A Close Look in at Jared Terrell - Baller, Shot Caller
Jared Terrell has single-handedly slain many opponents in his time with a Rhode Island uniform on. There was a ranked Nebraska team that came to the Ryan Center and fell to the Rams' #32. Next, there was a Dayton powerhouse that lost for one of the very few times at UD Arena to the hand of Terrell and his teammates. When his teammates were slacking in the first half of a crucial game against Cincinnati at the Mohegan Sun arena, Terrell picked them up. When URI's NCAA tournament chances were hanging in the balance and VCU came into town in a later February clash, Jared Terrell shot the lights out.
As a Rhode Island fan, Jared Terrell has been my favorite player since he came to Kingston, RI and he is arguably their best big-time player. Just ask the Oregon Ducks, who are headed to the Final Four but almost had their season ended due to jump shot after jump shot by URI's starting shooting guard. In my opinion, Terrell possesses the best overall offensive game and best overall defensive game on his team.
Offensively, he can shoot the basketball from anywhere and hit any variation of a shot. All the while, when he drives to the hoop, the defense better move out of the way or they are going to give up an "and-1". If the defense wants to stack together and wall up near the basket, Rhode Island's shooting guard can stop on a dime and hit a floater in their face. Also, it is no coincidence that Jared Terrell is often tasked with bringing the ball up. In the 2015-2016 season, with many of his teammates suffering from injury, he combined with fellow junior, Jarvis Garrett, to handle the primary ball-handling duties. When the Weymouth, MA. native is fully engaged into the game, he knows how to make the proper back cut and find a scoring opportunity at the hop. These cuts have been made against the most superior opposition, considering that he did it twice to the #1 team in the nation (at the time), the Duke Blue Devils, at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
When a team matches up with Rhode Island, expect Jared Terrell to be defending the opposition's best offensive player. When lottery pick Kris Dunn and his PC Friars came into the Ryan Center, he felt what it was like to get locked up by #32 in white and blue. He was not the first and will not be the last to receive that kind of treatment. Defensively, Jared Terrell does everything but ties his opposition's shoes. He is adept at cutting off the drive to the hoop or closing the shooting window for his counterpart on the other team. On many occasions throughout a Rhode Island game, Terrell can be counted on to either force a turnover by force or pressure the other team into making unnecessary turnovers. In addition, the shooting guard comes with several timely blocks, which is a rarity in the fast-paced, offensive-minded modern concept of college basketball.
Even when Dan Hurley's squad had about half of his players injured in the 2015-2016 season, Jared Terrell remained the most durable player and produced at a high level, despite playing almost the entirety of every single game. Staying healthy is already half of the battle to being a successful basketball player in college and professionally.
Finally, there is something needs to be said for the clutch factor of this man. I specifically remember fans criticizing the shooting guard in his freshman season when he took a 3-point jumper to try to win a pivotal home game against Davidson and missed it. I was extremely upset that they lost but I had zero reason to be made about the last shot. Besides the fact that the budding star was wide open, who else would a Rhode Island fan want to take the shot? When the game is on the line for Rhode Island, put me on the list of people who wants Jared Terrell to take the last shot.
In the very same 2014-2015 season, a 21st-ranked Nebraska team dropped their third game of the season because the Massachusetts native drained three after three in the Ryan Center. On January 31, 2015, the Rams won a crucial conference game over George Washington off the back of 17 huge points from Terrell and an unforgettable steal that ended with a thunderous dunk that got the entire Ryan Center on their feet. In the 2015-2016 season, his heroics still continued when he put up 18 points and lead the charge to Rhode Island's unexpected upset at Dayton on February 27, 2016. Dayton was a guaranteed NCAA tournament team and fell to 22-6 overall and 12-4 in the conference. This loss was only the second loss that the Dayton Flyers suffered in conference in the 2015-2016 season.
Moving forward, in the 2016-2017 season, Jared Terrell put up 14 clutch points in the Rhode Island Rams best win of the season, against Cincinnati at the HOF Tip-Off tournament. In a game where GW almost managed to pull off an insane upset and comeback in the Ryan Center on January 31, 2017, Terrell scored 17 points and denied the comeback efforts with a massive block in Yuta Watanabe's face. In arguably the biggest conference contest of the season, #32 showed up with his Superman cape, on his way to 20 points and 10 rebounds against the VCU Rams. When the Rhode Island Rams and VCU Rams did battle again, this time in the Atlantic 10 championship game, Terrell put up another 20-point performance that will never be forgotten in URI men's basketball history. In the program's first NCAA tournament game since 1999, #32 was back in double digits in the scoring column when he scored 12 points and went a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line in the first-round game against Creighton. Rhode Island's season may have been cut short but it had nothing to do with a lack of effort from Jared Terrell. The star shooting guard produced 15 points on an efficient 7-11 shooting night from the field, to go along with 3 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals. I can only imagine what this man will accomplish in the 2017-2018 season as a senior.
There is a reason why countless commentators think Jared Terrell is a future player in the NBA or even a future linebacker in the NFL. He is a baller and a shot caller.
