Michael Steadman is transferring out of Montana and UNLV could be interested in the forward, according to Hoop Scoop Media.
There have been no other reports of UNLV’s interest in Steadman, but he would be an interesting addition for the Rebels. Steadman has already played in the Mountain West.
He started out in junior college at City College of San Francisco before playing at San Jose State in 2018-19.
As a starter for the Spartans, Steadman averaged 13.2 points and 8.5 rebounds. He actually led the team in usage rate. But San Jose State was 1-17 that season and he transferred to Montana.
After sitting out for a season, Steadman was a starter for the Grizzlies this year and averaged 9.9 points and 5.4 rebounds before entering the transfer portal.
Steadman has been productive, but not efficient, for two bad teams in his career. But he could add to two areas for UNLV.
First off, Steadman has been an excellent defensive rebounder in his career, ranking top 10 in his conference in defensive rebounding percentage at both San Jose State and Montana.
Steadman might be able to help UNLV get to the free throw line more as well. His free throw rate is below average for this season, but it is higher than every Rebel besides Mbacke Diong. T.J. Otzelberger has started using post ups more this season as a way to generate more free throw attempts.
He has taken more than 50 percent of his career shots from the mid range, so his shot selection would need to be cleaned up. But overall Steadman would seemingly be a nice piece for UNLV.
The problem is UNLV has plenty of pieces, plenty of role players. T.J. Otzelberger needs stars. Steadman probably wouldn’t alter UNLV’s NCAA Tournament chances.
Check out the list of other transfers UNLV should be chasing here.