UNLV’s balanced backcourt takes shape

If the most important element to any basketball team is the point guard, Anthony Marshall figures UNLV is set up for success with three players capable of playing the position.

Oscar Bellfield, a four-year starter at the point, and juniors Marshall and Justin Hawkins are taking turns running the Rebels' offense.

"It's really hard to say who's the point and who's not," Marshall said. "We're all kind of combo guards right now."

Soon after he was hired as UNLV coach in April, Dave Rice met with Marshall and explained the potential positives of a position shift. Three games into the season, the plan is beginning to develop.

"When you make a change with a guy's position, if he's not open to it then there's no reason to try to do it," Rice said. "Anthony was really open to it."

Marshall, a shooting guard in his first two seasons, has had seven assists and two turnovers in each of his two games as he eases into an altered role.

His influence on the offense from the point might become more evident when the Rebels (3-0) host Morgan State (0-2) at 7 p.m. today at the Thomas & Mack Center. It's a first-round game in the Las Vegas Invitational, an eight-team event that includes No. 1 North Carolina and concludes Friday and Saturday at Orleans Arena.

The Bears, who reached the NCAA Tournament in two of the past three seasons, opened with 11-point losses to Xavier and Murray State.

Rice is experimenting with different lineup combinations early in the season, and he's also getting a look at how Marshall and Bellfield work in tandem in the backcourt.

"When we're in half-court sets or after a made basket, we'll always initiate our offense with our point guard, and I'm really comfortable with either Oscar or Anthony," Rice said. "Right now, when they're in together, Oscar is our primary point guard.

"The versatility of both of those guys makes us a lot harder to guard. Anthony is very capable. He's developing as a point guard, as a guy who's an initiator of offense."

Hawkins, who has come off the bench in two of three games, is the Rebels' leading scorer at 17.3 points per game. Bellfield is averaging 12.3 points and 6.0 assists.

Marshall, who missed the season opener due to an NCAA suspension related to summer league participation, has shot 2-for-12 from the field and 9-for-10 on free throws while trying to find his niche in the offense.

A 6-foot-3-inch product of Mojave High School, Marshall always has been adept at breaking down defenses with dribble penetration.

"There's no doubt he'll get going in terms of scoring points," Rice said. "He's doing a great job of distributing the ball. He's a really coachable player.

"Anthony is really good off the dribble, and we've put some sets in of late to try to take advantage of his ability to put the ball on the floor. Those will be some things that we'll see here in the next few games."

Marshall has sought advice from Marcus Banks, a former UNLV point guard and first-round NBA Draft pick in 2003, and Robert Smith, a star point guard for the Rebels from 1974 to 1977 and currently the team's radio analyst.

"In order for me to be the player I want to be and to get where I want to go, I have to play the point guard position," Marshall said. "In the first couple games I haven't been much of a scoring threat. But on the offensive end, I just need to let the game come to me."

Marshall projects as an undersized shooting guard as an NBA prospect, and that played a part in Rice's thought process in moving him to the point. But that was not the primary factor.

As a Brigham Young assistant, Rice had a front-row view of what Marshall could do for an offense.

"He had great games against us at BYU, and a lot of that was just the pressure that he put on us defensively with the way he would bring the ball in transition," Rice said. "It gives us another weapon.

"The main reason I'm doing it is because I really believe it helps us win games this year and next year. What we're really trying to do is win games in the short term. I also felt like for his long-term future at the next level that we needed to add a little bit of that to his game."

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.