Kevin Kruger, a former UNLV player and an assistant coach the past two seasons, was introduced as the Rebels’ head coach Monday. He signed a five-year, $3.85 million contract.
Sam Gordon
Reporter
Email: sgordon@reviewjournal.com
X: @BySamGordon
Sam Gordon was born and raised in Minneapolis and is back for his second stint with the Review-Journal. He’s covered the NFL, NBA, the Big Ten, the Mountain West and prep sports for various publications during his professional tenure. Gordon, a University of Minnesota graduate, is a basketball junkie who coached high school basketball for three seasons.
Kevin Kruger played at UNLV under his father, Lon, and spent two years on T.J. Otzelberger’s staff. He was previously an assistant at Oklahoma and Northern Arizona.
Jason Kidd has emerged as a candidate of interest for UNLV as it looks to fill its basketball coaching vacancy. He currently is an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Julian Strawther, a freshman wing, is cherishing the experience of playing for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Rebels basketball boosters are not happy with the state of the once proud program, which is coming off a 12-15 season and has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2013.
With the departure of T.J. Otzelberger, UNLV is looking for its sixth head coach in 10 years.
UNLV basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger is leaving the program to take the job at Iowa State, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation.
Donald Penn signed Monday with the Raiders and retired as a member of the franchise. The 37-year-old played 13 seasons in the NFL, including five with the Raiders from 2014 to 2018.
UCLA, which has lost four straight, joins Oregon, Oregon State, USC and Colorado in the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins were among the last four selected for the field of 68.
Oregon State beat Colorado in the Pac-12 tournament championship game Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the program’s first since 2016.
Marvelous Marvin Hagler, a former middleweight champion who fought two of boxing’s most memorable bouts, against Thomas Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard, died Saturday at age 66.
Picked to finish last in the Pac-12, Oregon State will play for an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament Saturday. This after securing a 75-64 win over Oregon in the Pac-12 tournament.
Amauri Hardy, who played three years for UNLV, returned to his old stomping grounds with Oregon to post 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting in a victory over Arizona State at T-Mobile Arena.
Bey, a native Las Vegan and Bishop Gorman graduate, scored 18 points in a loss Wednesday to Utah in the Pac-12 tournament at T-Mobile Arena. He was one of the best 3-point shooters in the country this season.
Freshman guard Jalen Suggs scored 10 of his 23 points in the final eight minutes to lift top-ranked Gonzaga to an 88-78 victory over BYU in the WCC championship game.