Ironman strategy paying off for shorthanded UNLV basketball

Is the UNLV basketball team better without star guard D.J. Thomas?

It would have been unimaginable to ask such a question as recently as a week ago. That may no longer be the case.

For much of the past two years Thomas has been the driving force for the program, handling the ball on every possession while leading the team in scoring, assists and minutes by a significant margin.

But since the sophomore went down with a shoulder injury on Feb. 15, a reimagined UNLV squad has surged, winning three consecutive contests and playing perhaps its best basketball of the season.

UNLV is 3-1 without Thomas, and after convincing home wins over UNR and San Diego State, you can argue the Scarlet and Gray will be a tough out in next week’s Mountain West Tournament.

How has Kevin Kruger been able to get the most out of the team without its best player? By not trying to replace him.

Instead of expanding the rotation and giving minutes to untested players, Kruger has leaned on a core group of seven contributors to cover for Thomas.

Junior wing Jaden Henley and senior forward Jalen Hill have taken over most of Thomas’ ball-handling duties. Senior wing Julian Rishwain has picked up the slack in regards to outside shooting. Junior center Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry and senior guard Jailen Bedford have helped UNLV win on the boards. And so on.

Rishwain scored a career-high 26 points to lead UNLV to victory against San Diego State on Tuesday, the latest example of a player rising to the occasion in an expanded role.

“New guys are stepping up and hitting big shots,” Rishwain said. “Everyone is elevating their game in a positive way and we're winning these games. It’s a new look on the Rebels and we’re figuring it out.”

Henley has seen his responsibilities change the most radically. Over his first 21 games, Henley averaged 11.4 points and 1.1 assists playing alongside Thomas. In his first outing after Thomas got hurt, Henley scored just one point in a loss to Colorado State; since then he has averaged 20.7 points and 4.0 assists.

Hill praised Henley for raising his game when given the opportunity.

“I think his confidence is great right now,” Hill said. “Against Colorado State he may have struggled, but he was still learning. And after that he’s picked it up. He knew what he had to do. I love the way he’s playing right now.”

Much of Kruger’s strategy has been dictated by necessity. Junior guard Jace Whiting was brought in this season to be the primary backup to Thomas, but he has been out since the second game with a foot injury. Beyond Bedford, there are no other scholarship guards left on the bench.

That means Kruger is leaving a rotation of seven guys on the court for extended stretches. Lineups that would have been considered unorthodox over the first four months of the season are now playing key minutes and producing.

That cohesion has returned positive results for UNLV — albeit in a small sample size.

In the last four games where Thomas was available, UNLV averaged 14.3 different lineup combinations per contest. Kruger made 23.3 substitutions per game, and each five-man “shift” lasted an average of 98 seconds.

With Thomas out, Kruger is using just 8.0 lineups and making 19.3 subs a game. That works out to an average shift time of 119 seconds.

Against UNR five different shifts lasted for more than three minutes, and three of them were left on the court for five-minute stints. That’s an eternity in college basketball.

One drawback of relying on such a short rotation could be tired legs, but there is an obvious benefit: UNLV’s lineups are developing major chemistry as they log so much court time together.

While Kruger would much prefer to have a player of Thomas’ talent level at his disposal, he does believe familiarity can have a positive intangible effect.

“It certainly can,” Kruger said. “It’s about finding that comfort and that rhythm. I certainly think there’s some truth to that. The longer you’re out there, especially for a couple guys we have when you can get in that rhythm and that flow. It can continue to develop and grow as the game goes along. I think we’ve seen that in the last couple games because we’ve had a couple guys play all 20 minutes in the second half, and that’s what we’re probably going to need going forward.”

UNLV’s current starting lineup, which features sophomore Brooklyn Hicks in place of Thomas, had logged a total of four minutes and two seconds together through the first 26 games. In Tuesday’s win over San Diego State they were on the court for a whopping 15:39 (and outscored the Aztecs during that time, 29-26).

Is ironman basketball a long-term winning strategy? Maybe not. But for now Kruger and UNLV are finding a way to make it work.

The players are buying into it, too, and for a team that needs to win four games in four days next week, that’s all that matters.

“Backs against the wall, we’ve got seven, eight dudes playing,” Rishwain said. “No one really thinks we’re going to win these games, but we’re building momentum going into the conference tournament and into our next game.”

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.