UNLV’s 10-11 record left coach Josh Pastner with a first season to evaluate and a second roster to plan. That was the argument behind my Jan. 31 guest column for The Pit Press: use the rest of 2025-26 to determine what the Rebels can build around, then expect that work to produce results in 2026-27.
The complete piece, “UNLV Basketball Is at a Crossroads and the Rest of This Season Will Decide Which Way It Turns,” appeared under my byline in The Pit Press. It came after a week that had left UNLV 5-5 in the Mountain West, with another gap between the team’s best wins and its routine execution.
The Rebels had beaten No. 21 Utah State in Logan and won at Memphis and Stanford. Home losses to UT Martin, Montana and Tennessee State had damaged the NCAA Tournament résumé those better wins might have helped build. San Diego State then won at the Thomas & Mack Center, New Mexico followed with a 28-point victory there and Reno beat UNLV 89-76.
I argued that an at-large bid was effectively out of reach, but that the remaining games still had a purpose. Pastner needed to learn which players he could retain and build around, where the roster needed help and whether the work he emphasized in practice was becoming visible against conference opponents.
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn had become the primary scorer and an increasingly important ballhandler. Freshman center Tyrin Jones supplied interior scoring and shot blocking. Myles Che and Ladji Dembele had been unable to provide expected minutes because of injuries. Their possible contributions, and who remained for another season, would affect how much rebuilding the next roster required.
The portal could address specific jobs: guards who could organize possessions and defend, dependable wing shooting and frontcourt players who could rebound and play away from the basket. Adding scorers alone would not supply a second organizer when Gibbs-Lawhorn’s drive was stopped or finish the defensive rebounds UNLV had been losing.
For the rest of the season, I wanted to see who could handle the ball alongside Gibbs-Lawhorn and which lineups could consistently finish defensive possessions with a rebound.
