# 2016–17 UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team

The 2016–17 UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball team represented the University of Nevada, Las Vegas during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Runnin' Rebels were led by first-year head coach Marvin Menzies. They played their home games at the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada as members of the Mountain West Conference. They finished the season 11–21, 4–14 in Mountain West play to finish in a tie for tenth place. They lost in the first round of the Mountain West tournament to San Diego State.

## Previous season

The 2015–16 Runnin' Rebels finished the 2015–16 season 18–15, 8–10 in Mountain West play to finish in a tie for sixth place. They defeated Air Force to advance to the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament where they lost to Fresno State.
On January 10, 2016, UNLV announced that head coach Dave Rice and the school had mutually agreed for him to step down as head coach. Associate head coach Todd Simon was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season. On March 28, the school announced that Chris Beard had been hired as head coach. However, less than three weeks later, Beard left UNLV to accept the head coaching position at Texas Tech. On April 16, the school hired Mavin Menzies as head coach.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Ike Nwamu | 34 | G | 6'5" | 210 | RS Senior | Greensboro, NC | Graduated |
| Jerome Seagears | 2 | G | 6'1" | 180 | RS Senior | Silver Spring, MD | Graduated |
| Alex Perez | 14 | G | 6'4" | 180 | Senior | San Diego, CA | Graduated |
| Daquan Cook | 10 | G | 6'2" | 170 | Senior | Baltimore, MD | Dismissed from the team due to a DUI |
| Chris Obekpa | 35 | C | 6'10" | 225 | Senior | Makurdi, Nigeria | Declared for 2016 NBA draft |
| Ben Carter | 13 | F | 6'9" | 225 | RS Junior | Las Vegas, NV | Graduate transferred to Michigan State |
| Patrick McCaw | 22 | G | 6'7" | 185 | Sophomore | St. Louis, MO | Declared for 2016 NBA draft |
| Jordan Cornish | 3 | G | 6'6" | 220 | Sophomore | New Orleans, LA | Transferred to Tulane |
| Goodluck Okonoboh | 11 | F/C | 6'10" | 225 | Sophomore | Woburn, MA | Declared for 2016 NBA draft |
| Derrick Jones Jr. | 1 | F | 6'7" | 190 | Freshman | Philadelphia, PA | Declared for 2016 NBA draft |
| Austin Starr | 20 | G | 6'3" | 185 | Freshman | Las Vegas, NV | Transferred to College of Southern Idaho |
| Stephen Zimmerman | 33 | C | 7'0" | 240 | Freshman | Las Vegas, NV | Declared for 2016 NBA draft |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Kris Clyburn | 1 | G | 6'3" | 170 | Sophomore | Romulus, MI | Junior college transferred from Ranger College. |
| Uche Ofoegbu | 2 | F | 6'4" | 214 | RS Senior | San Antonio, TX | Transferred from San Francisco. Will eligible to play immediately since Ofoegbu graduated from San Francisco. |
| Christian Jones | 20 | F | 6'7" | 230 | RS Senior | Arlington, TX | Transferred from St. John's. Will eligible to play immediately since Jones graduated from St. John's. |
| Jordan Johnson | 24 | G | 5'9" | 175 | Senior | Waukegan, IL | Transferred from Milwaukee. Under NCAA transfer rules, Johnson will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have one year of remaining eligibility. |
| Jovan Mooring | 30 | G | 6'2" | 205 | Junior | Chicago, IL | Junior college transferred from South Suburban College. |

## 2016 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Cheickna Dembele #18 C | Mali | Scotland Performance Institute | 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | 235 lb (107 kg) | Apr 30, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| Ben Coupet Jr. #39 SF | Chicago, IL | Simeon Career Academy | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | May 9, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN: ||||||
| Zion Morgan SG | Chicago, IL | Kenwood Academy High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | May 12, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/A ||||||
| Jaylan Ballou PG | Santa Fe Springs, CA | Saint Paul High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Jun 1, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/A ||||||
| Djordjije Sljivancanin C | Belgrade, Serbia | IMG Academy | 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) | 250 lb (110 kg) | May 18, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN: N/A ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2016 UNLV Basketball Commitments". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 3, 2016. "2016 UNLV Player Commits". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 3, 2016. "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 3, 2016. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/01/2016* 7:00 pm | | Dakota Wesleyan | W 96–80 | | Thomas & Mack Center Paradise, NV |
| 11/05/2016* 7:00 pm | | New Mexico Highlands | W 92–66 | | Thomas & Mack Center Paradise, NV |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/11/2016* 7:00 pm | | South Alabama | L 68–76 | 0–1 | Thomas & Mack Center (9,981) Paradise, NV |
| 11/16/2016* 7:00 pm | | UC Riverside | W 74–62 | 1–1 | Thomas & Mack Center (8,711) Paradise, NV |
| 11/19/2016* 7:00 pm | | Cal State Fullerton Global Sports Classic | W 77–68 | 2–1 | Thomas & Mack Center (9,416) Paradise, NV |
| 11/22/2016* 7:00 pm | | Northern Arizona Global Sports Classic | W 110–71 | 3–1 | Thomas & Mack Center (8,822) Paradise, NV |
| 11/25/2016* 7:30 pm | | TCU Global Sports Classic semifinals | L 59–63 | 3–2 | Thomas & Mack Center (9,815) Paradise, NV |
| 11/26/2016* 5:00 pm | | WKU Global Sports Classic 3rd place game | W 71–61 | 4–2 | Thomas & Mack Center (8,810) Paradise, NV |
| 11/30/2016* 6:00 pm | | at Southern Utah | W 89–81 | 5–2 | Centrum Arena (4,249) Cedar City, UT |
| 12/03/2016* 5:00 pm, P12N | | at Arizona State | L 73–97 | 5–3 | Wells Fargo Arena (7,707) Tempe, AZ |
| 12/10/2016* 2:15 pm, ESPN | | vs. No. 5 Duke T-Mobile Arena Showcase | L 45–94 | 5–4 | T-Mobile Arena (19,107) Paradise, NV |
| 12/14/2016* 7:00 pm | | Incarnate Word | W 92–64 | 6–4 | Thomas & Mack Center (8,202) Paradise, NV |
| 12/17/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. No. 22 Oregon Portland Showcase | L 63–83 | 6–5 | Moda Center (9,728) Portland, OR |
| 12/19/2016* 7:00 pm | | Southern Illinois MW–MVC Challenge | W 68–61 | 7–5 | Thomas & Mack Center (11,758) Paradise, NV |
| 12/22/2016* 6:00 pm, CBSSN | | No. 3 Kansas | L 53–71 | 7–6 | Thomas & Mack Center (14,116) Paradise, NV |
| Mountain West regular season ||||||
| 12/28/2016 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Colorado State | L 77–91 | 7–7 (0–1) | Moby Arena (2,464) Fort Collins, CO |
| 12/31/2016 1:00 pm | | Wyoming | W 81–75 | 8–7 (1–1) | Thomas & Mack Center (9,352) Paradise, NV |
| 01/04/2017 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | Boise State | L 59–77 | 8–8 (1–2) | Thomas & Mack Center (8,872) Paradise, NV |
| 01/07/2017 3:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Utah State | L 63–79 | 8–9 (1–3) | Smith Spectrum (6,080) Logan, UT |
| 01/10/2017 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at New Mexico | W 71–66 | 9–9 (2–3) | The Pit (11,379) Albuquerque, NM |
| 01/17/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | San Diego State | L 51–64 | 9–10 (2–4) | Thomas & Mack Center (10,007) Paradise, NV |
| 01/21/2017 3:00 pm, RTRM | | Air Force | W 87–85 $^{2OT}$ | 10–10 (3–4) | Thomas & Mack Center (9,917) Paradise, NV |
| 01/25/2017 6:00 pm | | at Wyoming | L 65–66 | 10–11 (3–5) | Arena-Auditorium (5,019) Laramie, WY |
| 01/28/2017 7:00 pm | | at San Jose State | L 72–76 | 10–12 (3–6) | Event Center Arena (2,106) San Jose, CA |
| 02/01/2017 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | New Mexico | L 77–80 | 10–13 (3–7) | Thomas & Mack Center (12,001) Paradise, NV |
| 02/04/2017 3:00 pm, CBSSN | | Colorado State | L 49–69 | 10–14 (3–8) | Thomas & Mack Center (12,434) Paradise, NV |
| 02/08/2017 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Nevada | L 77–104 | 10–15 (3–9) | Lawlor Events Center (11,841) Reno, NV |
| 02/11/2017 3:00 pm | | San Jose State | L 74–76 | 10–16 (3–10) | Thomas & Mack Center (10,349) Paradise, NV |
| 02/19/2017 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | at San Diego State | L 64–77 | 10–17 (3–11) | Viejas Arena (11,896) San Diego, CA |
| 02/22/2017 6:00 pm | | at Air Force | L 58–81 | 10–18 (3–12) | Clune Arena (2,031) Colorado Springs, CO |
| 02/25/2017 3:00 pm, CBSSN | | Nevada | L 58–94 | 10–19 (3–13) | Thomas & Mack Center (14,808) Paradise, NV |
| 03/01/2017 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | Utah State | W 66–59 | 11–19 (4–13) | Thomas & Mack Center (9,931) Paradise, NV |
| 03/04/2017 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Fresno State | L 59–72 | 11–20 (4–14) | Save Mart Center (8,236) Fresno, CA |
| Mountain West tournament ||||||
| 03/08/2017 4:00 pm, MW Net | (11) | (6) San Diego State First round | L 52–62 $^{OT}$ | 11–21 | Thomas & Mack Center (4,979) Paradise, NV |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time. ||||||