SB Nation - Wink Adams

UNLV Rebel Basketball Preview 09-10

Jeremy Mauss — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:39:13 -0000

UNLV has had some very good success the past few years in hoops with a sweet sixteen appearance in 2006-07, second round appearance in 2007-08, and last year was a step back with only an NIT bid but still had 20 wins. Last year the Mountain West was one of the best leagues last year, but due to teams losing early in the conference tournament --like UNLV-- coupled with some other upsets limited to the league two to spots in the Big Dance.

This year the Rebels are hoping for a bounce back year especially since this is the 20th anniversary of the 1990 National Championship team. This team does have a chance to be good with three transfers and four incoming freshman:

	Pos	Stars	Ht	Wt	RR	Video	Hometown
Oscar Bellfield	PG		6-2	175	5.7		Los Angeles, CA
Brice Massamba	C		6-9	255	-		Henderson, NV
Deshawn Mitchell	SF		6-5	205	-		Howell, NJ
Darris Santee	PF		6-8	198	-		Houston, TX

Derrick Jasper from Kentucky (via Rivals)

Steve Jones from Arizona State

Chance Stanback from UCLA (via Rivals)

UNLV did lose three starters from last year most notably Wink Adams who was their best player. The two returning starters are guard Oscar Bellfield and Tre'Von Willis. Willis averaged 11 points, 4 boards, and just over 3 assists a game. Plus they return four other letterman to round out the returning squad. The team has talent with the recruits and specifically the transfers and if the team can be cohesive then this team --as usual-- will contend for the conference title. One thing is to practice during their transfer year, but actually playing games against non-Rebels will be the key for UNLV.

The early season games will be tough for the Rebels just in Novemver they take on Nevada, Southern Illinois, Louisville, and at Arizona; plus include a game against Kansas State the first week of December. The schedule will be there for a good RPI, but those games will be a test of how quickly the team will get together. The main concern is getting the transfers to be able to play together as a team, and if that can happen then this team is a real threat for the Mountain West crown.

2009 NIT Tournament First Round: Kentucky vs. UNLV

Truzenzuzex — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:31:24 -0000

Tonight is the big night for the first game of the NIT for UK in 30 years -- the Wildcats of Kentucky vs. the Runnin' Rebels of UNLV.

Both these teams have won national championships, and both find themselves missing the NCAA tournament this year. But they do find themselves opposing each other in the first round of the NIT. UNLV is 0-3 all time against Kentucky, the last meeting being in the 1985 NCAA tournament first round.

Now, let's take a look at this game.

Player Statistics:

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Wink Adams	30	31.7	4.7	12.6	37.4	1.2	4.6	26.6	3.7	5.3	68.8	0.7	3.4	4.1	2.8	2.0	1.3	0.0	1.6	14.3
Tre`Von Willis	31	28.7	3.4	8.7	38.5	1.1	3.1	34.0	3.9	5.3	73.3	0.9	3.4	4.3	3.3	2.5	1.1	0.2	2.5	11.7
Rene Rougeau	31	30.1	4.6	8.3	55.9	0.0	0.2	0.0	1.8	2.6	69.5	2.6	4.2	6.8	1.7	1.9	1.4	2.0	2.7	11.1
Joe Darger	31	29.8	2.9	7.8	37.8	2.4	6.5	37.1	0.9	1.2	76.3	1.0	3.3	4.3	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.4	2.4	9.2
Oscar Bellfield	31	26.5	2.1	5.5	37.4	0.9	2.6	33.3	1.2	1.7	66.7	0.5	1.7	2.2	3.3	1.8	1.0	0.3	1.8	6.2
Darris Santee	29	15.3	2.1	4.0	52.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3	2.3	54.4	1.1	1.6	2.7	0.3	1.1	0.3	0.5	1.8	5.4
Kendall Wallace	31	14.6	1.5	3.7	39.7	1.2	2.8	40.9	0.4	0.6	72.2	0.4	1.2	1.6	0.8	0.4	0.5	0.1	1.4	4.5
Mareceo Rutledge	31	13.8	1.4	3.1	44.2	0.8	1.8	43.9	0.6	0.8	76.0	0.8	1.8	2.6	0.4	0.6	0.9	0.0	1.3	4.1
Brice Massamba	26	9.3	0.7	1.3	51.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.7	1.2	63.3	0.7	0.5	1.3	0.2	0.5	0.1	0.2	1.6	2.1
DeShawn Mitchell	20	5.3	0.7	1.4	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.7	46.2	0.5	0.4	0.8	0.2	0.4	0.1	0.3	0.4	1.7
Beas Hamga	5	5.2	0.4	0.8	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.4	50.0	0.0	0.8	0.8	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.4	0.4	1.0
Rob Ketchum	5	1.8	0.2	0.4	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.4	100.0	0.0	0.4	0.4	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.8	0.8
Scott Hoffman	10	1.8	0.2	0.6	33.3	0.1	0.5	20.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5
	31	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.5	1.5	3.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Team Statistics (Courtesy of Kenpom.com)

Kentucky UNLV

Category Offense Defense Offense Defense D-I Avg

Adj. Efficiency: 106.3 [92] 91.0 [24] 105.4 [105] 93.0 [44] 101.1

Adj. Tempo: 68.2 [97] 66.6 [160] 66.5

Four Factors

Effective FG%: 53.2 [36] 44.6 [19] 49.2 [159] 48.1 [127] 49.1

Turnover %: 24.3 [325] 20.4 [161] 17.5 [24] 23.3 [34] 20.4

Off. Reb. %: 35.0 [95] 31.3 [110] 29.1 [283] 32.3 [151] 32.9

FTA/FGA: 40.8 [55] 33.5 [107] 38.3 [124] 34.4 [133] 36.5

Miscellaneous Components

3P%: 34.6 [142] 34.7 [201] 34.7 [140] 35.3 [235] 34.2

2P%: 53.8 [14] 40.8 [5] 47.5 [192] 45.8 [81] 47.9

FT%: 77.4 [7] 69.4 [212] 68.5 [186] 70.5 [258] 68.9

Block%: 9.9 [256] 17.5 [3] 8.2 [122] 10.8 [71] 8.8

Steal%: 11.1 [285] 9.6 [183] 7.9 [18] 10.8 [95] 9.9

Style Components

3PA/FGA: 29.9 [249] 33.5 [196] 39.3 [45] 32.2 [146] 33.1

A/FGM: 60.1 [52] 43.5 [6] 58.2 [78] 55.8 [222] 54

Defensive Fingerprint: Mostly Man Mostly Man

Point Distribution (% of total points)

3-Pointers: 22.5 [290] 31.0 [62] 32.8 [54] 28.3 [139] 27.6

2-Pointers: 54.6 [99] 48.3 [287] 46.2 [310] 51.5 [196] 52

Free Throws: 22.9 [49] 20.7 [155] 21.0 [140] 20.1 [190] 20.4

Strength of Schedule

Components: 105.0 [60] 100.0 [125] 104.6 [74] 98.9 [83] 101.1

Overall: 0.6368 [82] 0.6543 [74] 0.5

Non-conference: 0.4733 [216] 0.5236 [165] 0.5

Personnel

Bench Minutes: 29.0% [218] 25.8% [284] 30.70%

Experience: 1.38 yrs [261] 1.96 yrs [78] 1.66

Effective Height: +1.6 [77] -0.8 [217] 0

Average Height: 78.7" [3] 76.3" [192] 76.5"

Analysis

The star of the UNLV team is Wink Adams, both offensively and defensively. Controlling Adams is key for the University of Kentucky if they want to win this game. Adams is not a particularly good 3-point shooter, but by slashing to the basket and kicking out, he frees up the other players who are excellent from the arc, including Joe Darger, Oscar Bellfield, Tre'Von Willis and Kendall Wallace.

UNLV is a perimeter-oriented team, but Rice Massamba and Darris Santee add lenght and rebounding to the middle. They take very good care of the basketball, as you can see above, and rank in the top 40 in assist/turnover ratio. In their game against Louisville, UNLV used deadly three-point shooting and steady ballhandling to eke out a narrow, last-second victory over the Cardinals -- and that was with Wink Adams on the bench.

Where the Rebels should get into trouble with the Wildcats is on the glass. UNLV is a very poor rebounding team, and they really don't have any widebodies to wade in and get rebounds. Even Perry Stevenson should not get pushed around by the Rebels inside, and that will give UK an opportunity to shoot a very high percentage.

UNLV will run the high pick and roll, hoping to get a switch and a big-on-small mismatch, which the Rebels will exploit for guard penetration and kickouts to open three point shooters. Defensively, UNLV is primarily a man-to-man team that does a lot of switching on the perimeter, and will doubtless try to force the secondary ballhandlers of Kentucky to handle the ball more. UK fans know from experience that this can often be a recipe for disaster, with Kentucky turning the ball over.

It will be interesting to see if Kentucky's edge in offensive rebounding (which UK has done poorly lately) can overcome the likely difference in turnovers. Of course, it mostly depends on where the turnovers are, but Michael Porter can expect to get some significant pressure from the Rebel back court.

Conclusion

This is exactly the kind of team that has given Kentucky trouble all year long, a la South Carolina and Auburn. UNLV is also a significantly more mature team than Kentucky, and as we saw against LSU, maturity can be the difference between winning and losing.

On the other hand, Kentucky has more talent in two players than the Rebels do in their entire starting lineup. The question is, can Kentucky get enough out of their other guys to compete with the balanced play of UNLV? If not, this game could go badly for the 'Cats. If UNLV fails to handle Meeks and Patterson, the rest of the guys won't be needed so much, but lately, teams have been taking Patterson and Meeks away from the Wildcats and forced the rest of the team to beat them. That has not worked out well for Kentucky.

Kentucky will need all the help they can get from the home crowd, as this is one of those teams where the matchups do not favor the Wildcats. The good news is, the Rebels have never played Kentucky before, and even though the fundamentals of defending two great players are well known, it isn't like the Rebels have the benefit of a conference schedule including Kentucky to hone their skills in.

In the final analysis, Kentucky has the edge on paper, but if the 'Cats don't bring any more offense than they brought against the LSU Tigers, they are likely to lose. If UK can get out in transition and keep the Rebels on their heels, they should be able to win the game.

What to watch: 2/25/09

Mike Rutherford — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:00:11 -0000

Northwestern at Indiana (6:30 p.m./Big Ten Network)

Attention shoppers: outside today we have...cripple fight. Cripple fight, outside.

Connecticut at Marquette (7 p.m./ESPN)

Go go Golden Eagles.

Notre Dame at Rutgers (7 p.m./ESPNU)

Any shot Rutgers has at finishing last in the Big East hinges on a loss here.

George Mason at UNC-Wilimington (7 p.m./MASN)

Mason has been wildly inconsistent over the last month, but a loss to the CAA's cellar dweller would be shocking.

Kentucky at South Carolina (7 p.m./Raycom/FS South)

Why couldn't this game be at 9? It's been a rough week and I really feel like rooting hard against somebody not out of necessity but out of, you know, revulsion.

South Florida at Seton Hall (7 p.m./SNY)

It's all exhibitions until New York for these two.

Virginia Tech at Clemson (7:30 p.m./ESPN2)

I wonder if Cheick Diakite is any relation to Nouha Diakite. If he is, then my distaste for VT just went up for the first time since the '06 Gator Bowl.

Navy at American (8 p.m./CBS College Sports)

If you read The Miracle of St. Anthony (and you should have) you'll recognize the name Derrick Mercer, who is now the diminutive starting point guard for the first-place American Eagles.

Wyoming at Colorado State (8 p.m./The Mountain)

Drop basketball.

Villanova at Depaul (8 p.m./Altitude)

This is the point where, if you're a Blue Demon fan, you just go ahead and root for the imperfect season and start brainstorming with your buddies about t-shirt ideas.

Iowa at Michigan State (8:30 p.m./Big Ten Network)

I haven't followed the Hawkeyes particularly closely, but every time I catch an Iowa score or highlight segment, it's not pretty. I wouldn't expect tonight to be much different.

Duke at Maryland (9 p.m./ESPN)

On any other night, the "JJ is Redickulous--ly gay" picture would have been a given for this post, but Buzz needs our help, and my priorities are in check.

Kansas State at Missouri (9 p.m./ESPNU)

I fear Mizzou's destiny is to be the well-seeded team everybody has losing in the first round come three weeks from now.

George Washington at Charlotte (9 p.m./MASN)

Charlotte has four A-10 wins, half of them are over the top two teams in the league and a third is over George Washington. I'm not really going anywhere, I'm just saying.

Mississippi State at Tennessee (9 p.m./Raycom/FS South)

A big game because of...seeding?

Texas Tech at Texas (9:30 p.m./ESPN2)

Gitcha guns up.

UNLV at Utah (10 p.m./The Mountain)

How in the hell did we lose to these guys without Wink Adams?

Wink Adams fighting abdominal strain

Mike Rutherford — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:18:07 -0000

Big news on the eve of a dangerous "please god don't let these guys be looking ahead" matchup with UNLV, as the playing status of the Runnin' Rebels leading scorer, Wink Adams, is being referred to as a "game-time decision."

Adams strained his lower abdominal muscle on Tuesday night in UNLV's 73-60 win over Southern Utah. He hasn't practiced since the injury, and earlier in the week the senior guard said he doubted would be able to go against Louisville.

"I think so," Adams said when asked if he would be sitting out the New Year's Eve tilt. "But we really don’t know how I’ll feel Tuesday or around that time."

Adams leads the Rebs in scoring at 14.1 ppg. He scored just nine points on 3-of-12 shooting in a loss to the Cardinals a season ago.

Projecting the Hoops Season: Top 25

Zach B — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:35:15 -0000

swBefore putting this up I should link my original top 25 which, after a few games, has already changed. UCLA looked bad last night against a pretty darn good Miami of Ohio team. The West is down in basketball this year, well except of course for my beloved Zags. The Big East is once again the dominant conference from top to bottom...but as usual, the ACC has some of the top teams, including the odds on favorite to win it all.

1. North Carolina...Hansbrough is hurt but should be back for the bulk of the season. They are absolutely loaded this year.

2. Louisville...Rick Pitino may finally have his championship year at Louisville. Blue-chip recruit Samardo Samuels joins an already talented Cardinals roster.

3. Connecticut...Barely behind Louisville. Thabeet is sure talking a lot, hopefully he can back it up on the court. I hope Harangody beats him up though.

4. Michigan State...This is my sleeper team. I love Kalin Lucas, there are not many point guards better than him this season. Delvon Roe is another freshman to watch.

5. Pittsburgh...DeJuan Blair is going to be a manchild in the middle and Sam Young has developed into one of the best forwards in the nation.

6. Oklahoma...This one is for Woodrow. Willie Warren is going to be the most productive freshman this season. Blake Griffin will also be the number 1 selection in the upcoming NBA draft.

7. Notre Dame...Still not completely sure about this one. I'm not sure if they have enough talent to put together another great season in such a tough Big East.

8. Gonzaga...This is with as little bias as possible. The Zags are the best team on the West Coast. Austin Daye and Josh Heytvelt are the one's to watch along with Jeremy Pargo.

9. Texas...Damion James does everything for the Longhorns and is one of the most complete players in the nation. Can they replace DJ Augustin?

10. Duke...I usually think the Blue Devils are overrated but I like this team. They have an excellent back court. Kyle Singler is Mr. Fundamental.

See the rest of the Top 25 after the jump...

11. UCLA...I'm just not impressed by their interior play. They have talent but not having Kevin Love is going to hurt. If they had him, they could be challenging Carolina for the top spot.

12. Memphis...The Tigers lost a lot with the departures of Dorsey, Rose, and CDR but they reloading quite nicely. Taggart and Dozier will have to lead this team that will rely on plenty of youngsters.

13. Tennessee...JP Prince's injury worries me but he should be back healthy for the bulk of the season. Bruce Pearl signed one of the best players in the country in Scotty Hopson and he'll be expected to contribute immediately.

14. Purdue...Robbie Hummel is a top player in college basketball this season. Only a sophomore, Hummel will be counted on to make this team go. If they can stay more consistent this year, they could be great.

15. Georgetown...I'm hoping and praying that the Hoyas and Zags match up this season. Dajuan Summers is bound to break out this year. He's got all the tools to be a top tier player this year.

16. Arizona State...James Harden could wind up being the player of the year in college basketball. The Sun Devils should challenge UCLA in the PAC-10.

17. Florida...Florida should be vastly improved from last year. Jai Lucas has transferred but Nick Calathes could make an All-American team by season's end. The Gators are on their way back to the top of the college basketball world.

18. Villanova...This team is nowhere near the Foye, Lowry, and Allen Ray team but they have the potential to be a very good team by the end of the year.

19. Wake Forest...Three five-star freshman will be taking the floor for Wake and they are all taller than 6'9'', I wish Gonzaga could borrow one. Get to know Al-Faroug Aminu.

20. Marquette...The Eagles have been a consistently solid squad for many years and this year will be no different. Jerel McNeal is one of the best guards in the nation and Dominic James is always reliable.

21. USC...If Davon Jefferson was still in the fold, this would be an elite team but now they are forced to rely on freshman DeMar Derozan.

22. Miami...It feels odd to me to put Miami in a top 25 for basketball but they should be a force this season in the ACC.

23. UNLV...I think this is going to be a very special season for Lon Kruger's team. Wink Adams is one of the top guards in the nation and redshirt freshman Beas Hamga should be a man in the middle.

24. Xavier...There will be plenty of new faces in the max for the Musketeers but they have some solid returning players like B.J. Raymond.

25. Saint Mary's...The Gaels deserve a spot in the Top 25 as they have one of the best combos in the nation with Diamon Simpson and Patty Mills. Mills should become a household name by seasons end.

Who Just Missed: I'm not ready to put Kansas in the Top 25 yet. They lost so much from last year's championship team that they'll have to prove it first. The fact that San Diego only got one vote combined in the two major polls is stunning. I have them pegged as a top 30-35 team to start the year. The loss of Jason Richards is going to hurt Davidson a lot more than people like to think. Stephen Curry is a much better player when he can move without the ball. As the point man, he's not going to have that luxury very much. I struggled leaving Baylor out of the top 25. Curtis Jerrells is about as good as it gets in the Big 12. Syracuse has a whole ton of talent but I'm not convinced that Jim Boeheim is going to be able to harness it all.

	Kentucky		UNLV
Category	Offense	Defense	Offense	Defense	D-I Avg
Adj. Efficiency:	106.3 [92]	91.0 [24]	105.4 [105]	93.0 [44]	101.1
Adj. Tempo:	68.2 [97]		66.6 [160]		66.5
Four Factors
Effective FG%:	53.2 [36]	44.6 [19]	49.2 [159]	48.1 [127]	49.1
Turnover %:	24.3 [325]	20.4 [161]	17.5 [24]	23.3 [34]	20.4
Off. Reb. %:	35.0 [95]	31.3 [110]	29.1 [283]	32.3 [151]	32.9
FTA/FGA:	40.8 [55]	33.5 [107]	38.3 [124]	34.4 [133]	36.5
Miscellaneous Components
3P%:	34.6 [142]	34.7 [201]	34.7 [140]	35.3 [235]	34.2
2P%:	53.8 [14]	40.8 [5]	47.5 [192]	45.8 [81]	47.9
FT%:	77.4 [7]	69.4 [212]	68.5 [186]	70.5 [258]	68.9
Block%:	9.9 [256]	17.5 [3]	8.2 [122]	10.8 [71]	8.8
Steal%:	11.1 [285]	9.6 [183]	7.9 [18]	10.8 [95]	9.9
Style Components
3PA/FGA:	29.9 [249]	33.5 [196]	39.3 [45]	32.2 [146]	33.1
A/FGM:	60.1 [52]	43.5 [6]	58.2 [78]	55.8 [222]	54
Defensive Fingerprint:	Mostly Man		Mostly Man
Point Distribution (% of total points)
3-Pointers:	22.5 [290]	31.0 [62]	32.8 [54]	28.3 [139]	27.6
2-Pointers:	54.6 [99]	48.3 [287]	46.2 [310]	51.5 [196]	52
Free Throws:	22.9 [49]	20.7 [155]	21.0 [140]	20.1 [190]	20.4
Strength of Schedule
Components:	105.0 [60]	100.0 [125]	104.6 [74]	98.9 [83]	101.1
Overall:	0.6368 [82]		0.6543 [74]		0.5
Non-conference:	0.4733 [216]		0.5236 [165]		0.5
Personnel
Bench Minutes:	29.0% [218]		25.8% [284]		30.70%
Experience:	1.38 yrs [261]		1.96 yrs [78]		1.66
Effective Height:	+1.6 [77]		-0.8 [217]		0
Average Height:	78.7" [3]		76.3" [192]		76.5"