Rishwain exits injured as UNLV drops finale at New Mexico

UNLV Rebels guard Julian Rishwain (20) takes the ball upcourt during the second half of an NCAA basketball game against the UNR Wolf Pack at the Thomas & Mack Center Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. Photo by Steve Marcus

UNLV’s already shorthanded rotation was thinned even further on Friday as senior guard Julian Rishwain suffered an injury and left early in an 81-67 loss at New Mexico.

Rishwain’s left knee appeared to buckle on a noncontact play, and he exited the game with 13:38 left in the first half. A few minutes later the television broadcast showed him on the sideline, clearly emotional, with a towel draped over his head.

He had made both of his 3-point attempts and had a team-high eight points at the time he was hurt.

Rishwain went to the locker room for the rest of the half. He returned to the bench for the second half but did not play.

After the game, head coach Kevin Kruger said Rishwain will be reevaluated when the team returns home.

“There’s not a lot you can say to an athlete when they go down and they know it’s as uncomfortable as it was,” Kruger said. “When we get back to Vegas, we’ll address it from there.”

Rishwain has a history of knee injuries, starting with an ACL tear that cut short his 2022-23 campaign at San Francisco. He transferred to Florida that offseason but managed to suit up for just eight games there before lingering knee discomfort forced him to undergo another operation, ending his season once again.

He transferred to UNLV for a sixth college season but still didn’t feel 100% when the team began summer workouts. Rishwain opted for another procedure, this time utilizing regenerative medicine, and he reported that did wonders for his knee.

Healthy for the first time in three years, Rishwain climbed UNLV’s depth chart and actually led the team in total minutes entering the finale at New Mexico. He started 28 of 31 games and averaged 9.3 points while shooting 36.4% from 3-point range.

Losing Rishwain would rob UNLV of a key perimeter threat heading into the Mountain West tournament, as he closed the season by making 14-of-28 from long range. In Tuesday’s home win over San Diego State he poured in a career-high 26 points.

As for Friday’s game, the stakes were minimal, as UNLV and New Mexico were both locked into their Mountain West tournament seeds (No. 6 and No. 1, respectively). The priority for the Scarlet and Gray was to get additional reps for the seven-man rotation that had been developing chemistry and playing well since Thomas’ injury, going 3-1 in his absence before traveling to New Mexico.

Rishwain’s injury threw a major kink into that plan, and now Kruger has four days to prepare his skeleton crew for a MWC play-in game against either Air Force or Fresno State.

“This is a great group to go to war with and compete with,” Kruger said. “We’ve just got to turn our attention now and get ready for the next one.”

Senior forward Jalen Hill said UNLV shouldn’t be counted out, despite the injuries.

“I think that we’re ready to go,” Hill said. “We believe if we put a full 40 [minutes] together for four straight games we can make a run.”

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