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UNLV Basketball: 2019-20 season preview for Runnin’ Rebels

By Jason Burgess

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 22: Pyrotechnics shoot from the hands of UNLV Rebels mascot Hey Reb before the team's game against the New Mexico Lobos at the Thomas & Mack Center on January 22, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Rebels defeated the Lobos 74-58. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JANUARY 22: Pyrotechnics shoot from the hands of UNLV Rebels mascot Hey Reb before the team's game against the New Mexico Lobos at the Thomas & Mack Center on January 22, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Rebels defeated the Lobos 74-58. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 01: UNLV Rebels mascot Hey Reb spins a basketball on his finger before the team’s game against the Cincinnati Bearcats at the Thomas & Mack Center on December 01, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bearcats defeated the Rebels 65-61. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – DECEMBER 01: UNLV Rebels mascot Hey Reb spins a basketball on his finger before the team’s game against the Cincinnati Bearcats at the Thomas & Mack Center on December 01, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bearcats defeated the Rebels 65-61. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

It has been 30 years since UNLV Basketball won the national title. Now, T.J. Otzelberger helps lead the Runnin’ Rebels into a new era. Here’s what to look for in his first year.

The 2019-20 season will mark the 30th anniversary of the only national championship for UNLV Basketball, won by the legendary Jerry Tarkanian in 1990. It will also mark the debut of new coach T.J. Otzelberger who replaces Marvin Menzies, joins the program after three successful seasons at South Dakota State where he went 70-33 with two trips to the NCAA Tournament, which is somewhere UNLV hasn’t been since 2013.

With the Rebels entering a new era, there is a good amount of guarded optimism surrounding the program, but that wasn’t the case this summer when Otzelberger was announced as the new head coach. Some fans were disappointed and were hoping for more of a household name after they were spurned by Texas Tech coach Chris Beard a few years ago.

However, as the summer went on Otzelberger began to win people over with his enthusiasm, work in the community and how hard he hit the recruiting trail to put together a roster that would fit his run-and-gun style of play. Last season his Jackrabbits were 5th in the country in offense, scoring 84.5 points per game, they were also third in nation in both field-goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage with 50.1% and 40.8% respectively, numbers that brought back fond memories for many Rebels fans as that style is reminiscent of the one that won them the title 30 years ago.

It’s a new era at UNLV and 2019 will give fans the first look at the new-look Rebels, the question is, will it be successful?