The evolution of Jordan King’s game has been an ongoing process this season and the East Tennessee State guard feels like his game is peaking heading into the Southern Conference basketball tournament.
The Bucs take on Western Carolina in Saturday’s quarterfinals in Asheville, North Carolina. They’re coming in on a modest two-game winning streak and having won three of their last five games, including a 63-62 win over UNC Greensboro that ended the Spartans’ hopes at a regular-season title.
Much of the Bucs’ late-season success can be credited to King, whose game has become more efficient as his role has changed. In SoCon games, King has averaged 17.1 points, second in the league to only Wofford center B.J. Mack.
Over his past five games, King is averaging 22.6 points. During that span, he’s shot better than 50% from the field.
“Jordan King is really stepping up,” ETSU coach Desmond Oliver said. “He’s trusting more. I think he’s trusting what we’re doing. He’s trusting he can get his offense going and his scoring within the offense.”
That wasn’t always the case this year.
“I feel like early in the season, I was just trying to get mine too much,” said King, who was chosen to the third-team All-SoCon team by the coaches and media on Wednesday. “But now I’m playing better, playing like a better teammate, getting guys involved and it’s helping me out because I don’t have to force anything. I’m just taking the right ones and not the bad ones.”
The plan at the beginning of the season was to have King play the point, but somehow as the season progressed, the Bucs got away from that and King’s game suffered as he seemed caught in between the two positions.
“That was all on me,” King said. “I was out there being a selfish player in the beginning of the year. So I take full responsibility for that. But I just had to lock in more, watch some more film and just really learn the game and just be a point guard because that’s what I needed to do this year. I’m just happy it came together.”
With starting point guard Allen Strothers missing three games with a concussion suffered in practice, King has played almost exclusively at the point. Those three games resulted in a 68-66 loss to Western Carolina, a game in which the Bucs had a potentially winning shot in the air at the buzzer, and wins over VMI and UNCG.
“He’s just being more efficient,” said Bucs center Jalen Haynes, who was also a third-team All-SoCon pick by the coaches. “You know, some people question the shot selection, some people question how he does things. But he’s just been being Jordan, the best possible person he could be. He’s sticking to his craft. He’s never given up on his craft. And that takes the scoring load off some people, so he’s been helping us a lot.”
In the last five games, King has played 192 minutes out of a possible 200. He played all 40 minutes in the last two outings.
“It hurts,” King said. “It definitely hurts the next day.”
King might not have much time to recover if the Bucs get on a roll in Asheville. Their Saturday quarterfinal against Western Carolina is set for 2:30 p.m. Should they win, they’d play again at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
“You have to play like it’s your last game,” King said. “Because it literally could be your last game.”
OUT AND BACK
The on-and-off relationship between ETSU guard DeAnthony Tipler and Oliver is apparently off again. Oliver said Tipler won’t be making the trip to Asheville.
Strothers and Brock Jancek, who was also suffering from a concussion, should be available for the tournament. The two were allowed to take part in the light portion of practice this week and were expected to be cleared for full-go by the weekend.
Joe Avento is the Sports Editor for the Johnson City Press and Kingsport Times News and has covered East Tennessee State University athletics and local golf since 1987.
