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UNLV power forward Demetris Morant to transfer

California State Fullerton v UNLV

# of the UNLV Rebels # of the California State Fullerton Titans during their game at the Thomas & Mack Center on December 28, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. UNLV won 83-64.

Ethan Miller

Early Tuesday morning it was reported by multiple outlets that UNLV forward Demetris Morant, who played in 13 games as a redshirt freshman in 2013-14, has decided to transfer. According to the reports Morant aims to transfer to a school closer to his father, who suffered a stroke, in Florida.

And according to Matt Youmans of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, there’s apparently a leader in the race for Morant’s commitment.

Morant will seek a waiver from the NCAA in hopes of being granted eligibility for the 2014-15 basketball season. He is most likely transferring to Florida Gulf Coast.

“Demetris has been granted his release and he will be transferring,” coach Dave Rice said. “His dad has been very ill. We will support a hardship waiver 100 percent. He’s a great kid, and he’s done a great job for us academically.”


Morant (0.6 ppg, 0.5 rpg) played an average of 3.8 minutes per game last season, with starters Khem Birch and Roscoe Smith and reserve Christian Wood being the leaders in minutes amongst UNLV’s front court players. UNLV did lose Birch, Smith and Carlos Lopez-Sosa at the end of the season, but with talented players such as Goodluck Okonoboh and Dwayne Morgan joining the program significant playing time would have been tough for Morant to earn.

However minutes weren’t the reason for Morant’s decision to transfer, but rather the health of his father.

For UNLV the departure means that they’ll be without another body in the front court, placing more pressure on the players who will be a part of the rotation in 2014-15. UNLV has depth on the perimeter, even if they were to lose another player at some point in the near future, but that isn’t the case inside. The question now is whether or not Rice and his staff can address the issue with a late recruit, be it a freshman or a transfer.

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