UNLV guard Luis Rodriguez (15) steals the ball from during the second half of an NCAA basketball game at the Thomas & Mack Center Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024. STEVE MARCUS
Thursday, March 14, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Late in UNLV’s loss at San Diego State on Jan. 6, senior wing Luis Rodriguez fouled out.
It had been a frustrating day for the Scarlet and Gray, as they trailed by double digits for most of the game, but Rodriguez was especially annoyed after shooting 5-of-13 from the field and hearing it from the Aztecs’ rabid student section for two hours.
He wasn’t about to let them get the last word.
“I fouled out, and they were chanting the ‘Left, right,’ when I’m coming out of the game,” Rodriguez says. “So, I started hopping on my right foot so they wouldn’t go ‘Left right, left right.’ That was funny.”
That scene gives a pretty good indication of what Rodriguez is all about: Never giving an inch.
Even in hostile road venues, even when his team is on the losing end, even when he’s not having a great individual performance, Rodriguez brings the spark of life. Sometimes it’s encouraging, sometimes it’s defiant, but it’s always loud and relentless.
“I like to bring some form of energy to the team in any way I can,” Rodriguez says. “It’s energy. Having fun out there. The fans can be dirty, a little bit, so I like to go back at them.”
Everyone got an earful that night at Viejas Arena — opposing fans, San Diego State players, even the officials. On one occasion, teammates had to guide Rodriguez away from an animated conversation with a referee during a stoppage in play.
His teammates know Rodriguez likes to play on the edge, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I love it,” junior forward Rob Whaley says. “I’ve got to keep him under control from time to time, but I love it. It’s the dawg in him. It’s the fight. He’s a dawg. He gets after it.”
Rodriguez plays the way he talks, a 6-foot-6 bundle of kinetic energy that spends most of the game hounding opposing ballhandlers, crashing into big men to fight for rebounds, and sprawling on the floor for loose balls. And as the season has progressed, UNLV has taken on his attitude.
A Los Angeles native, Rodriguez spent his first four years at Mississippi before moving to UNLV as a grad transfer before the 2022-23 season. Head coach Kevin Kruger admired Rodriguez’s lockdown defense and envisioned building a system that utilized his length and athleticism across multiple positions.
Rodriguez started 22 of 27 games last year while scoring a career-high 10.7 points, and his defense lived up to expectations.
He has taken it to another level this season, starting all 30 games, and Kruger entrusts Rodriguez with defending the opposition’s best player. He has come through in that role time and time again, whether it’s guarding lightning-quick Colorado State scorer Isaiah Stevens (6-foot), or powerful UNR ballhandler Kenan Blackshear (6-foot-6).
When UNLV won 11 of 12 games to turn its season around, it was on the strength of the defense — with Rodriguez leading the charge. For the year, he averaged a team-best 1.6 steals per game while also leading the squad with 6.6 rebounds. Offensively, he is up to 11.0 points per contest.
Whaley and freshman guard D.J. Thomas call him UNLV’s best defender, and Kruger is thankful to be able to build gameplans around Rodriguez’s skill set.
“He can be so disruptive,” Kruger says. “Having a guy like Lu is big for us. We’ve had some games where we’ve gotten in foul trouble, and we’ve struggled a bit on the defensive end. He’s a great leader on the defensive front in terms of giving us something we can count on every single night.”
When the Mountain West announced its postseason honors earlier this week, Rodriguez earned a rightful place on the All-Defensive team. He also received a vote for Defensive Player of the Year, though that honor went to San Diego State guard Lamont Butler.
Rodriguez says he’s glad for the All-Defensive nod, but you can tell he’d like to talk some smack to the voters who chose Butler instead.
“It was nice. I fell short of what I really wanted — Defensive Player of the Year — but it was a good accomplishment,” Rodriguez says. “I worked hard to get it.”
Thursday’s Mountain West quarterfinal matchup against San Diego State will provide another showcase for Rodriguez (and Butler), as it figures to be a defensive-minded, low-scoring affair. Kruger will undoubtedly deploy Rodriguez to defend whichever San Diego State perimeter player is giving UNLV the most trouble.
When UNLV got its revenge by beating the Aztecs at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 5, Rodriguez posted eight points, eight rebounds and a steal while hitting a key 3-pointer down the stretch.
Whether UNLV is able to knock off the Aztecs or not, the season should continue, as UNLV’s late surge was enough to put them safely inside NIT bracket projections. Whenever the season does come to an end, however, Rodriguez is determined to continue playing.
Rodriguez solicited feedback from NBA teams last year before deciding to return to UNLV for a final college season. He says scouts gave him good grades for his defensive versatility while expressing that he needs to expand his offensive game, something he has worked on for the past year.
He hopes the league will give him a chance, but if not, he definitely wants to play professionally and is prepared to take any route available to make a career in basketball.
“It’s something I think about daily,” Rodriguez says. “I just want to play pro basketball, god’s will, wherever that may be. Just take basketball as far as I can, for as long as I can, for as long as my body lets me.”
And as long as Rodriguez is playing, he’ll be talking.
“That’s just how I am,” he says.
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
