Tre'von Willis Retrospective - Part Two

Tre'Von Willis starts his first season with the Rebels, 2008-2009

Expectedly excited to play again after a year off from basketball, Tre'von got his first taste of playing for the Runnin' Rebels in June of 2008, during the team's summer exhibition in Australia. The coaching staff figured Willis could run the point and be the floor-general for the team, and Australia was where they would test it out. UNLV went 4-2 down under, and Willis showed the kind of potential and results that demanded greater playing time. The roster for the season was Wink Adams, Oscar Bellfield, Joe Darger, Todd Hanni, Scott Hoffman, Derrick Jasper, Steve Jones, Rob Ketchum, Brice Massamba, DeShawn Mitchell, René Rougeau, Mareceo (Mo) Rutledge, Darris Santee, Matt Shaw, Chace Stanback, Kendall Wallace, and Tre’Von Willis.

UNLV opened the season well regarded, being ranked #48 of the top 50 college basketball programs according to The Hoops Report.com. The Rebels had just finished enjoying their deepest run in the big dance since the Final Four days, having reached the Sweet 16 by knocking off Wisconsin.

The point guard position was not locked up by Tre'von Willis, and in spite of all of the hype Coach Kruger started freshman Oscar Bellfield at point guard and Willis came off the bench in relief. In the first game against the San Diego Torreos, Coach tried playing both Bellfield and Willis at the same time leading to positive results. Willis's first injury with the Rebels came during the second game of the season, where he suffered a separated shoulder. It was also a test of how Willis could handle the injury, and he actually provided plenty of minutes and sparked the Rebs to a victory in the game against UTEP where he scored 17 points, grabbed six rebounds and had four assists in the road win.

Willis played in all 32 games and made 23 starts that season. He averaged 11.4 points per game, which was second on the team and 19th in the MWC. He was second on the team and 10th in the league in assists, handing out 3.3 per game. Willis was also third on the team and 10th in the conference with 1.1 steals per game. Overall, he shot 37.9 percent from the field, 32.4 percent from 3-point range and 73.7 percent from the free-throw line. He reached double figures in scoring 18 times, including a pair of 20-plus point efforts, and led the team in scoring six times. Besides the UTEP heroics, he came off the bench and scored 19 points against Arizona. Willis scored a then-career-high 22 points and added six assists in a home win over Utah, which cemented a co-player of the week award. He handed out a career-high 11 assists at Air Force. He also had his second-best offensive effort by dropping 21 points and had six assists against Colorado State. All-in-all, it was a excellent start for Tre'von and showed himself to be the heir apparent to fill-in for the loss of Wink Adams the following season.

Post-season success was limited for the Rebels in Tre’von’s first campaign. The Rebels finished the regular season with a record of 21-9, and it was clear that to make the big dance we would have to at least compete in the MWC championship game, if not win it to get the automatic bid. The Rebels entered in the middle of the field as a 4 seed, and were chosen to play 5 seed San Diego State, who had just beaten the Rebels in the final regular season game. The Aztecs dominated the game and finished victorious, 71-57, the Rebels losing in rare fashion in the quarterfinals of the MWC tournament.

UNLV then was NIT bound, but would not face just any underperforming team, the Rebels drew the Kentucky Wildcats – a perennial NCAA tourney team (17 yrs straight) who just lost their way that season. Willis saw 25 minutes of action in Kentucky, however only posted 4 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. The Rebels fell in the first round of the NIT to Kentucky, 70-60.

UNLV graduated our top offensive threat, Wink Adams as well as a lot of dependable glue-guys in Joe Darger, René Rougeau, Mareceo Rutledge and Rob Ketchum. In addition to the lost personnel, DeShawn Mitchell asked for a release after his freshman year and transferred to Rider. Somehow, that didn’t quite work out for Mitchell and he ended up at Snow College (in Ephraim, UT). As another aside on Mitchell, he was recently dismissed from the JUCO team (playing as a “sophomore”) in February, 2011 even-though he was their leading scorer.  Bad decision to leave UNLV. Back to Willis.

Tre'von Willis Statistics 2008-09

NCAA Basketball

Total Games in 2008-2009: 32

Date	Game	Min	Pts	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	3PT	3PT%	OR	DR	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF
2008-11-15	SD 60, UNLV 65	26	3	1-8	12.5	0-2	0.0	1-5	20.0	0	1	1	1	1	0	2	3
2008-11-18	UTPA 48, UNLV 73	17	6	2-7	28.6	1-2	50.0	1-3	33.3	0	2	2	6	1	0	1	0
2008-11-20	NAU 71, UNLV 87	14	4	1-4	25.0	2-2	100.0	0-2	0.0	0	1	1	4	0	0	3	3
2008-11-22	NCAT 58, UNLV 71	26	8	1-5	20.0	5-9	55.6	1-2	50.0	0	1	1	4	2	0	3	4
2008-11-24	UNLV 80, UTEP 67	26	17	4-9	44.4	7-9	77.8	2-3	66.7	1	5	6	1	0	1	1	4
2008-11-28	Cal 73, UNLV 55	27	9	3-9	33.3	2-2	100.0	1-2	50.0	0	2	2	1	0	1	4	5
2008-11-29	Cinci 67, UNLV 65	28	18	6-10	60.0	6-7	85.7	0-2	0.0	1	3	4	5	0	1	4	4
2008-12-03	UNLV 82, FRES 76	29	18	7-17	41.2	3-5	60.0	1-4	25.0	1	2	3	4	2	0	2	2
2008-12-06	UNLV 64, NEV 57	31	11	3-8	37.5	4-6	66.7	1-4	25.0	0	5	5	1	1	0	6	2
2008-12-14	WMU 61, UNLV 70	21	7	1-4	25.0	5-5	100.0	0-2	0.0	1	3	4	1	2	0	1	1
2008-12-17	SCU 66, UNLV 78	21	6	1-3	33.3	3-4	75.0	1-1	100.0	1	1	2	1	1	0	3	1
2008-12-20	Arizona 64, UNLV 79	28	19	6-10	60.0	4-5	80.0	3-4	75.0	2	4	6	4	0	0	3	2
2008-12-23	SUU 60, UNLV 73	19	8	2-5	40.0	4-5	80.0	0-1	0.0	1	3	4	1	0	0	4	3
2008-12-31	UNLV 56, Lville 55	21	16	3-7	42.9	7-8	87.5	3-4	75.0	1	4	5	1	0	0	4	3
2009-01-03	Lobos 58, UNLV 60	32	15	4-12	33.3	7-11	63.6	0-5	0.0	0	1	1	4	0	0	3	3
2009-01-10	UNLV 73, TCU 80	35	11	2-6	33.3	5-7	71.4	2-4	50.0	1	2	3	5	1	0	2	1
2009-01-14	UNLV 69, CSU 71	26	9	2-12	16.7	4-6	66.7	1-4	25.0	3	6	9	2	0	0	2	1
2009-01-17	WYO 66, UNLV 83	28	13	5-15	33.3	1-1	100.0	2-6	33.3	2	3	5	5	1	0	0	3
2009-01-21	UNLV 76, BYU 70	34	13	5-9	55.6	1-2	50.0	2-3	66.7	0	5	5	3	0	0	1	2
2009-01-24	UTAH 65, UNLV 75	34	22	8-16	50.0	4-5	80.0	2-2	100.0	2	0	2	6	3	0	1	2
2009-01-31	UNLV 59, AF 38	28	2	0-6	0.0	2-4	50.0	0-3	0.0	1	4	5	11	1	1	0	2
2009-02-03	SDSU 68, UNLV 66	36	8	1-8	12.5	5-8	62.5	1-2	50.0	2	4	6	2	0	0	1	4
2009-02-07	UNLV 69, Lobos 73	34	13	4-10	40.0	3-4	75.0	2-5	40.0	1	2	3	2	1	0	3	4
2009-02-10	TCU 57, UNLV 71	28	11	4-4	100.0	2-3	66.7	1-1	100.0	1	3	4	5	2	1	3	1
2009-02-14	CSU 70, UNLV 89	32	21	8-12	66.7	4-6	66.7	1-3	33.3	1	4	5	6	2	0	2	2
2009-02-18	UNLV 68, WYO 77	35	18	4-10	40.0	8-9	88.9	2-5	40.0	1	4	5	3	4	0	4	4
2009-02-21	BYU 74, UNLV 75	26	10	4-7	57.1	2-2	100.0	0-2	0.0	1	7	8	4	2	0	4	5
2009-02-25	UNLV 60, UTAH 70	36	14	4-11	36.4	5-6	83.3	1-2	50.0	0	5	5	4	3	0	1	2
2009-03-04	AF 43, UNLV 46	34	5	2-9	22.2	1-3	33.3	0-3	0.0	1	5	6	0	1	0	2	2
2009-03-07	UNLV 46, SDSU 57	39	16	4-10	40.0	8-9	88.9	0-4	0.0	1	4	5	3	3	0	4	1
2009-03-12	SDSU 71, UNLV 57	40	11	2-7	28.6	6-8	75.0	1-4	25.0	2	8	10	3	1	0	2	3
2009-03-17	UNLV 60, UK 70	25	4	1-7	14.3	2-2	100.0	0-5	0.0	0	4	4	2	0	0	1	4
Date	Game	Min	Pts	FG	FG%	FT	FT%	3PT	3PT%	OR	DR	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO	PF