UNLV’s opening opponent Morehead State far from a joke

A simple mention of the name of UNLV’s opening-night opponent for Friday night’s game at the Thomas & Mack Center is often enough to inspire a chuckle. Morehead State’s basketball team, however, is far from a joke.

In fact, the Eagles are a popular choice to win the Ohio Valley Conference’s East Division and would likely be projected to win the league overall if not for the presence of perennial power Murray State in the West.

Former Kentucky standout Sean Woods enters his third season as coach with four starters back from a 20-win campaign that ended with a first-round loss in the College Basketball Invitational.

Woods, who notably hit a shot to put the Wildcats ahead of Duke in the closing seconds of an NCAA Tournament game only to see Christian Laettner answer with one of the most famous shots in college basketball history to win the game, will bring a talented backcourt into the matchup with UNLV.

The best of that group is senior shooting guard Angelo Warner. The senior is coming off a breakout junior campaign in which he averaged 17.5 points per game.

Junior Brent Arrington averaged nearly 12 points last season and is coming off a 24-point outburst in the Eagles’ lone exhibition game.

Point guard Kareem Storey and center Billy Reader are the other returning starters.

The one open spot up front in the Eagles lineup will likely be filled by a player very familiar to UNLV fans.

Former Rebel Karam Mashour posted 13 points and 19 rebounds in the exhibition victory and will likely start in his Thomas & Mack Center return.

The Israel native scored 2.3 points per game in 12 appearances as a freshman at UNLV in the 2010-11. He followed up that campaign with 1.5 points per game over 13 contests as a sophomore the following year before transferring.

He sat out a redshirt season and then missed nearly all of last season due to a back injury. Now Mashour looks ready to have a major impact.