Anthony Bennett missed Monday's UNLV practice and could miss Wednesday's game against UC Irvine with lower-back stiffness.

Bennett missed parts of the past two seasons at Findlay Prep with the same issue.

Before the year began, Dave Rice said athletic trainer Dave Tomchek and strength coach Jason Kabo were taking extra precautions to try to keep Bennett healthy.

Bennett has been UNLV's leading scorer, averaging 19.5 points and 8.3 rebounds in 26.3 minutes per game.

Bennett is the country's leading freshman scorer.

Isaac Hamilton committed to Texas-El Paso on Friday.

Hamilton, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Los Angeles, is ranked as the No. 25 recruit of the 2013 class.

Hamilton picked UTEP over UCLA, UNLV and San Diego State.

Hamilton is the younger brother of Jordan Hamilton.

The 2012-13 Naismith early season watch list was released on Wednesday.

Below is a full list of nominees:

Kyle Anderson, UCLA
Chane Behanan, Louisville
Kenny Boynton, Florida
Lorenzo Brown, NC State
Trey Burke, Michigan
Isaiah Canaan, Murray State
Michael Carter-Williams, Syracuse
Rotnei Clarke, Butler
Jack Cooley, Notre Dame
DJ Cooper, Ohio
Aaron Craft, Ohio State
Matthew Dellavedova, Saint Mary's
Gorgui Dieng, Louisville
Michael Dixon Jr., Missouri
Jamaal Franklin, San Diego State
Tim Frazier, Penn State
Archie Goodwin, Kentucky
Elias Harris, Gonzaga
Pierre Jackson, Cincinnati
CJ Leslie, NC State
Mark Lyons, Arizona
Trevor Mbakwe, Minnesota
James Michael McAdoo, North Carolina
CJ McCollum, Lehigh
Doug McDermott, Creighton
Rodney McGruder, Kansas State
Ben McLemore, Kansas
Tony Mitchell, North Texas
Mike Moser, UNLV
Shabazz Muhammad, UCLA
Nerlens Noel, Kentucky
Kevin Pangos, Gonzaga
Mason Plumlee, Duke
Otto Porter, Georgetown
Alex Poythress, Kentucky
Phil Pressey, Missouri
Andre Roberson, Colorado
Peyton Siva, Louisville
Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State
Michael Snaer, Florida State
Jarnell Stokes, Tennessee
Adonis Thomas, Memphis
Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State
Christian Watford, Indiana
Jeff Withey, Kansas
Nate Wolters, South Dakota State
BJ Young, Arkansas
Patric Young, Florida
Cody Zeller, Indiana 

UNLV freshmen Demetris Morant and Daquan Cook have decided to redshirt the season.

“Both told me today when we met that they wanted to do this,” said Rice.

Morant had been expected to sit out this season because of the depth in UNLV’s frontcourt.

Cook's decision was more of a surprise.

“That was a hard decision to make because Daquan has improved as much as anyone since he got here,” Rice said. “He would play minutes for us this year, but he’ll play more minutes as a fifth-year senior than a freshman. … He needs to get older and stronger; everything else will come.”

Jermaine Lawrence has trimmed his list of schools to UNLV, St. John's, Syracuse and Cincinnati.

Lawrence, one of the top-20 prospects in the class of 2013, eliminated Kansas and UCLA from consideration.

Lawrence has yet to take an official visit