Men's Basketball: Rockets Get The Point
11/28/2000 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 28, 2000
Toledo, OH - Winning is a habit for Terry Reynolds.
As a senior at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, VA, he led his club to a 31-0 win-loss mark and the 1999 USA Today's high school national championship.
He followed that up by going to a prep school last year and guiding Maine Central Institute to a 22-4 ledger en route to being named the team's co-MVP.
Now the 5-9 freshman point guard from Nashville, TN has the Rockets off to a quick start by helping UT win the Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tournament in Kansas City, MO. In his first three games as a Rocket, the diminutive dynamo averaged 23.0 points and 5.7 assists to earn all-tournament team honors.
"Terry is a very confident player and that carries over to his play on the court," Head Coach Stan Joplin said. "He's already come up with some big games for us. It's nice to have a point guard who can control the tempo out there. I almost forget that he's a freshman because of the poise he shows."
When Joplin was looking to recruit a point guard last spring, Reynolds' prep school coach, John Dozier, said he had just the person for him. And after seeing him play for the first time, Joplin knew that Reynolds would be the answer to his team's needs.
"We didn't recruit him heavily," Joplin said. "It was just something that worked out for us and we couldn't be happier with our situation."
Reynolds' impact for the Rockets was felt immediately. In UT's season opener versus Southeast Missouri State, he tallied a game-high 23 points, five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals. To top it off, he sank all eight of his free throws and did not commit a turnover.
Then he turned it up another notch with 36 points and seven assists against Auburn in the semifinals. Reynolds took the game over with the Rockets trailing 64-61 with 6:20 to play. He scored 10 straight points and then dished off to Greg Stempin for what looked like the game-winning three-pointer with 17 seconds to play. After Auburn tied it, he scored 13 of the Rockets' 21 points during the two overtimes and came up with a key steal late in the second overtime with UT holding a one-point lead.
In the championship game against Creighton, he recorded 10 points and five assists and sealed the victory by scoring UT's final five points.
Reynolds' impressive debut has already won him fans in seniors Greg Stempin and Robierre Cullars, who both realize the impact a good point guard can have on a team.
"Terry is the first true point guard that we've had since I've been here, and it's nice to have somebody like that run our offense," senior Greg Stempin said. "He tries to get everybody involved, and he's also able to create his own shot if he needs to."
Senior Robierre Cullars said, "We all have confidence in Terry. Terry knows we have confidence in him and he has confidence in us He's doing what he has to do. He's distributing the ball, scoring when we need him to and just doing a great job."
As the Rockets' point guard, Reynolds is quick to give credit to the rest of his teammates and realizes he needs their help also in order to achieve success.
" We have a lot of good players on this team who can step it up," he said "Greg and Robierre really showed a lot of senior leadership in the tournament. All I want to do is help us win games. Some games I might be in a position to score a lot of points, but other nights I might get a lot of assists or steals and help us in other areas."
While it's still early in the season, preliminary indications are that the Rockets have found what they have been looking for. A point guard who could be the key to a bright future.
- Steve Easton, UT Associate Sports Information Director
