The pipeline from Norman to Las Vegas is open. Victor Iwuakor will transfer from Oklahoma to UNLV.
This comes a week after Kevin Kruger hired Carlin Hartman, who was previously an assistant coach under Lon Kruger at Oklahoma.
Iwuakor is a 6-foot-7 forward that was little used by the Sooners. This past season he averaged 10.8 minutes and 2.9 points per game. Iwuakor only took 96 shots in his two year career, but he converted on 58 percent of his shots at the rim.
He was not a three-point threat at Oklahoma, taking just three shots from behind the arc in his career.
One area that Iwuakor could make a major impact is on the glass. In his two years at Oklahoma he led the team in offensive rebounding rate. Across college basketball, offensive rebound rates are declining, but UNLV was still solid. The Rebels ranked top four in offensive rebounding the past two seasons with Kruger as an assistant.
Iwuakor continues a trend for Kevin Kruger’s offseason. All three of his additions (Jordan McCabe, Royce Hamm) have been players that were coming off the bench for a Big 12 school. All three will be looking to make an impact at a lower level.
UNLV has seen Caleb Grill and Elijah Mitrou-Long come from Big 12 benches to make an impact at UNLV. Neither was good enough to make UNLV a contender in the Mountain West. But both were excellent pieces.
If UNLV can land an impact player, these three can be significant contributors to a top team in the Mountain West.
Kevin Kruger officially announced the incoming transfers of McCabe, Hamm and Iwuakor. UNLV expects all three to be eligible immediately for the 2021-22 season.
“We are extremely excited to have Royce, Victor and Jordan join the UNLV family,” Kruger said. “During the recruitment process and through talking to many different people to learn more about each of them, we quickly found that all three have similarities in that they are team-first, have high energy and love to play the game. Everyone we talked with also raved about their daily approach to getting better and what great teammates they are — on and off the court. They all bring NCAA Tournament experience and understand the work that it takes to get there.”
I don’t know that I agree with your assessment that Eli M.L. wasn’t good enough to make UNLV a contender in the MW. Eli battled injuries, but when he was in, he lead UNLV to a victory at SDSU and an EASY win over BSU at home. Take away his injury at SJSU and the Rebels were certainly a contender going into the MW tournament. Rebs finished the year tied for second in the league…
UNLV was great to end the season and EML might have been the best player the last 5 games or so. But they finished 5 games out of first. That isn’t contending. And UNLV was 6-2 in the MW when EML was out. They won with and without him.