Rider Says He Is a Scapegoat

Forward J.R. Rider of Nevada Las Vegas said Thursday during a news conference that school officials should be held accountable for their role in his season-ending suspension. Rider was suspended Tuesday when it was revealed that a tutor had done some summer-school work that Rider submitted as his own.

Rider read a prepared statement at the law office of his legal adviser, Steve Stein, before about 50 observers, one of them UNLV Coach Rollie Massimino. He did not mention any school officials by name.

Rider, who sat out UNLV’s National Invitation Tournament first-round game, a 90-74 defeat by USC on Wednesday in Las Vegas, also produced copies of the summer class homework in question.

“I feel that I’ve been made a public scapegoat by the University,” said Rider, the nation’s second-leading scorer this season. “There has been nothing but lies, fraud and deceit by school officials, while my family, my teammates and myself have been embarrassed in public.”

Rider said he had “verbalized” his thoughts to a tutor, who then wrote the paper for him. Rider said the key question was not whether he produced the papers, but whether they came from his “thought process.”

Rider plans to continue to take courses at UNLV but has not ruled out taking legal action against the school.