We are still a couple of months away from the tip-off of the college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to prepare 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 Western Carolina head coach Justin Gray, who talked about having a pair of Hall of Fame roommates and his expectations for this season.
You were Carmelo Anthony’s roommate at Oak Hill Academy and Chris Paul’s roommate at Wake Forest: did it reach a point where every basketball player in America wanted to live with you?! I have been blessed to be around good talent and was attracted to people who had the same goals: sometimes that sunshine gets on you a bit so you can get a tan! Carmelo and I were just 2 kids trying to figure it out: we had some long talks in the dorms and that soul-searching was good for both of us. I see him all the time in the summer and am following his son. I joke with both of them all the time that THEY roomed with ME because I was there 1st. They were always ready/willing to learn and became the best of the best, which also helped me. We are all getting a little older: hopefully Chris can get a championship this year. I am excited for them and they are excited for me.
In the 2004 NCAA tourney you made the Sweet 16 and scored 23 PTS/4-8 3PM in a 4-PT loss to #1-seed St. Joe’s (who went 27-0 during the regular season): where does that Hawks team with national COY Phil Martelli/national POY Jameer Nelson rank among the best that you have ever seen? I ended up playing for Coach Martelli on Team USA: he let his guards go out and play free. Jameer was a headache, Pat Carroll was making shots, and Delonte West was a stud. The following year I played against an amazing Tar Heels team: we beat them in the regular season but they ended up winning the national championship. They had Marvin Williams coming off the bench…and he ended up as the #2 pick in the draft that year. They also had a Hall of Fame coach in Roy Williams. When we made the Sweet 16 it was all that everyone on campus was talking about. Now we are trying to do something around here that has not been done in a very long time.
In January of 2006 you scored 38 PTS/7-11 3PM in a 4-PT loss at Maryland (the 2nd most by a Wake Forest player in the past 50 years): was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? I remember Ray Lewis being at that game. I was a shooter so anytime I was open I thought that I was making it. When you are in those moments you cannot shy away from them: you have to always believe/prepare.
Your 319 career 3PM was #2 in school history: what is the secret to making shots from behind the arc? Reps. I joke with our guys all the time that I am still the best shooter in the gym despite being a chubby guy with my shirt tucked in: it is muscle memory. Steph Curry will always be a great shooter because he is blessed with a great touch, but those who are not blessed just need the confidence/discipline. When I missed a shot I would blame the ball/rim because I expected every shot to go in. Being consistent builds confidence: even if I missed a couple of shots I still expected to make the next 10 in a row.
You were a 3-time All-ACC selection: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? I grew up in Charlotte where ACC basketball is like religion. I was blessed to play with good talent and be coached by guys like Skip Prosser/Dino Gaudio/Pat Kelsey/etc. It means a lot: Wake has a very special place in my heart because I became a man there and those teammates/coaches are like family to me. I wish we could have won a national title but it is a testament to the work that you put in. The biggest thing was the lifelong friends I made.
You played pro basketball for 12 years in 13 different countries: what was the favorite part of your long journey? I did what I loved every single day. When I came home for the summers I would play for free, but now someone was going to pay me to play in Paris!? Basketball has been really good to me so I respect it and give back to the people I come in contact with. Everybody talks about pressure/moments but I got paid to play a game that I would play for free. It can be taken away in an instant, like it was during COVID, so it is important to enjoy life. Now I am the head honcho but I can only be me. You will get a truth-teller: never in my life did I think that I would be in Europe. Steph grew up watching me and wanting to get a photo with me: now I try to make it someone else’s story.
In 2021 as an assistant to Pat Kelsey at Winthrop you entered the NCAA tourney 23-1 before losing to Villanova: how close did you come to going undefeated? We lost to UNC Asheville. It was really hard to win back-to-back games and was a tough deal. We had a really good team and were beating Villanova early in that game. It was a weird situation: they slid our meals to us under the door and there were no locker rooms, but the experience of playing an NCAA tourney in a bubble was special. We won back-to-back conference titles and I learned a lot from Coach Kelsey. To coach 2 years and then become a head coach is almost unheard of but I have a great staff/mentors.
You went 11-21 in your 1st year at Western Carolina and 18-16 in your 2nd year: how were you able to improve so much in just 1 year? It is simple: players! We built a strong culture and have good support from our administration. The players bought in to what we preached, put in the reps, and then went out and performed. We coach them really hard but love them even more: my door is always open and I have player meetings throughout the day. When you take the pressure off them they can just go out and perform: all I ask is that they give me their best. We are excited about the jump that we made but we lost 16 games so we keep challenging them by patting them on the back and kicking them in the butt because that is what it takes to be good. We have some scrimmages coming up next month and they are excited to play someone else…but you cannot skip any steps. We just try to be better than the day before, which requires the mental element to stay disciplined.
Your roster includes players from 7 different states: what sort of recruiting philosophy do you have? We kept 7 of our top-8 players from last year so we are focused on retention. We are in a really good spot: less than 3 hours from big cities like Atlanta/Charlotte/etc. We recruit our state but have kids from several nearby states as well as Indiana. It is important to build relationships but it is not just about getting 4-star recruits: we want guys who want to be here and fit into our culture. We do not take guys who talk about “my numbers”: there is a lot of talent out there and I do not have time for that. We have good young men who end up graduating: if they can fulfill their dreams and have a chance to win then they will be ready for the real world. If a good player in Alaska wants to be here…then we are going to Alaska!
What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? Graduate our guys. I would not be sitting here if I had not graduated from Wake. I want us to play with energy/grit, which can lead to excellence. We break the games into 4-minute segments: if you win enough of those then you will win the game. This is probably the 1st time in a while that we will not be picked 9th/10th in our conference. It is a challenge for all of us to see how we approach it but everything is better with a little bit of pressure because that means you are doing something right. They are working hard and I hope we stay healthy: just look at Aaron Rodgers. Nothing is guaranteed so I just want to enjoy the ride with my family.
