LAS VEGAS — Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn scored 724 points for UNLV last season. Kimani Hamilton added 449, and Howie Fleming Jr. delivered a team-high 117 assists. All three are gone. Josh Pastner has spent his second offseason replacing more than the players who appeared at the top of a box score. He needs somebody to start the offense, somebody to finish it and enough dependable defenders to keep the other team from doing the same.
The Rebels return just three letterwinners from an 18-17 team that reached the second round of the NIT. Tyrin Jones and Issac Williamson played regular minutes; Jalen Cunningham appeared for 20 minutes all season. Between them, they scored 667 of UNLV’s 2,761 points. More than three-quarters of last year’s scoring walked out the door, along with much of the passing and rebounding that supported it.
Those departures did not dismantle a championship team. UNLV averaged 78.9 points and allowed 78.3, finished 11-9 in the Mountain West and missed the NCAA Tournament for a 13th consecutive season. The Rebels shot 68% at the foul line and watched opponents attempt 78 more free throws. Gibbs-Lawhorn could rescue a possession with a three, but his 20.7 points per game did not make the team reliable from one night to the next.
Pastner’s response was to add 11 newcomers, including experienced scorers, defenders who can force turnovers and two freshmen competing for minutes. The exhibitions against Utah, BYU and Missouri showed how different the roster can look. Sebastian Mack scored at will for stretches, Jones returned to the basket and the offensive glass became a real weapon. They also exposed how much work remains between acquiring that talent and getting five players to function together.
The first unsettled job belongs to the point guards. Terrance Ford Jr. came to UNLV with 170 assists and a 2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio from his last healthy season at Arkansas State. He also shot 40.4% from three. Those numbers gave Pastner a player who could bring the ball up, force the defense to honor his jumper and deliver it to a scorer in a better position. Ford played 33 minutes against Utah, then missed BYU and Missouri while in concussion protocol.
Cam Miles was left to handle most of the organizing. He played 36 minutes against each of Utah and BYU and 38 against Missouri. His 10 assists and nine rebounds against the Tigers were encouraging, particularly when he advanced the ball early enough for MJ Thomas to beat defenders downcourt. Four turnovers in that game, following five against BYU, showed what happens when a player accustomed to shorter stretches at Florida State must run nearly every possession for a new team.
The average turnover total makes the urgency plain. Last year’s Rebels gave the ball away 12.1 times per game. This group averaged 17.7 through the three exhibitions, although those games came against power-conference opponents and offer only an early sample. Ford said before the exhibitions that he did not intend to force the offense: “I’m not ever gonna go into a game and force a situation.” That is the mentality UNLV needs from both guards. It is also a reason his health matters beyond replacing one name in the starting lineup. With Ford alongside Miles, Pastner can divide the pressure, change who initiates an action and avoid asking the same player to solve every broken possession.
Williamson could help once he returns from injury. He averaged 8.6 points in 23.1 minutes as a freshman, started 15 games and knows the coach’s expectations. His 33.3% three-point shooting last season also leaves room for improvement. A second-year guard does not have to become the leading scorer to matter here; delivering the first pass on time and defending his assignment would make the players around him more useful.
The freshmen offer something less certain. Jackson Kiss enters with the Mountain West’s preseason freshman-of-the-year award and the ability to rebound and contest shots from the perimeter. He also committed nine turnovers across the first two exhibitions. Kota Suttle Jr. has pressured experienced ballhandlers and shown enough confidence to take an open corner three, but foul trouble limits how long that pressure can help. Their minutes should depend on how quickly they distinguish an aggressive play from an unnecessary one.
Mack, meanwhile, has already demonstrated why Pastner recruited him. He scored 25 against Utah, 26 against BYU and 19 against Missouri. His 70 exhibition points did not come from the kind of perimeter shooting Gibbs-Lawhorn supplied last season. Mack is most dangerous when he gets his shoulders toward the basket, draws contact and makes a defender decide whether to stay home or help. Pastner has challenged him to attack rather than spend a possession dribbling sideways.
Gibbs-Lawhorn made 101 threes last season at 41.4%, allowing UNLV to score even when an opponent protected the lane. Mack can put a defense in rotation by getting inside it, but a drive that ends with three defenders around him helps nobody. He needs the next player to occupy a useful space and the next pass to arrive before the advantage disappears.
Jones is the player most likely to benefit. He averaged 11.9 points, five rebounds and a Mountain West-leading 2.2 blocks as a freshman despite playing through a shoulder injury. The sophomore returned from surgery against Missouri with 21 points, eight rebounds, four steals and two blocks. His presence gives a guard an immediate target at the rim and gives Pastner a defender capable of affecting shots without needing to gamble for steals.
The free-throw line could be where Jones makes his most consequential individual improvement. He made only 82 of 168 free throws last season, a 48.8% rate that allowed opponents to foul him rather than surrender another finish. He went 5-for-6 against Missouri. One exhibition cannot establish a new shooting standard, but a healthier Jones who converts more trips to the line changes how cheaply an opponent can defend him.
Thomas can create chances without having the first shot called for him. He collected 101 offensive rebounds at New Orleans last season and pulled down five at that end against both Utah and Missouri. He can run to the rim before a defense gets set, then pursue a missed shot without demanding a play called for him. The risk comes when his defender is already waiting in the lane with Jones. Neither has shown the sort of volume outside shooting that forces a big man to follow him to the arc.
Jeremy Foumena and Moustapha Loum give Pastner options behind that pair, but they have different jobs. Foumena can catch and finish around the basket; Pastner has asked him to stay available along the deep baseline rather than wander toward the ball. Loum brings a 6-foot-10 frame and rebounding and shot-blocking experience from Northwestern State. Playing them alongside Jones or Thomas requires the guards to maintain spacing, not simply put more size on the floor and assume it will work.
The size has already changed how UNLV competes for missed shots. The Rebels collected 48 offensive rebounds in three exhibitions and gave themselves extra chances even when the first shot missed. Last year they were outrebounded by 0.6 per game. Yet securing a miss at one end does not excuse allowing another at the other. BYU matched UNLV’s 15 offensive boards, and the Rebels still struggled to finish defensive possessions once the Cougars got the ball moving.
Pastner has described the intended style as “Grit, toughness, we’re gonna play with great speed.” His guards can pressure the ball, Dontrez Williams has a history of creating steals, and Jones can operate at the top of the 1-3-1 rather than waiting beneath the rim. UNLV forced 20 turnovers against Missouri and turned them into 25 points. Those possessions show why Pastner prefers activity to a defense that sits back and hopes opponents miss.
BYU punished the switches by moving the ball to the roller when UNLV lost its assignments. Last season UNLV allowed almost as many points as it scored. The new roster cannot improve that balance if guards chase a steal while a teammate is left guarding two players, or if nobody finds a body when the shot goes up. Pastner needs pressure that finishes with possession, not pressure that merely creates movement.
Williams has a chance to earn minutes through that work. He averaged 2.6 steals per game at Lindenwood and grabbed nine rebounds against BYU, but he also shot 29.3% from three at his previous stop. Tyler Harris offers size on the wing and a more varied scoring background, though injury kept him out of the exhibitions. Neither should be judged only by his previous scoring average. Their value may come from whether they can defend without help and provide Mack enough room to drive.
AJ Storr complicates any projection of the best lineup. He averaged 15.5 points at Ole Miss last season and earned preseason All-Mountain West recognition, but he remains ineligible. Counting on his production would leave Pastner designing possessions for a player he cannot use. Cunningham, by contrast, is available and made three threes against BYU after playing sparingly last season. Three makes are not a season-long shooting résumé, but the possibility of a reliable floor spacer deserves a longer look.
Pastner said that working injured players back into a large rotation cost UNLV games last November. Against Missouri, the Rebels extended their lead during minutes when Mack, Jones and Foumena rested. That should encourage the freshmen and the other reserves, not guarantee them permanent spots. Ford’s return, Williamson’s health and Harris’ availability could change who starts, who closes and which combinations can survive against a physical opponent.
The schedule will not leave much room for a prolonged audition. UNLV opens Tuesday against Northern Arizona, then faces Samford and Stanford before meeting Kansas at Players Era on Nov. 17. A December trip to San Diego State precedes a Mountain West race led in the preseason poll by New Mexico and Grand Canyon. New Mexico has Jake Hall and Uriah Tenette in the backcourt. Grand Canyon has Jaden Henley and Makaih Williams back, with Dylan Darling arriving to handle the ball. Reno returns Elijah Price and Vaughn Weems. UNLV was picked fourth, behind those three teams, with less certainty about which guards can run its offense.
Pastner has more size, more interior finishing and more ways to apply defensive pressure than he had a season ago. Mack can score through a cold stretch. Jones can protect the rim and make opponents foul him. The guards and wings must decide whether those strengths survive a full 40 minutes. By the time New Mexico visits in January, UNLV cannot still be explaining who needs to handle the ball or where the help defender was supposed to be. Pastner will have had enough games to choose his rotation. Whether he chooses one that works will say more about this season than the names he signed in the offseason.
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