Add another name to the 2019 recruits for UNLV basketball. Three-Star guard Josh Pierre-Louis announced his commitment to the Runnin’ Rebels after taking his official visit this past weekend. Already deep at the guard spot for 2019, this commitment solidifies backcourt depth for the foreseeable future.
A senior at Roselle (New Jersey) Catholic High School, Pierre-Louis joins an already strong backcourt of recruits and commits under head coach Marvin Menzies. Pierre-Lewis is a 6-foot-3 guard. He averaged 8.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game during his junior year at Roselle Catholic, which one a state championship and finished with ranked No. 1 in New Jersey.
“I made up my mind that I wanted to commit while I was on the trip,” Pierre-Louis told the Las Vegas Sun on Tuesday. “The family-oriented environment was ridiculous. From the minute I first got there I felt coach [Marvin] Menzies and the guys brought me into their family. So I committed.”
Following the football victory in which he and members of this year’s basketball squad took in first-hand, ‘The Jet’ made his decision public via his personal Twitter account.
— Josh Pierre-Louis (@mvojet1) September 9, 2018
Hailing out of New Jersey, JPL seems to be the type of program-player that head coach Marvin Menzies is in constant search of.
“I like Coach (Marvin) Menzies. He’s a real family oriented guy, my coaches in the past — high school and AAU — were family oriented guys. Coach Menzies created such a family type of environment that I just fell in love,” said Pierre-Louis.
Going back to a more traditional approach, don’t expect Pierre-Louis to get much playing time next year (unless something either goes horribly wrong or he completely balls-out over the next summer). Look to see him be a depth piece at this point and build towards a future core of four-year players. Menzies has expressed his desires to build the UNLV basketball program with long-term goals.
Vegas Bound! Roselle Catholic's Josh Pierre-Louis commits to UNLV, first reported by @AdamZagoria . Watch JSZ's highlight reel of the point guard from the 2018 T of C champs: https://t.co/KKPDwXFUIO @mvojet1 @rosellecatholic @rc_basketball pic.twitter.com/S3b3aIy8e9
— Jersey Sports Zone (@JSZ_Sports) September 10, 2018
According to 247Sports, “Pierre-Louis is known as a ball-hawk and lock down defender. He uses that insane athleticism to bully opposing guards and shut them down on the defensive side of the court with great lateral quickness. In terms of what he brings to the table on offense, he is unselfish with solid intangibles. He’s also high IQ, and brings a lot of energy and swagger to the court. UNLV just landed a guard who can score and hand out assists at a high level. More than that, they just made sure that they are loaded at the most important position in basketball for years to come.”
Pierre-Louis adds to the future backcourt alongside fellow 2019 recruit Ethan Anderson. With only two seniors on this year’s team, both scholarship spots are already filled with the incoming young guards. Expect some other pieces to fall after this season, though, since UNLV is still on the trail of other highly-touted prospects.
