Mike Grimala
Sports Reporter
Story Archive
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Sports
Hometown hoops star D.J. Thomas commits to UNLV
Sunday, May 14, 2023 UNLV basketball scored a potentially program-changing win on the recruiting trail on Sunday, as hometown high-school star D.J. Thomas committed to the program. Thomas is the son of Dedan Thomas, who played three seasons at UNLV ...
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Sports
Football player transferred to UNLV from rival UNR to be near ailing mom
Sunday, May 14, 2023 In the midst of a most difficult situation, JoJuan is trying to stay positive. That means continuing to play football. At some point this season ...
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Sports
Raiders’ top pick Tyree Wilson flashes elite pass-rushing talent
Thursday, April 27, 2023 The Raiders predictably went defense with their first pick in Thursday’s NFL Draft, and they may have landed an impact player in Texas Tech pass rusher Tyree Wilson. While some prognosticators expected Las Vegas to address its pass defense by selecting a cornerback ...
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Sports
Las Vegas' Dalton Kincaid set to complete unlikely NFL Draft journey
Wednesday, April 26, 2023 When Utah's Dalton Kincaid is selected in this week’s NFL Draft — possibly on Thursday as a first-round pick — the Las Vegas native will cap one of the unlikeliest draft journeys in recent memory ...
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Sports
UNLV basketball makeover begins with trio of impact transfers
Saturday, April 22, 2023 This was always going to be an offseason of change for UNLV basketball. The team’s leading scorer graduated, and the transfer portal snatched two other starters, necessitating a severe makeover for a program that hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament ...
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Sports
Barry Odom wants to see growth in UNLV football spring game at 1 p.m. today
Saturday, April 8, 2023 The UNLV football program is still very much a work in progress. New playbooks are being taught on offense and defense, the roster will be tweaked when the transfer portal opens again in May, and players are still ...
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Sports
How San Diego State's run to Final Four will benefit UNLV
Saturday, April 1, 2023 UNLV may view San Diego State as a bitter rival on the court, but the school’s accountants are certainly cheering the Aztecs’ magical march to the Final Four ...
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Sports
Historic season for UNLV women ends in tourney loss to Michigan
Friday, March 17, 2023 The UNLV women’s basketball team finally met its match on Friday. After a historic season that saw the Scarlet and Gray win 22 straight games, go undefeated in the Mountain West and rack up a program-best 31 victories, they finally ran into ...
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Sports
UNLV women's backcourt in good hands with young guards
Thursday, March 16, 2023 The UNLV women’s basketball program has undergone a dramatic turnaround in the last three years, transforming from a Mountain West also-ran into a ...
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Features
UNLV’s women return to the NCAA Tournament behind a dominant year from Desi-Rae Young
Thursday, March 16, 2023 It often feels like every time a ball hits the rim, it belongs to Young.
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Sports
Ethridge 'in the right place at the right time' as UNLV gets ready for March Madness
Tuesday, March 14, 2023 When it comes to Justice Ethridge’s role on the UNLV women’s basketball team, consistency is key. As the Scarlet and Gray rocketed through their historic 2022-23 campaign, winning 22 straight games (and counting) and a second consecutive ...
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Sports
No. 21 UNLV women will face Michigan in NCAA Tourney
Sunday, March 12, 2023 The UNLV women’s basketball team is heading to the Bayou. NCAA Tournament brackets were revealed on Sunday, and the No. 11 seed Scarlet and Gray will take on No. 6 Michigan on Friday in Baton Rouge ...
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Sports
What's next for UNLV after season-ending loss to Boise State?
Thursday, March 9, 2023 UNLV waited just a bit too long to play its best basketball of the season. After digging a 22-point deficit in the first half of Thursday’s Mountain West quarterfinal game against Boise State ...
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Sports
UNLV women win 22nd straight, clinch NCAA berth
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 Tight score, an opponent that couldn’t miss, the season hanging in the balance — Wednesday’s Mountain West women’s championship game would have been nerve-wracking for most teams. The UNLV women aren’t most teams ...
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Sports
UNLV's Harkless scores 35 to save season vs. Air Force
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 “When in doubt, E.J. get a bucket.” That was Luis Rodriguez’s thought after UNLV’s 78-70 overtime win over Air Force on Wednesday, and that pretty much sums it up ...
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Sports
UNLV women advance to MWC final behind Booker's clutch fourth quarter
Tuesday, March 7, 2023 For 37 minutes, it wasn’t Essence Booker’s night. But when the pressure was on, UNLV’s senior point guard met the challenge, scoring 12 clutch points in the final three minutes as the Scarlet and Gray held off San Diego State, 71-68 ...
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Sports
UNLV basketball riding high into Mountain West tournament
Tuesday, March 7, 2023 The Mountain West season did not go as anticipated for the UNLV basketball team. After blazing through the first half of the year with an 11-1 record, the Scarlet and Gray were dreaming of bracket projections and selection shows. Then the other ...
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UNLV
UNLV basketball rallies for win at UNR, grabs momentum for league tourney
Saturday, March 4, 2023 The team may not have lived up to their own expectations through an up-and-down conference season, but Harkless believes if they compete like they did on Saturday, there’s no opponent waiting in ...
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Sports
Live coverage: UNLV basketball scores overtime win at UNR
Saturday, March 4, 2023 UNLV just scored its most inspiring win of the season, taking down UNR in overtime, 69-67 ...
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Sports
Live coverage: Utah State trounces UNLV basketball, 91-66
Wednesday, March 1, 2023 After a final 12 minutes that were not competitive in the least, this one is officially concluded. Utah State just laid a 91-66 beatdown on the Scarlet and Gray ...
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Sports
UNLV's Keeler prescribed medication for nausea before death last week
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023 Ryan Keeler had been battling illness for a week and was prescribed medication just days before he was found dead on Feb. 20, according to a police report obtained by the Sun ...
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Sports
Is UNLV basketball building an NIT résumé?
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023 Does the UNLV basketball team have an alternate path to the postseason? The Scarlet and Gray are certainly facing long odds to reach the NCAA Tournament. Due to an underwhelming conference ...
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Sports
Former UNLV football player Keeler remembered at vigil
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023 More than 500 people attended a vigil on Monday night to remember former UNLV football player Ryan Keeler, who died last week at age 20. The attendees, including ...
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Breaking News
UNLV signee Rob Whaley’s transformation into a top recruit
Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023 Two years ago, Rob Whaley weighed in at more than 320 pounds, leading most Division I programs to question his discipline, his work ethic and whether he’d ever be able to keep up with pace of the college game. As a result, his recruiting interest dried up. It was then that Whaley realized how close he was to letting his basketball future slip away.
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Sports
UNLV football defensive player Ryan Keeler passes away
Monday, Feb. 20, 2023 UNLV football player Ryan Keeler has died, a source close to the team confirmed on Monday. A Chicago native, Keeler transferred to UNLV from Rutgers last offseason. He appeared in seven games during the 2022 campaign and totaled 8.0 tackles ...
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Sports
Champs again: UNLV women win 16th straight, capture Mountain West title
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023 Alyssa Brown scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Desi-Rae Young had a double-double and No. 23 UNLV clinched its second straight Mountain West Conference ...
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Sports
Live coverage: UNLV basketball falls at home to San Jose State
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023 San Jose State came into the Thomas & Mack Center and downed the home team, 75-66, in what may be the most sobering result of the season for UNLV ...
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Sports
Live coverage: UNLV basketball blown out at San Diego State, 82-71
Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023 The final buzzer just sounded on this game, and now the questions begin. For the Scarlet and Gray, the big one is how will they recover after taking a 82-71 beating at the hands of San Diego State? ...
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UNLV
Experience pays off for UNLV basketball in gritty win over Wyoming
Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023 The Cowboys fielded a seven-man rotation that was duct-taped together, but UNLV was not caught off guard.
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Sports
David Muoka working to climb depth chart for UNLV basketball
Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023 David Muoka knows what he has to do in order to get back on the court. “I know they want me to play hard,” he said. It sounds simple enough, but it’s proving to be a difficult task for ...
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Sports
Poor defense takes center stage as UNLV falls to Fresno State
Friday, Feb. 3, 2023 What is going on in the middle of the UNLV lineup? Kevin Kruger’s squad was torched by low-scoring Fresno State for the second time this season, 82-79, at the Thomas & Mack Center on Friday, while the team’s best interior defender watched most of ...
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Sports
Live coverage: UNLV loses late lead, swept by Fresno State
Friday, Feb. 3, 2023 UNLV watched a late lead disappear, and Fresno State stunned the Scarlet and Gray for the second time this year, 82-79 ...
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Sports
UNLV turns up the defense to notch rivalry win over UNR
Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023 Did the UNLV basketball team somehow acquire a time machine? Is it November again? It sure looked like it on Saturday, as the Scarlet and Gray clamped down on defense to earn a hard-fought 68-62 victory over UNR ...
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UNLV
Kruger switches up the plan; UNLV finds a way to break losing spell
Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 When things were going well for the UNLV basketball team this season, the Scarlet and Gray followed a defined blueprint for winning games: They switched every screen on defense, they forced turnovers ...
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Sports
Changes coming for UNLV basketball after fourth straight loss
Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023 Kevin Kruger is officially open to ideas. After Fresno State became the fourth straight team to torch UNLV’s defense inside and out, the second-year head coach stood outside the visiting locker room at the Save Mart Center and said changes will ...
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Sports
Live coverage: UNLV falls at Fresno State, now 1-6 in MWC
Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023 UNLV played with fire, and after 40 minutes of lackluster basketball on Saturday afternoon, they were handed a loss by lowly Fresno State, 76-63 ...
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Features
Behind promising young coaches and local recruits, UNLV’s men’s and women’s basketball programs are on the upswing
Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023 The women are favorites to win the league again, and the men stormed out to a surprising 10-0 start and have played their way into the at-large discussion for the 2023 tournament.
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Sports
UNLV football set to tab former Howard OC as next playcaller
Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023 Just four days after losing offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino to Texas A&M — before he even coached a game at UNLV — it appears as though the Scarlet and Gray have found their replacement ...
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Sports
Stidham shines, but Raiders eliminated with OT loss to 49ers
Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023 The Raiders’ 37-34 overtime loss to San Francisco on Sunday reiterated a lot of the things we already knew about this year’s Raiders team. They couldn’t hold ...
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Sports
What we've learned about UNLV basketball at halfway point
Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2022 For a team that was picked sixth in the Mountain West poll back in October, the first half of the season could not have gone better for UNLV. The program's 10-0 start ...
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Sports
Roster changes underway as Odom takes over UNLV football
Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022 Barry Odom has been UNLV’s head coach for a little more than two weeks, and it’s been an eventful stretch for a program in transition ...
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Sports
UNLV women's basketball team revving up for a repeat
Friday, Dec. 23, 2022 The UNLV women’s basketball team is on a roll.
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Sports
Live coverage: UNLV beats Southern Miss, finishes nonconference 11-1
Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022 The last thing UNLV wanted was to go into the holiday break on a two-game losing streak, and Kevin Kruger's squad avoided that speed bump by defeating Southern Miss, 74-63 ...
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Sports
Gather 'round the TV: Festive Christmas specials for UNLV sports
Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022 In the past, we’ve celebrated the holiday season on the UNLV sports beat by watching festive movies with the Scarlet and Gray, curating a playlist of Christmas songs, and even giving out classic presents. But there’s nothing more communal than gathering in front of the television set (preferably one of those ...
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Sports
UNLV beats Washington State to improve to 10-0 for first time since 1990
Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022 It’s the first time the program has won its first 10 games to start a season since the 1990-91 campaign, when Jerry Tarkanian was coaching the defending national champions ...
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Sports
Live coverage: UNLV basketball stays perfect with 74-70 win over Washington State
Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022 UNLV basketball is a perfect 10-0 after dispatching Washington State, 74-70. This may have been the most impressive win of the season for the Scarlet and Gray. Washington State came to play ...
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Sports
Live coverage: UNLV basketball now 9-0 after dispatching Hawaii
Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022 UNLV stuck to its blueprint of tough defense and just enough offense, and it was enough to log a fairly nondescript win over Hawaii, 77-62 ...
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Sports
Live coverage: UNLV tops Minnesota in SoCal Challenge final, 71-62
Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2022 That'll do it for UNLV's extended stay in California, and it was a productive one: Kevin Kruger's squad just closed out a 71-62 win over Minnesota in the final of the SoCal Challenge to claim the tournament championship ...
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Sports
UNLV football's bowl hopes crushed with 31-25 loss at Hawaii
Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022 With 10 minutes left in third quarter of Saturday’s game at Hawaii, UNLV quarterback Doug Brumfield took a shotgun snap and feigned a handoff to his right ...
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Sports
Instant Analysis: Raiders stunned by chaotic Colts, 25-20
Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022 The Raiders hit their low point of the 2022 season on Sunday, falling at home to the woeful Indianapolis Colts, 25-20 ...