We are less than 9 days away from the tip-off of the new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Howard SR PG Cam Gillus, who talked about his magical March and his expectations for this season.
You were born/raised in the DMV: what made you choose Lehigh to begin your college career? They recruited me early-on in the process and gave me a good opportunity to play right away, which is something that I wanted to do. That on-court experience has really helped me.
As a freshman you played in 31 games and led your team with 36 STL: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? I am very coachable and did whatever it took to get onto the floor. It is hard for young guys to get playing time, but my work on the defensive end got me on the floor/kept me on the floor. I tried to hang my hat on defense.
In the 2024 conference tourney semifinals you scored a career-high 30 PTS/6-8 3PM in a 21-point comeback win over Boston University and were eventually named to the All-Tournament Team: how were you able to play your best when it mattered the most? I have a unique way of doing that: when the moment gets bigger, I am that much more dialed in. When my team counted on me to make plays I just made them. I got hot that night and was ready to step up in that moment.
Why did you decide to transfer last year, and what made you choose Howard? Coming home played a role in it, but I also wanted a change of scenery. Coach Kenny Blakeney and his staff made an interesting pitch based on their culture, which really stood out to me.
Last year you were top-2 in the conference in both AST/STL: what is the secret to being a good PG? Doing whatever the team needs. You must be solid/steady while everyone is counting on you. 1 game I might have to shoot a lot and another game I might need to be a distributor: getting the win is the most important thing.
You were also selected for the Commissioner’s All-Academic Team: how do you balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? That is something I have been good at throughout college. I know I must take care of everything off the court and I use my time wisely so that I do not have problems on the court.
Take me through your magical March earlier this year:
You opened that month with the 2nd triple-double in school history (12 PTS/11 REB/11 AST) in a win over Coppin State: where does that rank among the best all-around games of your career? I never expected to get a triple-double and never saw it coming, but it is a testament to the role I play by doing a little bit of everything. It is 1 of the top-2 moments of my college career.
In the conference tourney title game, you scored 14 PTS in a 7-PT win over NCCU: what did it mean to win a title, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? That game came down to the wire while they fought back but we were able to hold them off. Hearing the final buzzer go off was a surreal experience. It is a dream of every young player to be in March Madness. When we came back to campus, we had a watch party and saw our name called out on Selection Sunday: it was an incredible couple of days!
In the NCAA tourney you had a 3-PT win over UMBC before losing to eventual champion Michigan: what did you learn from that remarkable run that you think will help you this season? The whole experience will help us this year. For most of us it was our 1st time in March Madness, so the lights were kind of bright. While we were able to win our game in the 1st 4, the level of competition goes up in the 1st round, so we must be ready for that moment and attack it with a full head of steam.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? As a team we have talked about our goals. We have high expectations for ourselves and would like to get 30 wins to set us up for a successful postseason. We got our 1st 4 win last year, but we want to win a 1st/2nd round game this year and make it to the 2nd weekend to push this program even further.
