LAS VEGAS — Terrance Ford Jr. is available for UNLV’s regular-season opener Tuesday against Northern Arizona. Josh Pastner is less certain about whether the guard is ready to play.
Pastner said Monday that Ford has not been through regular team practices. Tyler Harris and Issac Williamson remain out, leaving the Rebels without two anticipated rotation players even as their backcourt gets a possible addition.
“We didn’t practice him, but he’s available,” Pastner said. “So we’ll see how that goes.”
Ford last played Oct. 7, starting and logging 33 minutes in UNLV’s exhibition loss to Utah. He subsequently collided with freshman Kota Suttle Jr. during practice as both went for a loose ball. Suttle‘s hand struck Ford in the face, and the resulting concussion proved slow to resolve.
As recently as Oct. 23, Pastner said Ford was experiencing nausea during stationary-bike work and had not advanced beyond the second stage of the team’s seven-stage return-to-play protocol. He called it a particularly intense concussion. Ford missed the BYU exhibition the following day and remained sidelined against Missouri on Oct. 29.
Cam Miles has barely left the floor: 36 minutes against BYU and 38 against Missouri. Suttle helped bring the ball up the floor, but Miles was the primary organizer for long stretches. Against Missouri, he had 10 assists, 16 points and nine rebounds in the 90-81 victory. He had recorded four assists and five turnovers in the loss to BYU.
Northern Arizona visits Tuesday, followed by Samford on Saturday. If Ford needs more time, Miles and Suttle are the guards who have already shared the ballhandling against BYU and Missouri.
Ford has a longer record as a college distributor. At Arkansas State in 2024-25, he led the Sun Belt with 170 assists and a 2.33 assist-to-turnover ratio while shooting 40.4% from three-point range. He spent last season at Tulsa without playing before transferring to UNLV.
Harris tore his MCL during June workouts and missed all three exhibitions.
First came the hope of an exhibition return. Then the opener. Harris has reached neither target. On Monday, the coach did not announce a replacement date.
Sophomore guard Issac Williamson has dealt with a hamstring injury and a subsequent foot problem. He averaged 8.6 points and made 43 threes last season.
Williamson and Tyrin Jones are UNLV’s two returning scholarship players. For a team that changes defensive looks frequently, Williamson also represents experience with the language and assignments that newcomers have spent the fall learning.
Williamson has not appeared in an exhibition, and Pastner has resisted setting a fixed return date for him.
Both Harris and Williamson participated in the shootaround before the Missouri game. The activity was progress, but neither was cleared to play that night. Pastner said Monday that he likes the direction of their recoveries.
“They’re making really good progress and things are really trending there for them to get back on the floor sooner than later,” he said.
