Lindy La Rocque establishing winning culture at UNLV

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Lindy La Rocque knows all about championship culture from her days as a player for Stanford and then again later as an assistant coach with the program under Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer.

La Rocque has brought that mentality to UNLV, where she is wrapping up her second season as head coach guiding her team to marked strides. The Lady Rebels have won a share of the Mountain West regular-season title, received votes in The Associated Press Top 25 poll and can win the conference outright with a victory Saturday at Colorado State or a New Mexico loss to San Jose State on Friday.

VanDerveer, who coached La Rocque at Stanford and later brought her on as an assistant from 2017 to 2020, isn't surprised by what her protégé has accomplished -- another successful person to learn from the winningest women's coach of all time.

'œBut I am impressed," VanDerveer said. 'œAnytime you take a new job, take over a new program, there's going to be a challenge. To turn it around is really amazing."

What La Rocque has done since taking over her hometown team is restore a winning vibe by establishing an identity of confidence and positivity in Year 1, then strengthening the bond among her youthful roster with an infusion of transfers. That includes Las Vegas-grown Essence Booker, the team's leading scorer averaging 15.5 points per game.

'œShe just truly cares about her players,'ť said Booker, who began her collegiate career at Nevada then transferred to Ball State before returning home to join UNLV. 'œAnd I don't say that on a basketball level, she cares about us as people. So by her doing that, and her enforcing that in the coaching staff, it makes us trust her and her trust us.'ť

The Lady Rebels were picked to finish ninth in the Mountain West during La Rocque's first season, but they finished second in the conference and she was named Mountain West Coach of the Year. Picked to place third this season, they're in first place with a 14-2 record, are 22-5 overall and had a 12-game winning streak that ended Thursday with a loss to Wyoming.

La Rocque's women have made a case to earn an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament, though the 77-73 defeat to Wyoming probably didn't help. They can also earn the conference's automatic bid by winning the MWC tournament in Las Vegas next month.

'œWe have some talent and some skill and some great players, but I think what's really maybe our driving force right now is just our chemistry and our love for each other and just wanting to continue to play,'ť La Rocque said. "We know our toughest games and our toughest challenges are still ahead of us, but we have a belief in each other that we can really do something special and compete at a high level, like the NCAA Tournament.'ť

Along with Booker, La Rocque added transfers Khayla Rooks from Washington and Nneka Obiazor from Youngstown State to blend with the likes of Desi-Rae Young, Alyssa Durazo-Frescas, and Justice Ethridge and round out UNLV's top six scorers.

'œI think I sometimes get all the credit for the work that our staff does, day-in and day-out to keep our team mentally, physically, emotionally stable, and prepared for practice every day,'ť La Rocque said. 'œObviously, there has to be great buy-in and culture and participation from the players as a unit. We were really diligent in recruiting freshmen last year, and then really diligent in recruiting in the transfer portal to identify not just good players, but good people.

'œThat's how we want our culture established. And I think that's what's really kind of made this year successful.'ť

So far.

The Lady Rebels haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2002, and the program hasn't consistently been relevant on the national stage since the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.

Given the blueprint laid out for La Rocque in her previous stop, UNLV's return to March Madness seems imminent.

'œAnd I believe she'll do it the right way,'ť VanDerveer said. 'œShe's got a lot of integrity, she's very intelligent. It's really exciting that she's doing so well and I'm really proud of her.'ť

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More AP women's college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25