Jeremiah “Bear” Cherry looks like a new player.
He debuted a new haircut last month, moving on from five years of hair growth amid a stretch of underwhelming performances for the UNLV basketball team.
“I really did get tired of it. It was annoying,” he said Friday of his once shoulder-length locks. “I wasn’t playing good. I had to just change it up. It worked.”
The 6-foot-11-inch, 280-pound forward is averaging 11.2 points in the Rebels’ past seven games. It’s a significant increase from the 5.8 points he averaged from UNLV’s Mountain West opener against Fresno State on Dec. 28 until a matchup against San Diego State on Jan. 18.
Now, entering another game against Fresno State on Saturday, Cherry appears to be on track to finish the regular season as a consistent contributor.
UNLV’s blowout win over Air Force on Tuesday gave the New Mexico junior college transfer an opportunity to reflect on the highs and lows of his first year at UNLV, as he had just led the Rebels with 15 points.
“When the conference (play) first started, I think I was struggling a little bit trying to adjust to people scouting me really hard,” he said. “All my teammates (were) helping me out and telling me, ‘Always use your left hand. Use your left hand …’ So I really think that did help me a lot.”
UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said last month that Cherry utilizing his left shoulder to create space for a right-handed shot in the paint had become “a little bit too much of a crutch,” so the team worked to instill confidence in him to make different attempts at the time.
That ended up being one of a few recent lessons Cherry would learn. And Kruger, while pleased with his progress, doesn’t expect the adversity to stop anytime soon.
“There’s no teacher like experience,” Kruger said. “He’s got to be excited about that challenge of getting better.”
Hot start
Cherry recorded a season-high 24 points in UNLV’s season-opening win against Alabama State on Nov. 4.
“Bear came out of the gate obviously on fire at the start of the season and probably became focal point No. 2 when you’re talking about a scouting report for a team about to play us,” Kruger said.
By Nov. 28, Cherry had another thing to deal with — a back injury that saw him exit a loss to Mississippi State.
Cherry has yet to miss a game, but between the early exit and the Rebels’ final nonconference game, he scored in double figures only once (12 points in a 66-53 win over UC Riverside on Dec. 21).
He fouled out of the Rebels’ conference opener against Fresno State. It didn’t bother Kruger, but Cherry’s physicality fluctuated from that point.
After UNLV suffered back-to-back losses — 81-59 Jan. 7 at Boise State and 84-62 Jan. 11 at Colorado State — sixth-year forward Jalen Hill reached out.
“I didn’t play well at all (in) either of the games,” Cherry said. “Jalen texted me, just telling me to pick it up and things like that. So I kind of just came to a realization, like, ‘All right, I need to figure it out. I’ve had a few accomplishments, it’s not the end of the road, so I gotta keep going.’”
The improvement wasn’t immediate. He revealed his new haircut before the next game, a 65-62 loss to Utah State that saw him score four points.
Benched
Soon, “some miscommunications” with Kruger led to Cherry getting benched to start a loss to Wyoming on Jan. 21
Despite not starting, that game resulted in his best performance in a month.
Kruger also described Cherry’s practices as “a little more alert, a little better,” after the punishment, but never disclosed what led to it.
Hill praised a shift in Cherry’s performance a few days later.
“Bear knew he wasn’t playing how he should. But mentally, he was able to get through it,” Hill said. “And we can see it now. His confidence is up. He’s playing with fire.”
Work ahead
Tuesday’s performance reminded Kruger that Cherry’s work isn’t done.
For Kruger, it stood out that Cherry “did an unbelievable job moving his feet” and creating good angles. Cherry credited rim running for “easy buckets” and not worrying about fouling despite his size.
Either way, Kruger knows it’s going to show on tape.
“He’s found his way again,” he said. “With the last handful of games of being impactful, it’s going to be that next incremental step for him. Almost certainly, (opponents) are not going to be very excited about Bear just burying guys under the bucket. So that’s something that he’s going to have to navigate, and figure out how to continue to have that advantage for this group, so that he can have that positive impact.”
Contact Callie Fin at [email protected]. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.
Up next
Who: UNLV at Fresno State
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Where: Save Mart Center, Fresno, Calif.
TV: Mountain West Network
Radio: KWWN (1100 AM, 100.9 FM)
Line: UNLV -8; total 148½
