Former Rebels help keep UNLV sharp

In preparation for the UNLV basketball team’s tour of Australia, several former players were invited to return to practice the past two weeks.

Rebels coach Lon Kruger has only eight healthy players to take on the six-game foreign tour, which begins next week, and the NCAA granted a waiver allowing former players to participate in occasional practices.

Kevin Kruger is one of 11 UNLV stars of the recent past who at different times have joined the workouts, which are open to the public and drawing hundreds of fans.

“There weren’t 200 people at my practices,” Kevin Kruger said. “Now people are coming out and supporting the team like they should be, and it’s unbelievable.”

Kruger, Joel Anthony and Wendell White, seniors on the 2006-07 team that reached the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, returned with pro experience. Anthony played for the NBA’s Miami Heat last season, and Kruger and White spent the season in the NBA Development League. Kruger, a point guard, is reporting to camp with the Orlando Magic next week.

“Every practice there has been a little edge to it in terms of competitiveness, and that I think has made the practices better having those former players back,” Lon Kruger said.

In Friday afternoon’s practice, former Rebels Kevin Kruger, White, Louis Amundson, Romel Beck and Dustin Villepigue formed a team to practice against UNLV seniors Wink Adams, Joe Darger, Rene Rougeau and Mareceo Rutledge, sophomores Kendall Wallace and Tre’Von Willis and 7-foot freshman Beas Hamga.

“It’s been a big benefit,” Adams said. “All the guys coming back are playing on a high level and teaching us how to improve.”

Amundson, with the Philadelphia 76ers last season, Anthony, Villepigue and heavyweight boxer Kaspars Kambala have taken turns battling with Hamga and the Rebels’ post players.

“If they weren’t here, we wouldn’t have any big guys to practice against,” Lon Kruger said. “Not only are they big guys, but they’re very talented big guys.”

Other program alumni joining practices were Corey Bailey, Mark Dickel, Warren Rosegreen and Jermaine “Sunshine” Smith.

“Us coming back just allows them to play together and play against different people,” Kevin Kruger said. “If no veterans come back, then there’s no 5-on-5s. It allows them to play together and play with different rotations and in different positions, so I think that’s helping them more than anything.

“When you practice against the same guys every day, it can get a little monotonous. But when you go against guys you don’t know and that you want to prove something to, then you care a little bit more.”

Kevin Kruger said what he has observed is promising for UNLV in the 2008-09 season.

“The sky’s the limit with this team. I think it’s time to turn that corner and start getting into the third and fourth round of the tournament every year,” he said. “That’s what the people in Vegas expect, and that’s what the guys expect.”

• NOTES — Adams injured his right ankle in Friday’s morning practice but returned to play in the afternoon. … UNLV has a public send-off practice scheduled for 5 p.m. today at the Thomas & Mack Center. The team departs Monday for Australia.

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