UNLV’s Marvin Menzies likes how roster is coming together

The work is not done rebuilding UNLV’s roster, but it’s close enough that a clear vision is taking place.

It’s a young roster, but one that is well dispersed between guards and big men.

How competitive the Rebels will be next season against a demanding nonconference schedule is too early to tell, but first-year coach Marvin Menzies is recruiting with his focus largely on the long term anyway.

“We held pretty close to the form as to what we were looking at,” Menzies said. “We made a couple of adjustments based on player availability, but for the most part, I’m comfortable with the lay of the class.”

Menzies had three scholarship players and a walk-on when the University of Nevada Board of Regents approved his five-year contract April 22. He since has added eight players and is hopeful of landing one or two graduate transfers by the first week of June.

Five of the new players will be freshmen: 6-foot-6-inch guard Kris Clyburn is a junior college transfer who will have three seasons of eligibility, Jordan Johnson is a 5-9 guard from Wisconsin-Milwaukee who will have to sit out 2016-17 under NCAA transfer rules, and Uche Ofoegbu is a 6-4 guard from San Francisco who is a graduate transfer and eligible to play immediately.

The newcomers will have to mesh with a returning group that includes 6-7 senior forward Tyrell Green, 6-8 junior forward Dwayne Morgan, 6-4 sophomore guard Jalen Poyser and 6-3 sophomore guard Austin Starr. Morgan and Poyser were part of the rotation last season, combining to average 10.9 points.

Green missed nearly the entire season because of various injuries, and he could get the extra season back from the NCAA. Starr is a walk-on who became a more critical member of the team late in the season when injuries piled up.

Competing at guard next season will be Poyser, Starr, Clyburn, Ofoegbu, 6-0 freshman Jaylan Ballou and 6-4 freshman Zion Morgan. In the front court are Green, Morgan, 6-7 freshman Ben Coupet, 6-11 freshman Cheickna Dembele and 6-10 freshman Djordjije Slijivancanin.

Menzies went into this job planning to recruit to a system that pushes the ball up the court.

“We’re recruiting guys that will fit into a system unlike when we were at New Mexico State,” Menzies said. “There, we were recruiting talent and then making them fit into a system. Here, we’re getting players that fit into a particular style of play, and I feel like we’ve achieved that or we’re still in the process, so we’ve still got a few to go.”

Ofoegbu wanted to be part of that system, even if it was for just one season. He chose the Rebels over Georgia Tech after averaging 9.2 points and 4.6 rebounds last season and making 50.8 percent of his shots.

“Me and the head coach clicked from our first conversation,” Ofoegbu said. “I did my research on him, and everyone I talked to said he’s a trustworthy guy, he’s straightforward, gives it to you straight. That’s the kind of coach I want to be coached by. In my last year, I felt it would be a great situation for me on and off the court.

“The assistant coaches, the fan base, the strength of schedule, I fell in love with the whole situation.”

Because of NCAA transfer rules, Johnson will have to wait a year to make a direct impact. He averaged 8.1 assists at Milwaukee, second nationally, and followed his former coach, Rob Jeter, to UNLV. Jeter now is an assistant for the Rebels.

Reunited with my pops #UNLVmbb pic.twitter.com/ewDx28p8a0

— jordy (@jordanj1k) May 19, 2016

“I’ll get to play and show off my talent to (NBA) scouts and to be with him again,” Johnson said. “I went to Milwaukee to play for him, and I want to finish out my career with him.”

Menzies will have the challenge of trying to find chemistry on a roster built mostly on newcomers and against a nonconference schedule that includes Duke at T-Mobile Arena, Kansas at the Thomas & Mack Center and Oregon in Portland.

Those are concerns to be dealt with later. Menzies already has met the challenge of assembling a roster in a short time frame even after getting a late start.

“From a potential standpoint on evaluating film and doing all of our background on character and the type of kids we want in our program, we checked off more off the list than we didn’t,” Menzies said. “So that’s obviously a big thing. Now we’ve got to turn it into a practical application of winning games.”

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65