Joel Ntambwe #24 of the UNLV Rebels is fouled (Photograph by Ethan Miller/Getty Photographs)

After watching a full sport from Joel Ntambwe’s freshman season, let’s talk about what he would possibly carry to the 2020-21 Texas Tech basketball group.

When the subsequent Texas Tech basketball season ideas off, essentially the most anticipated debut of any newcomer on the roster shall be that of switch ahead Joel Ntambwe.  In spite of everything, he has already been fairly the subject of dialogue round Lubbock regardless of by no means having performed one second for the Crimson Raiders.

The drama surrounding his eligibility after transferring in from UNLV final offseason was one of many defining storylines of 2019-20 and had each Texas Tech basketball fan and loads of folks across the nation speaking for many of the winter.  That’s as a result of he turned the image of what’s incorrect with the NCAA’s switch course of.

As the one one in all 5 members of the 2018-19 Runnin’ Rebels to be denied instant eligibility to play final season after transferring out of Vegas within the wake of the firing of former head coach Marvin Menzies, his story dropped at mild the inconsistencies of the NCAA’s subjective waiver approval course of.

Thrice Texas Tech filed a right away eligibility waiver on Ntambwe’s behalf and every time the consequence was the identical.  Regardless of having primarily the identical purpose for leaving UNLV as his 4 teammates, Ntambwe was denied the suitable to play.

Not required to offer public reasoning for its resolution, the NCAA won’t ever reveal why Ntambwe needed to redshirt his true sophomore 12 months.  Nevertheless it isn’t simple to surmise that tough emotions in the direction of Chris Beard on the a part of UNLV officers which are the residue of Beard’s departure from Vegas after lower than a month on the job in 2016 to return to Texas Tech are what stored the UNLV higher-ups from cooperating with Ntambwe’s request.

Due to this case and a variety of others of an analogous nature, a lot opposition to the present NCAA switch course of has been raised that there shall be a vote later this month on whether or not to grant each athlete one switch with out penalty.  That measure could be passed as soon as May 20th in line with reviews.

Ultimately, Texas Tech was truly lucky that Ntambwe didn’t get to play this season provided that there was no postseason due to the present coronavirus pandemic.  Many thought that Ntambwe may be prepared to leap to the NBA after a 12 months in Lubbock (he went via the NBA Draft analysis course of after his freshman 12 months solely to resolve to move to Tech as a substitute) that means that had he performed this previous season, he might need by no means been capable of assist Beard’s program within the NCAA Match.

However whereas that is one uncommon occasion by which the unlucky present international well being disaster took an advantageous flip for Texas Tech basketball followers, there’s no query that Ntambwe was handled unfairly solely due to dangerous blood that continues to be from an incident that befell when he was nonetheless in highschool.

Fortunately, that mess is now previously and we are able to stay up for Ntambwe’s return to the ground.  However just lately it occurred to me that almost all Crimson Raiders are enthusiastic about this newcomer merely based mostly on what we’ve heard and never what we’ve seen given that almost all of us don’t eat too any UNLV basketball video games.

We are able to simply take a look at his stats from his freshman season and see that he averaged a formidable 11.eight factors and 5.5 rebounds per sport to assist him earn Mountain West Convention All-Freshman honors.  However I wished to know what his sport appeared like past the stats.

So I made a decision to look at the one full UNLV sport from 2018-19 that I might discover on YouTube.  It was a February 2, 2019 blowout loss at Utah State 82-65.  You’ll be able to watch the primary half here and the second half here do you have to really feel inclined.

This proved to be a pleasant sport to make use of as an analysis of Ntambwe’s sport as a result of Utah State was one of many shock mid-major groups within the nation that season.  A bodily veteran squad, they went 28-6 general and 15-Three in MWC play to win the convention title and earn a visit to the NCAA Match the place they misplaced to Washington within the first spherical.

I additionally like that it wasn’t Ntambwe’s greatest sport nor was it his worst sport, thus, it gave us a good baseline for what he’s on the courtroom.  He ended the sport with 18 factors to steer his group however to say that his scoring was a bit hole may be an understatement.

That evening, he had solely 4 factors within the first half as Utah State constructed a 20-point halftime lead and by the point he scored his first bucket of the second half with below seven minutes to play, the sport had lengthy been determined.  Nevertheless it was attention-grabbing to see what he was capable of do towards one of many groups within the Mountain West that almost all resembles a Huge 12 group in the best way it performs and the way the roster is constructed.

So let’s go inside Joel Ntambwe’s sport towards Utah State from his freshman 12 months and take a look at what it reveals in regards to the switch upon whom fairly a little bit of expectation is being heaped by Texas Tech basketball followers.  Naturally, we’ll start with the top of the courtroom that Chris Beard prioritizes.