Kevin Kruger has finally landed a shooter in the transfer portal. Justin Webster will leave Hawaii and join UNLV, according to Sam Gordon.
Last season at Hawaii, Webster averaged 12.3 points per game. He is now the only player on the UNLV roster to ever average at least seven points per game at the collegiate level.
Webster brings a skillset that the rest of the lineup lacks: shooting. In his two years at Hawaii, the 6-foot-3 guard drilled 35.1 percent of his threes, while taking 4.4 per game.
His fairly high volume and above average accuracy from three will make him a much needed player in the Rebels rotation. His shooting helped him to the 4th highest offensive rating in the Big West last season.
The question will be what else can Webster do. He does not have the assist numbers of a point guard. But he might be able to make plays getting to the rim.
Despite being heavily reliant on threes (over 50 percent of his shots were from deep), Webster still averaged 2.6 layup attempts per game. Only Mbacke Diong and Bryce Hamilton averaged 2.6 or more layups per game for UNLV last season.
He also finished well at the rim, converting 67.3 percent of his layups. Hamilton, for example, only made 56.1 percent of his layups last season.
Plus Webster can draw fouls. His free throw rate ranked 7th best in the Big West last season and would have led UNLV.
The Mountain West is a better conference than the Big West, so Webster’s numbers will not translate perfectly from Hawaii to UNLV. But there are signs Webster can be a playmaking guard.
UNLV’s backcourt now consists of six players. Marvin Coleman and Nick Blake are the lone returnees. Jordan McCabe, Donovan Williams and Webster are three incoming transfers. Plus Keshon Gilbert will join the team as a freshman.