

Morgan’s commitment pushed the Rebels’ 2014 recruiting class into the top 10, according to the website 247Sports.com. The site ranked him the best prep player in Maryland in his class.

In Morgan, the Rebels are getting a player who can stretch the floor with his length and create mismatch problems for opponents. But they’re also getting a player who is highly ranked largely because of his potential and who needs some fine-tuning before making the jump to Division I basketball, according to 247Sports national basketball recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer.

“I love his versatility and his length,” Meyer said. “He’s a well-rounded player. He does a lot of things well. But that leads into the question mark on him: Yeah, he does everything well, but does he do anything great? I don’t think he’s found that thing to hang his hat on, that aspect of his game where he can dominate”.

Review-Journal reporter Matt Youmans contributed to this report.