Demetrius Hunter said Monday night that he will transfer from Georgetown to his hometown UNLV.

Hunter will sit out the 2001-02 season and have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

"I looked at the situation beyond basketball and when I finish playing, this is where I want to live," said the 6-foot-2 Hunter, who was a part-time starter the past two seasons for the Hoyas. "I have made a number of connections here and now I'll get a chance to play in front of my family."

Hunter, who played at Las Vegas' Cheyenne High, said he has a 1-year-old daughter in Las Vegas and that was one of the most pressing reasons he wanted to leave Georgetown after averaging 9.2 points and 2.2 assists for the 25-8, Sweet 16 Hoyas last season.

"This is something that I have been thinking about for a while," Hunter said. "I've been on the other side of the country and only got a chance to go home once."

Hunter said he would need surgery to remove a bone spur in his foot and wanted to spend the redshirt season recovering and improving his game. Hunter has always been an athletic guard but hasn't been as regarded for his playmaking or 3-point skills.

He'll team up with a former high school rival in Marcus Banks when he's eligible. Banks, who scored 27 points in the United States' loss to Uruguay at the Tournament of Americas on Sunday in Argentina, is transferring for his junior season to UNLV after playing at Dixie College in Utah.

"I want to be a part of the rebuilding process at UNLV," Hunter said. "Coach (Charlie) Spoonhour is turning the program around a bit and I would love to be a part of that."

Representatives for Hunter contacted coaches at Oregon, Oklahoma, Wyoming, BYU and San Diego State but Hunter settled on UNLV. The consensus was that he would end up at BYU because his former AAU coach, John Wardenburg, is on the staff. But the Cougars never got a chance to talk to Hunter or the Georgetown staff to see about a release. UNLV assistant coach Derek Thomas said the school did receive a release from Georgetown.

But UNLV doesn't have any scholarships available for the 2001-02 season, meaning Hunter will have to pay for school on his own. But he is a resident of Las Vegas, meaning he can get in-state tuition. Hunter is expected to receive a scholarship for the 2002-03 season. That means Hunter would count as part of the 2002 recruiting class. Hunter will count toward one of the three scholarships the Runnin' Rebels have available during the November and/or April signing periods under the five-eight scholarship limit (no more than five players can be signed in a given recruiting class, no more than eight in two seasons). UNLV signed five players in 2000-01, the first year that the rule was enforced.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.