JACKSON, Miss. (Feb. 10, 2022) – Entering the 2021-22 basketball season, the Jackson State Tigers were considered one of the leading title-contenders in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Such lofty expectations were understandable, considering the Tigers had a talent-laded roster that included the player many predicted would be league player of the year come season's end. But right at the start of the season, the injury bug came knocking, resulting in an unforeseen slow start to the conference season that tested the team's will to win.
The Tigers, 6-16 overall and 4-7 in the SWAC, will play host to the Florida A&M Rattlers on Saturday at the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center. The 5:30 p.m. tipoff will follow a battle between the schools' women's teams. JSU currently is in a four-way tie in the middle of the SWAC standings, while FAMU, with records of 10-12 overall and 8-3 in league play, sits in a four-way tie for second place.
"Florida A&M is a solid team," said JSU head coach Wayne Brent. "Right now, they have the frontrunner for MVP in the league. MJ Randolph is averaging 19.7 points a game. If the game is close, he can close the game out with his ability to pass and score. They know how to play and they know how to win."
The attributes Brent places upon the Rattlers are the same attributes opponent teams were associating with the Tigers early on – before the injuries started piling up. First, it was graduate student Chris Freeman, a starting guard/forward, being sidelined with a torn ACL injury before conference play even got underway. Then highly touted junior guard Gabe Watson, who many thought would evolve into the MVP of the conference, was sidelined with a concussion against Alcorn State in the team's very first conference game on January 5. Neither Freeman nor Watson have managed to make it back onto the court since sustaining their injuries.
Brent says Watson was the sparkplug that made his team click on all cylinders, averaging nearly 15 points a game. Freeman was the team's blue-collar performer, helping the Tigers in all facets of the game. Losing the pair caused the Tigers to get out to a horrendous start that they just now may be on the verge of putting behind them.
"The last couple of games, we've seen some improvement," said Brent. "We went to (Mississippi) Valley and won there. We went to Pine Bluff and won at (Arkansas) Pine Bluff. Even though we had a limited team, you can tell the guys were accepting their roles and understanding their roles. After 10 or 11 games with Gabe not playing, I think they've kind of finally settled in and figured it out, that we've got to make up his 15 or 16 points as a group and not as one individual."
Heading into the upcoming games with FAMU on Saturday and Bethune-Cookman on Monday, Brent says he likes the turnaround attitude that he sees in his team, a team that seems to be finding its way despite the unexpected plight that had befallen it.
Carrying the load for the Tigers now are forward/center Jayveous McKinnis, a senior who's averaging 12.1 points, 10 rebounds and 3.4 blocks a game and is a leading contender for SWAC defensive pl
ayer of the year, along with junior forward Terence Lewis II (7.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg), senior guard Jonas James III (7.3 ppg, 2.9 apg) and graduate guard Darrian Wilson, who's gone from playing 10 minutes a game to 30 minutes and serves as team captain.
"The thing with this team is their desire and pride to keep playing," said Brent. "When you're 0-3 or 2-7, you can easily stop playing and complain and think that you don't have anything to play for. But we haven't had a game that we didn't have a chance to win. All of the games have been competitive, coming down to the last minute or minute-and-a-half, a shot here, a rebound here. The desire of the team, the passion of the team to continue to play in some difficult circumstances, that's what has impressed me about this team."
After the slow start, Brent says his team's success of late couldn't have come at a better time. The upcoming games against the SWAC's newest members may go a long way towards determining if the Tigers will be a part of March Madness come next month.
"These are two critical games that may have implications on whether we can make the SWAC tournament or not," said Brent. "The first one (FAMU on Saturday) is important for us from a confidence standpoint against a team at the top of the league. We need to get a win over a team at the top. Then, on Monday night, we play Bethune and we're tied with them. So we can break that tie."
