By Steve Breazeale
After the dust settled following the UNLV mens basketball team’s disappointing first-round loss to Cal in the opening round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament, Dana Point native and former Rebels guard Katin Reinhardt sat down with UNLV head coach Dave Rice to talk about his role in the coming years.
The two talked but did not exactly see eye-to-eye and Reinhardt decided to transfer back to Southern California and play for USC. The transfer was officially announced by USC’s new head coach Andy Enfield on July 9.
Reinhardt will red shirt for the Trojans next season but will have three years of eligibility remaining starting in 2014-2015.
Reinhardt started 34 of UNLV’s 35 games last season as a freshman, averaging 10.1 points per game. He also averaged 2.5 assists per contest and led the team with 65 3-pointers on 35 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
“UNLV wasn’t the right fit to showcase my abilities and my basketball game,” Reinhardt said. “I told them I had to part ways and wished them the best and they did the same to me.”
Reinhardt played high school basketball at Mater Dei and helped the Monarchs capture back-to-back CIF Division I State Championships. He was awarded a slew of honors, including being named the CIF Player of the Year his senior season.
All of the noise Reinhardt was making in the southland as a high school player did not go unnoticed, especially by the Trojans basketball staff. Reinhardt verbally committed to USC his junior year, but decided to de-commit and attend UNLV.
Enfield, who garnered national attention after guiding relatively unknown Florida Gulf Coast to the Sweet 16 of the 2013 NCAA Tournament, was a major player in getting Reinhardt to transfer to USC. The fact that Enfield has built a brand around a fast-paced offense only sweetened the deal for Reinhardt.
“UNLV was kind of similar, trying to get up and down. But coach Enfield gets up and down even more so,” Reinhardt said. “At UNLV I was just being a one dimensional player. In the USC system I’ll be a play maker. I’ll be making plays for my teammates and not just for myself…I’m very excited.”
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