UNLV’s Moses Wood, center, celebrates with teammates after UNLV beat Utah State, 59-56, at the Thomas & Mack Center Monday Jan. 25, 2021. Wood came up with the game-sealing play, blocking a potential tying 3-point shot at the buzzer to preserve UNLV’s lead.
Wednesday, April 14, 2021 | 8:24 p.m.
The exodus from the UNLV basketball program reached double digits on Wednesday, as Moses Wood became the 10th player to enter the transfer portal.
Only three scholarship players from last year’s team are still on the roster.
Wood came to UNLV in the summer of 2019 as a transfer from Tulane. He was part of T.J. Otzelberger’s first recruiting class after taking the head coaching job, and though he had to sit out a redshirt year, Wood was still considered a good addition due to his size and shooting ability.
As a sophomore in 2020-21, the 6-foot-8 Wood started eight of 27 games and averaged 6.1 points and 4.2 rebounds in 22.2 minutes. He hit 36.6% of his 3-point attempts, ranking him second on the squad among players who attempted at least 1.0 per game.
Wood scored in double figures eight times and acquitted himself on the defensive end through sheer hustle, finishing the season with 26 blocks, second only to Mbacke Diong’s 27.
Wood was preceded in the transfer portal by teammates Bryce Hamilton, David Jenkins, Devin Tillis, Caleb Grill, Edoardo Del Cadia, Donavan Yap, Jhaylon Martinez, Isaac Lindsey and Diong. Jenkins (Utah), Grill (Iowa State), Tillis (UC Irvine), Yap (Fresno State), Martinez (UC Riverside) and Lindsey (Wisconsin, walk-on) have already found new homes.
Junior guard Marvin Coleman, freshman guard Nick Blake and freshman forward Reece Brown are the only players remaining from the 2020-21 team. New UNLV coach Kevin Kruger has been working the portal to re-stock the roster, so far securing commitments from Donovan Williams (Texas), Victor Iwuakor (Oklahoma), Royce Hamm (Texas) and Jordan McCabe (West Virginia).
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
