UNLV Athletics

TINA'S TAKE - MARCH 2016

Certainly, a lot has happened since our most recent Rebel Report.

The search for UNLV’s next permanent head men’s basketball coach continues and President Len Jessup and I look forward to having someone in place by next month. The search process is being managed with a great deal of thought and input and we are consulting individuals with expertise at every level of the sport.

I am excited to let you know that the number of qualified, successful coaches showing sincere interest in leading your basketball program is impressive. In my opinion, this hire is one of the most important in the history of UNLV’s athletics department. The change in Runnin’ Rebels’ leadership has allowed us over the last two months to take an in-depth look at what is needed here - in many facets of the program -- to get us to the level where we all want it to be - and know it can, and I have no doubt, will be.

While basketball dominates the headlines this month, I’m going to take a minute to talk about Rebel Football as Coach Sanchez and his staff make their final preparations for Spring Practice. After signing what some called the best recruiting class in UNLV history last month, we cannot wait to have a sneak peek at the 2016 team, including the group of midyear signees from junior college.

I invite you to come out to Rebel Park on campus over the coming weeks to take a look for yourself. Starting next week, the guys get going early, practicing from 8-10 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, plus a Saturday morning session on March 12 and April 2 (they’ll take spring break off March 21-25).

The Rebels will wrap up the spring with their annual showcase on Saturday April 9, starting at noon, on the soccer stadium on campus. The team’s full 2016 season schedule was just released by the Mountain West Conference and if you don’t have your season tickets yet, get them now by calling (702) 739-FANS or visiting UNLVtickets.com.

GO REBELS!

Tina Kunzer-Murphy
UNLV Director of Athletics

---

Football Signing Day

UNLV head coach Tony Sanchez announced one of the top-ranked classes in school history on Feb. 3. Sanchez's second class of Rebels, which was made up of 23 players, set a program record with 10 three-star recruits according to Rivals.com. That total trailed only Boise State's 12 three-stars in the Mountain West Conference. The previous high-mark for UNLV was eight set in 2008.

"We are so excited," Sanchez said. "Last year we were limited in the time we had to recruit after being hired in December. This year we had a full calendar to go through the process. Last year was a good class but this year we feel like we are adding a really special group of players that is going to immediately add a lot of talent, especially with seven guys already enrolled."

The Scarlet & Gray list was made up of 15 high school players and eight junior-college transfers, including seven midyear JC signees who enrolled at UNLV last month and will compete in spring practice (March 7 through April 9).

---

Runnin' Rebels Close Out Home Schedule

UNLV men's basketball has had to overcome a lot of adversity this season and we are proud of the way the team has responded. Under interim head coach Todd Simon, the Runnin' Rebels finished their regular-season home schedule with a 7-1 record and averaged 82.1 points per game in those eight contests. Here are the highlights from last Saturday's Senior Night win over Wyoming. Also, a Sights and Sounds Video from their victory over Colorado State on Feb. 13.

The Runnin' Rebels will finish the regular season this Saturday at San Diego State and the Mountain West Tournament will be held at the Thomas & Mack Center next week.

---

Rebels Shining In The Classroom

UNLV had a total of 34 student-athletes named to the Fall 2015 Academic All-Mountain West Team, which marked the 10th straight year it had at least 34 representatives. Women's soccer led the way with 13 honorees, while volleyball had a program-best 11. Nine were named from football.

UNLV Athletics had at total of 10 sports programs record a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or greater during Fall 2015. Volleyball led the way with a 3.47 team GPA, followed by women's tennis at 3.46.

---

In The Community

We are very proud of our Rebels and their efforts in the community. It is an important part of what we do. A few recent highlights of our community relations activities:

Men's soccer held a special Draft Day Event for Jeremy Fjelsted, a 10-year-old diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Set up like a true press conference, the Rebels welcomed Jeremy as their newest team member then celebrated with a pizza party. It was all made possible by Team Impact, an organization that improves the quality of life for children facing life-threatening and chronic illnesses. Team Impact does this by matching these children with college athletic teams.
The family of Hall of Famer and legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian continued the Tark Toy Drive on Saturday, Feb. 20 at the UNLV vs. UNR men's basketball game. It was a huge success as Rebel fans donated 428 new stuffed toys! These toys were donated to the UMC Children's Hospital. In addition to the donations, the drive raised awareness for how strokes can happen at any age.
National Girls and Women in Sports Day was held on Feb. 6 at UNLV. 300 kids participated in the sports clinic run by members of UNLV's women's sports teams.
Magic, a young dog that competed in Puppy Bowl XII on Animal Planet on Super Bowl Sunday, visited the UNLV Football team before his big trip. UNLV teamed up with Nevada SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) for the Chihuahua's visit before he competed in the big game!

This week is one of our favorites of the year - Nevada Reading Week. Our student-athletes are scheduled to be reading at 15 elementary schools throughout the week.

---

Emotional Story - UNLV Women's Basketball's Paris Strawther

UNLV women's basketball freshman Paris Strawther generally has the loudest cheering section at Lady Rebel home games. After all, she born in Las Vegas and starred at Liberty High School. But there's only one voice that remains crystal clear to her, despite being silent to everyone else in the arena. Click on the video below to see why the Play4Kay Game meant something more to Paris.

---

Women's Tennis Undefeated

The UNLV women's tennis team is off to a tremendous start this season as head coach Kevin Cory's squad stands 9-0 for the first time in history. Heading into this weekend's matches, this marks the longest streak for the Rebels since winning the same number in April 2011.

Cory, who is in his 17th season at the school and is the winningest tennis coach in Mountain West Conference history, boasts two players who have made their way into the national rankings. Junior Carol Zi Yang and freshman Aiwen Zhu, both of China, make up the No. 47 doubles team in the nation right now while Yang also stands 61st in singles. Next up, UNLV hosts UTSA on Saturday beginning with doubles action at 10 a.m. and then will play a doubleheader on Sunday (Texas State at 10 a.m. and Southern Utah at 2 p.m.). Admission at the Fertitta Tennis Complex is free of charge.

---

Rebel Video Streams

Did you know that many of our home athletic events are video streamed online at UNLVRebels.com for free? Thanks to a partnership with the Mountain West Network, we are able to bring many of our non-televised events throughout the entire department to computers, tablets, phones and other connected devices.

To access our Mountain West Network streams, go to UNLVRebels.com/videos.

---

Follow The Rebels All Season Long ... Socially and Online

Get all of the up-to-the-minute information, photos, video and more by following UNLV Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and on the official athletics website UNLVRebels.com.

---

Other UNLV News & Notes

Men's tennis player Alexandr Cozbinov is playing in the Davis Cup as a member of Moldova's national team ... Men's senior diver Lucas James won the first conference title for the Rebels in a diving event since 1987. It was his best performance of his career, setting a school and WAC record to become UNLV's first-ever champion in the event in any conference ... Softball will be back at Eller Media Stadium starting Thursday in the Alexis Park Resort Classic, facing Southern Utah at 6 p.m. ... Baseball opened its home schedule last weekend. A special first-pitch ceremony was held to celebrate the 50th season of Rebel Baseball - five former players and coaches representing each of the five decades of the program were on hand. Also, the baseball team has moved into the new Anthony and Lyndy Marnell III Baseball Clubhouse ... Former UNLV men's golfer Adam Scott won the 12th PGA Tour event of his career on Sunday at The Honda Classic ... The current team will host the Southern Highlands Collegiate starting Monday, March 7 at Southern Highlands Golf Club in Las Vegas. The tournament, which is open to the public and features free admission, annually features one of the toughest fields in all of college golf ... The women's golf team, ranked No. 23 in the nation, will also be in action locally starting on Monday. It will compete at the Bison Tournament at Boulder City's Boulder Creek Golf Club ... The track & field team surpassed intrastate-rival Nevada, Reno at the Mountain West Indoor Championships to claim three points in the Governor's Series, which is presented by NV Energy & Barrick Gold. UNLV leads the head-to-head athletic and academic competition, 10.5 to 7.5 ... Former women's soccer standout Denali Murnan signed a professional contract with Oulu Nice Soccer Club of Findland ... Watch the most recent edition of Fox 5's Reb Zone TV Show.