{"id":424782,"date":"2026-01-20T05:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T05:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/424782\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T05:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T05:18:08","slug":"dra-gibbs-lawhorn-adapting-to-leading-role-for-unlv-basketball-unlv-basketball-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/424782\/","title":{"rendered":"Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn adapting to leading role for UNLV basketball | UNLV Basketball | Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn is making the exact adjustments UNLV basketball<\/a> coach Josh Pastner demanded.<\/p>\n

The junior Illinois transfer was named the Mountain West Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 21.5 points, 5.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds and shooting 50 percent from the field over two wins againts Boise State<\/a> and San Jose State<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m beyond proud of him,\u201d Pastner said. \u201cHe\u2019s playing the best basketball of his career at this point, and we\u2019re going to need him to keep playing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recent standout performances came after the Rebels took a 98-66 beatdown at Wyoming<\/a> on Jan. 6 that Pastner simply described as \u201cbad\u201d and \u201csoft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibbs-Lawhorn struggled as floor general in that loss, recording 10 points and two assists with two turnovers. Afterward, Pastner caught him expressing his dejection, slouching in the locker room with his chin in his hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t do that, man,\u201d Pastner recalled of his words to Gibbs-Lawhorn. \u201cThe reason we didn\u2019t play with our fire is that the point guard\u2019s got to be the extension of the coach. I can\u2019t go on the floor and play. But Dra, your fight, your grit, your toughness, your intensity \u2026 it\u2019s like being on the front line in the military. Everyone\u2019s going to follow you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastner said he didn\u2019t emphasize scoring in that postgame message. That didn\u2019t stop Gibbs-Lawhorn from translating it to a box score explosion in the team\u2019s next home outing.<\/p>\n

He recorded a career-high 33 points in an 89-85 overtime win over Boise State last Tuesday, adding six assists, five rebounds and a steal.<\/p>\n

It was the highest single-game performance by a UNLV player since EJ Harkless\u2019 35 in the 2023 conference tournament.<\/p>\n

Gibbs-Lawhorn emphasized in his postgame comments that the best is yet to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still not satisfied. I want to be the best point guard I can be,\u201d he said. \u201cShout out to Coach Pastner for that, because he helped me get through those ups and downs (of) having to play point guard. I\u2019m gonna have a game around like 10, 12 assists. Just have to keep working at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Point guard wasn\u2019t the plan for Gibbs-Lawhorn at the start of this season. He was meant to be part of UC Irvine transfer Myles Che\u2019s backcourt with occasional point guard minutes. That was until Che became the headliner of a group of injured players who the Rebels have had to chart a path without.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat wasn\u2019t going to be (Gibbs-Lawhorn\u2019s) natural normal position. And so how he\u2019s adjusted to that. He\u2019s taken some time, but he\u2019s really making great strides,\u201d Pastner said.<\/p>\n

Gibbs-Lawhorn might not have been as flashy in Saturday\u2019s 76-62 road victory at San Jose State, scoring 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and hitting 2 of his 4 3-point attempts.<\/p>\n

The effort and energy that Gibbs-Lawhorn displayed in the win as he snagged four rebounds and dished four assists without committing a turnover pleased Pastner most.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose great years with Coach (Jerry) Tarkanian, Coach Lon Kruger\u00a0and Coach (Dave) Rice \u2026 it was built on grit and toughness. Yes, the highlights were scoring and dunking and all those good things. But the meat and potatoes of it was grit and toughness. And that\u2019s what I\u2019m in my chair and trying to establish in year one of this culture in order to try to get the program back,\u201d Pastner said. \u201cAnd he (Gibbs-Lawhorn) sets the tone with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe sets the tone\u201d with his grit and toughness, the coach said.<\/p>\n

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @Callie__Fin<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

* Who: UNLV at Utah State<\/p>\n

* When: 8 p.m. Tuesday<\/p>\n

* Where: Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, Logan, Utah<\/p>\n

* TV: FS1<\/p>\n

* Radio: KWWN (1100 AM, 100.9 FM)<\/p>\n

* Line: Utah State -16\u00bd; no total<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn is making the exact adjustments UNLV basketball coach Josh Pastner demanded. The junior Illinois transfer was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-424782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}