Another player walks out on Rebels - Sports

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May. 09, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Another player walks out on Rebels

By MATT YOUMANS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

UNLV Basketball - Men

Troy Cage
Redshirt freshman guard is leaving UNLV in search of more playing time

More often than he would prefer, UNLV coach Lon Kruger is waving a premature goodbye to players he recruited. But none of them is leaving school early for the NBA.

For the fourth time in six months, the Rebels' revolving door is swinging open. Redshirt freshman guard Troy Cage is the latest player on the way out.

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But Kruger does not see a trend to the attrition in the program. "Everyone left for different reasons," he said.

Cage is transferring in search of more playing time, and he's parting on better terms than the three players -- Emmanuel Adeife, Lamar Roberson and Marcus Lawrence -- who left UNLV's team during the 2007-08 season.

"You would never think four guys would leave in one year, especially with the chemistry that we have on this team," said Rene Rougeau, who will be a senior next season.

"It's tough when you see guys leave. The bad guys kind of weed themselves out, but I don't think that about Troy."

Cage and Rougeau were planning to be roommates this summer, but those plans have changed. Cage recently informed his teammates of his decision.

"He was working hard and everything," Rougeau said. "I'm not happy at all about him leaving."

The 6-foot-5-inch Cage averaged 1.7 points and 5.5 minutes in 13 games last season.

Cage, from Baton Rouge, La., was out of town Thursday and unavailable for comment. But he did not hear what he wanted when he addressed his future with Kruger.

"I understand that he's looking for more of an opportunity to play, and I respect that," Kruger said. "My honest objective was, and I told him, there's probably not as many minutes available as what he's looking for.

"It's not a perfect science. I probably would have said the same to Rene two years ago, too."

Rougeau joined the team as a walk-on and redshirted the 2004-05 season as a freshman. He started 27 games as a junior and helped lead the Rebels to a 27-8 record and the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

There are hits and misses in recruiting. Rougeau has far exceeded the expectations for him, but Kruger has brought in a few players who developed into disappointments.

Adeife, a 6-10 junior center, was dismissed Nov. 10, the day after the season opener. Adeife was unhappy about his lack of playing time and argued with Kruger.

Roberson, a 6-8 sophomore forward, left the team Jan. 3, also because he wanted more playing time. Roberson averaged 3.8 points in 13 games.

Adeife and Roberson both started their college careers at Houston, and both left UNLV for Louisiana-Lafayette.

"With Lamar, it just seemed like people were in his ear or something," Rougeau said. "He felt like he should have been somewhere else where he could score. He was so good, though. When he first came here, I thought he was going to start.

"Everyone wants to be that go-to guy, but as a newcomer, you've got to know your role. (Adeife) wasn't really doing that."

Lawrence, a Bishop Gorman High School graduate, was dismissed Feb. 18, three days after he was in a one-vehicle accident and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

"Coach Kruger is not putting up with any crap, basically. Whatever he says goes," Rougeau said. "Who is going to start or who gets playing time, he gets the last word. All you can do is either get along or get out of here."

Cage, with a running vertical leap of 38 inches, was one of the Rebels' most athletic players. But he underwent left knee surgery Oct. 12, missed more than two months and never earned a spot in the rotation. UNLV's roster is deeper and more talented now than it was two years ago, and Cage was essentially squeezed out.

Adeife and Roberson proved to be poor fits for the program. Lawrence made mistakes off the court that forced his dismissal. Cage did everything right but meet his potential.

"I want what's best for Troy, and I think this is," Kruger said. "He's such a good kid, good student and good teammate. When we recruited him, of course, we recruited him with the expectation he was going to develop and play."

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Jay T wrote on May 09, 2008 07:53 PM: Olson fired ONeal. That's old news. Robb wrote on May 09, 2008 05:02 PM: Its all good SB. Lets linch the Rebel haters. Enough of the friendly fire. As far a Kruger leaving its not likely. The way this team is shaping teams like the Wildcats will be doorsteps soon. But as we all know $$ talks. Its been fun. GO UNLV!! Peace Robb wrote on May 09, 2008 04:27 PM: LOL.. @ SB Wipe MY A$% WITH THIS GENIUS... http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/sports/articles/0402olson0402.html Stop exposing yourself and get your facts right and grow-up along the way.. Trust me waiting for the day that UNLV wipes the floor with the Wild Cats. Im sure that those who have been posting on here for awhile know Im a huge UNLV FAN!! GO REBELS!! SB wrote on May 09, 2008 04:25 PM: Robb, I wipe my a$$ with wikipedia facts! Hahaha! Calm down guy, it’s not that serious! You can have your nifty little AZ facts and all that bull-$hit lol! (remember you were the one who sited that old a$$ NY Times article from 94 about him leaving to Tenn) I didn’t mean to get under your skin, life goes on dude. I’m outa here, got money to make. It was fun going back and fourth with you for a while on this thread. Hope to do it again soon Robb. Go REBELS!!! (AZ sucks and they can’t have Lon!) Peace SB wrote on May 09, 2008 04:12 PM: Robb I wipe my a$$ with wikipedia!!! haha! Calm down guy, its ok lol! You can have your nifty AZ facts and all that bull-$hit!! (remember you were the one who fist put that NY times archive about O'neal going to Tenn in 1994)...But its really not that serious. Im outa here dude, it was nice killing time and going back and fouth with you for a while on this thread. Hope to do it again sometime. Go REBELS!!!! (AZ sucks!!!) Robb wrote on May 09, 2008 04:10 PM: It's stated by Olson. It's all over the Arizona Republic. O'Neill is out. Again, stop talking out of your a#$ Im not going to argue with you just do some research before talking. As far as what's on AZ basketball page its out dated. UNLVs tends to be a little behind as well. That O'Neill pissed off players. That's why many bolted to the NBA. He will not be back with the Wild Cats. Anyway, Im a huge UNLV fan. I just have duel residencies Tuscon and LV and respect the Wild Cat program. GO UNLV! Another Big Year Is Here wrote on May 09, 2008 04:01 PM: A sign the Rebels are back on the map: All of you haters who've posted here. If the Rebels weren't everything you said they aren't, no one would post anything. And if anybody was actually paying attention to the talent in this year's tourney you would know the Rebels could have beaten half the teams in the entire field with the grossly undersized team they had. It just so happened they drew the eventual national champs and played them close the first 30 out of 40 total minutes. The only other teams who kept it close with KU were Davidson and Memphis. Troy - too bad you didn't stick it out bro. Enjoy the victory parade from the sidelines. If Joel & Rene did it, you could've too. Oh, and you're going to miss Tryst Thursdays for sure. Camron wrote on May 09, 2008 04:00 PM: You can't argue with these morons. They sound like broken records everytime there's an article on the Rebs. I love Vegas but it attracts morons who root outside the conference or inside that are retard Byu or New Mexico fans. Hell, some of them don't even know proper English (see greg). If he really lived here his whole life he would know how awesome Tark's teams were, especially in the early 90's. Consistently there's only a few of us that post here that make any sense and stand up for our team. We follow the team with loyalty so we have a feel for how the basketball team is going to do. The idiots who cheer for other teams haven't a clue of our history and how far we've come with Kruger regarding win totals, recruiting, the community and above all, getting players to play with heart. Our future play will speak for itself to shut these transplants, who don't support the team, up! Robb wrote on May 09, 2008 03:56 PM: lol.. @ SB your exposed you BAFFON! The only thing outlandish is you can't get your facts correct bud.. wake-up. As far as me being exposed nooooooo,nooooooo your the one who doesn't know what your talking about genius. Stop talking out of your a#$ facts friend facts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_O'Neill_(basketball) lmao @ SB SB wrote on May 09, 2008 03:55 PM: Robb, hey dude. you can have wikipedia facts (user imputed content) anyday, untill the Univeristy of Arizona updates their official athletics department website and take Kevin O'neal off the staff page of the basketball program then we will all know that he is gone from the Uniersity. But as of today, (not tomorrow) the guy is up there........ enough. Life goes on dude, AZ cant have Lon hahahahah http://arizonaathletics.com/m-basketball/page.aspx?id=360 Read All Comments