Kruger shows Mashour how crowded perimeter will be

You knew what kind of UNLV basketball opener it was going to be when the biggest question had nothing to do with the Rebels’ opponent, but rather whether a kid who has never played a minute of college ball would see action.

It’s a nice problem to have.

UNLV did what good teams do, which is drub a really bad team in dismissing UC Riverside 85-41 on Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“Our guys got on top early and didn’t back off on any occasion,” coach Lon Kruger said. “We had a lot of guys play very well. We have a lot of guys who can do a lot of different things, and I think that kind of versatility individually will allow us to do good things as a group.”

The Highlanders are picked to finish last in the Big West Conference and entered the game with no returning players from last season. Yeah. It was going to be a little choppy at times.

But give the Rebels credit. They didn’t fall into that too-familiar trap of playing down to the competition, which would have been difficult given how low UC Riverside exists.

The most skilled of hatchet men couldn’t cut through all the rough spots the Highlands have, and yet UNLV stayed the course and dominated to the point of owning a 48-39 rebound advantage, blocking nine shots and limiting UC Riverside to 22.4 percent shooting.

“UC Riverside has a great team and great players,” guard Derrick Jasper said, which sent me scrambling for UNLV’s media guide to see whether the fifth-year senior had earned his degree last spring in diplomacy.

The thing most wanted to know beforehand was whether Karam Mashour would play for UNLV, whether the true freshman from Israel would be thrown into an early rotation or choose to sit out and redshirt this season.

He didn’t play.

It apparently doesn’t translate into a final decision.

“We’re still in negotiations,” Kruger said jokingly. “We haven’t totally decided. He wants to play, which is understandable. I just don’t see where the minutes are with the depth we have on the perimeter. He’s a great kid. He may still play.”

Not if the coaching staff can help it.

Kruger is doing what coaches do in such a situation — buy as much time in hopes of convincing the young man that sitting this season and working to improve his game is a far better option than seeing limited minutes.

Tre’Von Willis hasn’t played a second yet, which means even some of those returnees who looked so good Friday are about to see their playing time decrease when the senior returns from his suspension.

There just aren’t enough minutes available for a freshman who, while talented, would struggle defensively and probably not play enough to make it rational to burn a year of eligibility.

But it’s an interesting case. Should Mashour redshirt, he would be 20 by the time he plays his first game next season, and it’s never guaranteed that a kid who has played at a high junior level in Europe would choose to remain in the United States four years over returning home to play professionally.

“Karam works really hard every day,” junior Chace Stanback said. “If I were him, I would want to play, too.”

The fact UNLV is at a point where it can debate whether to sit Mashour — certainly not a great player today but good enough offensively to contribute some at that end — points to the team’s depth.

This is what happens when you’re a program and not merely a team, when you have built a roster that includes several capable players at each spot.

There won’t be many teams in the next five months that own a decisive edge against UNLV at guard and on the wings. Jasper had 13 rebounds Friday and the trio of Stanback, Anthony Marshall and Oscar Bellfield combined for 48 points and 14 assists.

“We want to get up and down the court more this year and have the depth to do it,” Jasper said. “That’s the way we want to play.”

They would have won Friday playing any way they wanted, a solid opening act in that the victory came with ease and no injuries.

There were few surprises until the waning seconds, when it was announced anyone who presented their basketball ticket stub would get $10 off a football ticket to tonight’s game between UNLV and Wyoming.

Which begged just one question:

They’re actually charging to watch it?

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday and Thursday on “Monsters of the Midday,” FOX Sports Radio 920 AM.