Yesterday Texas A&M Corpus-Christi beat Northwestern State 75-71 in the Southland tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Islanders started conference play 4-3 but have won 12 of their last 13 games to claim the school’s 2nd straight NCAA tourney bid. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Texas A&M Corpus-Christi SR G Jalen Jackson about the special bond he has with Coach Steve Lutz.
Back at Wagner High School in 2019 you had a quadruple-double with 19 PTS/14 REB/10 AST/10 STL: where does that rank among the best all-around performances of your career? It is 1 of my top performances…but I think that my best is yet to come.
You began your college career at North Texas: what made you decide to transfer in 2021, and what made you choose Texas A&M Corpus-Christi? It just was not the right situation for me. I wanted to have a bigger role but shout-out to North Texas for giving me my 1st opportunity. Once I entered the portal it was a waiting game, and after I heard from Coach Steve Lutz (who I have known a while) I decided to take a chance.
Coach Lutz was a college teammate of your father Terence at Texas Lutheran: what makes him such a good coach, and what sort of bond have you 2 developed? He is all about winning and is a stand-up guy who tells you the truth whether it is good or bad. He always looks out for our best interest. We have always had a bond but since coming here we have grown a lot closer. I trust him a lot and he has a lot of trust in me on the court so it is an unbelievable bond that we have created.
Your father runs an AAU basketball program in San Antonio: how did you like playing for him, and who is the best athlete in the family? The AAU program actually started when I was in 2nd grade because my friend and I wanted to play together. As time went on the organization grew and became more of a national thing. I take every chance I get to go back and help the kids and hang out because I was in their shoes back in the day. I am a good athlete but so is the rest of my family: we all have good genes…but I think I have the best resume!
Last night in the Southland tourney title game you scored a season-high 17 PTS in a 4-PT win over Northwestern State en route to being named conference tourney MVP: how were you able to overcome a 16-PT 1st half deficit, and what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? We were shell-shocked at 1st because they came out with a different game plan and 1 of our players (Terrion Murdix) went down with a knee injury. Owen Dease did a great job of giving us a spark off the bench in the 1st half and bringing life to the team. If he had not done that then I think it would have been a different picture: it was his coming-out game. It was a blessing to be named MVP but I just did whatever I could do to help us win.
Terrion was named conference DPOY earlier this week but only played 3 minutes last night: what makes him such a good defender, and do you think that he will be able to play next week? I do not know if he will be able to play: we are waiting to hear what is going on. He is a great defender with long arms and knows when to go for steals. The way we play aggressive defense also helps him: we are up in gaps and pressuring the ball so shout-out to our coaching staff for giving us a chance to take risks.
You are 1 of 8 seniors/grad students on the roster: how crucial has all of that experience been to your team’s success? It has been very crucial. I think we returned 10 guys this year so we did not have to learn how to play with new teammates like we did last year. We knew everyone’s potential/ability so if someone is not giving their best effort we can call them out and have them pick up their play.
You are now 9-0 in conference tourney play during your career (5-0 in the Southland and 4-0 in C-USA): what is the key to winning games in March? Just being ready and staying prepared. Last year we had a 5-game losing streak late in the season and I told our guys that winning in March is about who wants it more. My guys have always wanted it more in conference tourney play: when it is game time we just do what we have to do to win.
You played several tourney-caliber teams this year including Arizona/Mississippi State/Oklahoma State: which of them impressed you the most? I would say Arizona because we do not usually see teams that big/long in our conference. They have 2 big men who can play inside or out, which we are not accustomed to, so it was a good experience for us to play in their arena.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? I do not know but hopefully a 15 seed. It really does not matter because we tell each other every day that we lace up our shoes the same way that our opponents do. When the ball goes up in the air we just have to play hard for 40 minutes and let our work/preparation determine the outcome.