Hanson gives Nevada another shooter

You can never have enough shooters on a basketball team, and with that in mind, Nevada basketball coach Mark Fox lured lanky Tyrone Hanson to Reno.

The 6-6 Hanson, who played a year of prep school basketball on the East Coast while working to improve his academics, will give Nevada a scoring presence behind Marcelus Kemp at the wing spot.

In this day and age of basketball, more and more players are slasher/scorers and not shooters. Hanson can do it all at the offensive end.

"He does shoot the ball," Fox said. "He gives us another 3-point shooter. He handles it and passes well, too."

"I can slash," Hanson said before a recent Wolf Pack practice. "I prefer being on the perimeter, more than being a slasher. This year, everyone (on this team) can shoot better than last year.

"I bring better shooting. I bring athleticism. I'm a loose kind of player; flashy a little bit."

Senior shooting guard Kyle Shiloh likes what he sees already.

"He can definitely shoot the ball," Shiloh said. "I'm pretty sure that's what the coaches brought him in here for."

Hanson resembles ex-Pack star Mo Charlo in terms of body type. Charlo may have the advantage in athleticism whereas Hanson relies more on his skills.

Hanson already knows that playing defense will extend his time on the floor. While he's learning how to play defense at the collegiate level, he's quick to ask guys like Shiloh for a helping hand.

"If he sees I'm not doing something right, he'll come up and grab me," Hanson said. "He tells me how to defend against screens; how to get through them and how to keep my man in front of me.

"In prep school, you could get away with not playing defense all the time. If you don't play defense here, you get exposed. I'm OK, but to be a lockdown guard like I want to be, I have a lot of work to do."

Hanson said he feels like his lateral movement needs to improve. Fox, however, sees thing differently.

"That's not the issue," Fox said. "It's technique. He needs to learn to play defense at this level."

That's not exactly a surprising comment. It's doubtful there has been any freshmen who have come in and excelled on defense right away. Fox said it's a matter of breaking young player's bad habits and building on their good ones.

Overall, though, Fox is pleased with Hanson to this point. He'll know more after today's scrimmage.

"He's done a good job," Fox said. "I'm pleased with Tyrone. Like most of the new players, he still gets paralysis by analysis. There's so much he's trying to learn. I'm sure he feels overwhelmed at times."

One thing for sure, Hanson isn't overwhelmed at being away from home. The prep school he attended was six hours from where he grew up, so being 3,000 miles away from friends and family hasn't been a problem.

That's partially because of the family-type atmosphere that surrounds the basketball team. It's a little family to be sure. Hanson said that's what attracted him to the program.

"It's a real close team," said Hanson, who was getting some interest from George Mason, Providence, St.John's and Seton Hall. "Coach Fox is the type of coach you can talk to when something isn't right.

"I lived on the East Coast all my life. I wanted to see what the other part of the world looked like."

No doubt basketball crazy fans on the East Coast know all about Hanson, and Nevada fans are anxious to find out about him.