UNLV freshman wing Nick Blake finds peace at home

To a new campus. A new team. New gyms. New rims.

But this transition is going to be relatively easy for the 19-year-old Las Vegan. In fact, it’s already been easier than the others he’s made during his basketball career for one simple reason.

It’s happening at home … at UNLV.

“I needed it,” Blake affirmed. “I needed to be here.”

Blake moved into his apartment on UNLV’s campus last weekend, continuing a journey several years in the making. The 6-foot-6-inch wing attended four schools in three states during his five-year prep career — all while coping with the sudden death of his father, Laverious.

But the lessons he learned first at Shadow Ridge and Durango, then at Middlebrooks Academy in Los Angeles and IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, have prepared him for his homecoming as the top-ranked recruit in T.J. Otzelberger’s inaugural class.

“Being on the move and being at all those different schools in a short period of time, I think he really appreciates being home and having a chance to play in front of his family and hometown friends,” said former Durango coach DeShawn Henry, now UNLV’s director of basketball operations.

An introduction to adversity

Blake sees his late father several times a day on the wallpaper of his cellphone.It’s a subtle nod to the man who purchased him a miniature hoop when he was a toddler, fostering in him a love for basketball. He eventually graduated to a standard hoop — this one a gift from his mother, which he assembled himself — and learned different drills by watching YouTube videos.

He’d practice alone in his driveway for hours a day, developing his early handle and jumper under the direction of the internet.

“He would shoot well into the wee hours of the night,” said Blake’s mother, Antrese Dickens. “It was just the street lights on.”

Blake grew six inches between eighth and ninth grade and began to showcase his Division I potential as a freshman at Shadow Ridge.

He moved into Durango’s attendance zone before his sophomore year of 2016-17 and was settling into his new school while collecting scholarship offers from the likes of Utah State, Boise State, Tulane and Wyoming. But tragedy engulfed him that October when his father had a heart attack triggered by underlying health issues unbeknownst to Blake.

He died Oct. 27, 2016. Blake didn’t leave his bedroom for a week as he bore the burden of his father’s death.

“He definitely was devoid of all emotion and he felt somewhat responsible, even though he wasn’t,” Dickens said. “He vowed that he would definitely be successful because that’s what his dad would want him to do.”

As he grappled with his grief, Blake used basketball as an outlet and found a semblance of solace on the court with his Durango and club teammates. His family and friends supported him, and his teachers and coaches were understanding of his circumstances.

But distractions were still aplenty for Blake, who struggled at times with his academics as his focus sputtered. He played two years for Durango and spent his springs and summers competing with the Las Vegas Knicks, the city’s local Adidas affiliate.

His recruitment stagnated, though, and he realized a change was in order if he was going to to maximize his potential. So he reclassified and left Las Vegas for Middlebrooks, a rigorous preparatory academy that provided the structure he was seeking.

“I just felt like I really needed to go away from home and give myself an opportunity to just focus on basketball and school,” Blake said.

Coming home

There isn’t much to do at Middlebrooks besides study and play basketball. And that’s exactly what Blake did during the 2018-19 school year. He powered through bouts of homesickness, restructured his academic profile and cultivated healthy habits and a newly found independence.

“He was raw clay,” said the school’s CEO and founder, William Middlebrooks. “Like I told him ‘We’re going to be hard on you. We’re going to put you through a lot. And if you’ come out the other side, you’re going to see a different player and a different person.’ And he did that.”

Blake returned to Las Vegas last spring with a stronger sense of confidence, and subsequently garnered interest from Otzelberger and the Rebels through his play with the Knicks, for whom he averaged 17.4 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 45 percent from the field.

UNLV’s previous regime did not recruit Blake, but a Rebels staffer was at all of his club games during the live recruiting period and the program offered him a scholarship last April.

He committed to UNLV in June, bypassing high-major programs like Kansas State and Arizona State. He momentarily cracked ESPN’s top 100 last season and concluded his prep career as the No. 149 player in the 202o class, per 247 sports — tops among UNLV’s incoming freshman.

With his commitment in place, Blake enrolled at IMG for a post-graduate year, knowing full well he’d be back to his beloved Las Vegas after the season. He focused at IMG on playing off the ball and improving as a defender. The system at IMG was fast and free flowing, a la Otzelberger’s, and Blake believes he is ready to make a positive difference for the Rebels this season.

At 6-foot-6, he’s a natural scorer who can play on or off the ball.. He is capable of creating for himself and others. He’s also a versatile defender who can switch across multiple positions and function within the framework of UNLV’s team concepts.

Blake worked this spring on extending his range and limiting his dribbles in preparation to play alongside proven scorers like Bryce Hamilton and David Jenkins.

“I know with the pieces that we have and how the coaches want to play, we’re going to be a dangerous team,” Blake says.

Blake returned home from IMG in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic and trained at the Tarkanian Basketball Academy before moving onto campus. He’s mentally ready for college basketball, steeled through the rigors of his adolescence. And he’s physically ready, too, steeled through hours of skill development and competition.

For Blake, it turns out his fourth school in four years is where he’s always wanted to be.

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.