Matthew Hinton / AP
UNLV head coach Lindy La Rocque reacts in the first half of a first-round college basketball game against Michigan in the women’s NCAA Tournament in Baton Rouge, La., Friday, March 17, 2023.
Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Winning is hard.
That’s something UNLV women’s basketball coach Lindy La Rocque likes to stress, no matter how easy her team makes it look. Even after winning two straight Mountain West championships, including an undefeated conference run last year, they don’t take it for granted.
That means finding new ways to win on a regular basis.
Everyone knows Desi-Rae Young is the engine, and the senior center is having another Conference Player of the Year-caliber campaign, averaging 19.3 points and 9.6 rebounds. As long as Young is working the pivot, UNLV will run through her. But as the team continues to evolve in La Rocque’s fourth year at the helm, it is developing new avenues to victory.
“We’re not a finished product by any means,” La Rocque says. “Sometimes I think it’s hard to get better during the season, because you’re so focused on the other team. That’s one thing our program prides itself on, is our players get better during the season.”
It has worked so far. UNLV is back in first place in the Mountain West, having won 21 of its first 23 games overall including an 11-1 mark in conference play.
The scariest part—from an opponent’s perspective—is that they don’t have to rely exclusively on Young to carry them.
Junior point guard Kiara Jackson says the team is aiming to go further than the past two years, when it was eliminated in its opening game of the NCAA Tournament, and that they’re better equipped to make it happen.
“We obviously want to win another [Mountain West] championship, and then get past the first round of the NCAA Tournament,” Jackson says.
With the postseason looming just weeks away, a look at how the UNLV women are poised to win in other ways:
Veteran moxie
Winning begets winning, and UNLV is taking advantage of that.
A player like Jackson may be in her first year as the starting point guard, but she’s played in a ton of big games—six conference tournament contests (all wins) and two NCAA tourney games—and she’s not the only one.
Virtually the entire rotation is stocked with players who have been on the biggest stage, and La Rocque says that experience is beyond valuable.
“I think winning is a skill, and our team knows how to win,” La Rocque says. “Of course, we’d love to win every game comfortably, but being able to execute late in the game and finding a way to win is just as important, and later in the season, that’s what it’s going to take.”
UNLV was riding a six-game winning streak into early February, and three of those victories came down to the final minutes. In each of them, La Rocque thought her team was the more composed side.
“We’ve got veteran players who are calm and poised and prepared and confident in each other. Whatever the game calls for, I know our team can execute it.”
3-point shooting
Young is a menace in the paint but double-team her at your own peril.
That’s a poison pill opponents have to swallow when devising their defensive game plan, because UNLV is once again loaded with 3-point shooters, ready to cash in on the open looks created by Young’s gravity.
“It helps a lot,” Jackson says. “Desi is our best player, so if we have shooters around her, they can’t double off or else that’s a kick-out. So it also helps open up lanes for drivers to drive.”
The starting backcourt of Jackson and Alyssa Durazo-Frescas is lethal from long range, as they’re shooting 44.4% and 45% from beyond the arc, respectively. As a team, UNLV is making 35.2% from deep, good for 44th in the nation.
“Every time they shoot it, I think it’s going in,” La Rocque says.
Defense
UNLV has featured super-charged offenses since La Rocque took over, but the 2023-24 edition can win with defense, too.
The Scarlet and Gray are holding opponents to 39% shooting from the field, which ranks fourth in the Mountain West. In four of UNLV’s contests during the aforementioned six-game win streak, its opponent has been held under 60 points. No one has scored 70 on the Rebels since Colorado State way back on January 6.
Simply put: This UNLV team can win even when it’s not scoring at will.
“When we hit shots, it’s really fun,” La Rocque says. “We’ve done that a lot of games, but if anything, I’m most proud [that] we don’t live and die by it. If we don’t make every shot, we find ways.”
Jackson averages a steal per game, second to Young’s 1.3, and she believes there is room to get even better on that end of the floor before the end of the season.
“I feel like when we’re talking and locked in, we’re a great defensive team,” Jackson says. “We just have to make sure we do that every time.”
Bench boost
The biggest revelation this season has been freshman Amarachi Kimpson, a 5-foot-8 guard who appears to be the program’s next star.
In 23 games (22 off the bench), the Texas native is averaging 7.9 points in just 18.9 minutes per contest. She’s making 41.2% of her 3-pointers and playing tenacious defense.
“She’s a spark off the bench,” Jackson says. “She’s a good defender, she gets a lot of steals and she’s aggressive, so she can get to the basket.”
La Rocque doesn’t expect any dropoff from Kimpson as the games escalate in importance.
“She’s fearless. Sometimes that’s an advantage for a young player, because they don’t know any better.”
Frontcourt support
Young is good enough to carry the frontcourt on her shoulders, but the good news for UNLV is that she doesn’t have to.
Senior center Alyssa Brown is providing a strong post presence, especially on the defensive end, and the return of junior forward Nneka Obiazor has really provided quality depth.
Obiazor missed most of last season due to a knee injury, but she’s back and playing at top form, appearing in all 23 games and averaging 8.3 points.
“I think Nneka is back to her old self, for sure,” La Rocque says. “Her 3-point shot, the presence and power she has on the block, her ability to stretch the floor and rebound for us.”
As a trio, Young, Brown and Obiazor are combining for 33.4 points and 22.3 rebounds per game while shooting 48.5%.
“I’ve got a three-headed monster down there,” La Rocque says. “They’re pretty tough to beat.”
So is UNLV.
This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.
