Ja’Kobi Gillespie is acutely aware of the shoes he’s being asked to fill.
A week after entering the transfer portal in March, the former Belmont star visited College Park. Maryland men’s basketball’s coaches, needing to replace All-Big Ten guard Jahmir Young, weren’t shy in comparing the two players.
“That’s who they showed me the whole visit,” Gillespie said. “He was really good here, I really liked his game. We definitely have different games, but I feel like we have a lot of similarities. [That] really was their main pitch.”
But coach Kevin Willard knew he couldn’t replace Young with just one player. He was able to get Gillespie some additional help in the backcourt with USF transfer Selton Miguel and Virginia Tech transfer Rodney Rice, alleviating pressure from Gillespie’s jump in conferences.
“I feel really confident that we put some guys around him to help him make that transition,” Willard said.
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Gillespie also possessed traits that Maryland coveted.
The Terps wanted a guard who could hit catch-and-shoot threes and play out of dribble handoffs to complement big men Derik Queen and Julian Reese. Gillespie shot better on catch-and-shoot threes than on off-the-dribble threes last season, according to Willard.
With less expected offensive responsibility than Young, Maryland’s staff hopes Gillespie can impact the game in other areas. Willard praised his speed in the open court, while assistant coach Greg Manning Jr. called Gillespie a pass-first point guard and a defensive pest.
Gillespie, who made the All-MVC Defensive Team last season, led the conference with 2.2 steals per game. Young averaged 1.3 in his two years at Maryland.
“We couldn’t ask Jahmir to be the type of defender that he could’ve been, just because of the amount of usage [he] had,” Willard said. So I think [defense at the point guard spot] was gonna be really important for us, too.”
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Gillespie also shot 72.6 percent at the rim and 39 percent on three-pointers. Nearly half of his made threes were self-created and he was second in the Missouri Valley Conference in true shooting percentage.
Gillespie’s true shooting percentage at Belmont last season would have led Big Ten guards, and he would have finished second in steal percentage.
Although the MVC is a mid-major league, it produced multiple significant Big Ten transfers last year. Purdue’s Lance Jones and Illinois’ Marcus Domask both played pivotal roles for NCAA tournament teams.
“Anytime you take a kid from that level and he levels up, it takes a little while to kind of figure it all out,” Manning said. “But he played at a good level … it’s a good league.”
Gillespie said he expects to have equal or better numbers than he did a season ago. He cited improvements in his own game and being around better players.
If that holds true, Gillespie will be a formidable successor to Young and a key part of Maryland’s identity this season.
“He’s got big shoes to fill, but he doesn’t have to be Jahmir,” Manning said. “I think we have more pieces around him this year that we didn’t have last year.”