Massamba officially a Runnin’ Rebel

UNLV basketball fans can exhale now. The long awaited letter of intent for 6-10 center Brice Massamba of nearby Findlay Prep in Henderson finally arrived on campus on Monday.

Massamba helped lead Findlay Prep to a 32-1 record this past season. The Pilots lost in the prep school national championship game. Massamba averaged 6.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and started all 26 games he played in, shooting 65.9 percent from the field.

Massamba verbally committed to UNLV about two months ago. However, the school didn’t receive his official letter of intent until Monday, almost two weeks after the spring signing period began.

Part of the problem was logistics with mailing the letter of intent back-and-forth to Sweden for Massamba’s mother to sign. Because the big center prospect still hasn’t turned 18 yet, he must have a parental signature on the letter.

"We are very happy to have Brice join our program," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. "His size, maturity and leadership will fit in perfectly with our team. He really makes progress every week and will continue to do that during his career as a Rebel."

Massamba played for the Swedish Senior Men's National Team in the 2006 Euro Cup qualifying games and averaged 18 ppg, 10 rpg and four assists per game at Gelstaviken in Sodertalje. He will enter UNLV as a freshman.

"I am very excited about playing for UNLV over the next four years," said Massamba. "UNLV has a great basketball tradition and I really like Coach Kruger and his coaching style. He communicates very well with the players and with my size and feel for the game, I really believe that I am a great fit for his system."

"Knowing Coach Kruger's system, Brice is a perfect fit," said Mike Peck, head coach at Findlay Prep. "He is a very unselfish player with a high basketball IQ and I think we have only seen a sliver of what he is capable of. I think we are going to see an unbelievable talent in Brice."