Baltimore native and graduate student Terry Nolan Jr. is hoping to lead the Towson men’s basketball team to its third NCAA Tournament appearance ever. The Tigers have not made the tournament since 1991 and they have yet to win the Colonial Athletic Association since joining the conference in 2001.
But earning the CAA’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament isn’t the only source of motivation for Nolan. He recently welcomed his daughter Lila, his first child, to the world. Lila has helped Nolan develop as a person.
“[Becoming a father] has changed me a lot,” Nolan said on Glenn Clark Radio Feb. 15. “One way is I’m definitely more soft than I was before having a baby girl. It’s a great thing, honestly. I never thought I would be this in touch with my emotions … being more in touch with them and understanding that it’s going to be OK to cry or to be a little soft. Having her and seeing her every day makes me smile and makes me want to be a better man, because at the end of the day, she’s going to emulate what she sees, so I have to set the standard high.”
Having a child has also allowed Nolan to be more comfortable in his own skin.
“Emotions are going to come and go,” Nolan said. “It’s a lot easier to deal with it when [emotions are] out and open and you let them pass and allow life to happen in opposed to bottling everything up and thinking you’re OK.”
Nolan grew up in Baltimore and attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School. He first attended George Washington (2017-2019), then transferred to Bradley (2019-2021). After that, Nolan decided it was time to come back home and play for his hometown school.
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Nolan is averaging 10.0 points on 35.4 percent shooting from the floor for Towson this year as well as 4.1 assists and 2.6 rebounds, though he has missed some time due to respiratory issues.
The Tigers are currently 19-7 overall and 10-3 in the CAA. Nolan said the team doesn’t feel any additional pressure to snap Towson’s long tournament drought. He is simply excited and blessed to be part of a special team right at home.
“First and foremost, I have to definitely give my praise to God,” Nolan said. “He definitely gave me this vision, and it was very clear what he told me. To just see it panning out, it’s been amazing with this group of guys who came together in the summertime with the common goal of playing our best basketball come March. Just to see where we are right now, it’s been truly a blessing. I enjoy it every day, coming to practice with those guys and building and learning.”
There are many things that make this team so special and unique, but one aspect in particular is that any player has the ability to go out and drop 20 points on any given night, according to Nolan. If one of the Tigers’ star players has an off night, someone else can have a phenomenal outing.
Senior Cam Holden is leading the team in points per game at 13.9, while redshirt junior Nicolas Timberlake is second on the team at 13.7. Junior Charles Thompson (10.2), junior Jason Gibson (10.1) and Nolan round out the Tigers’ top five scorers.
“Having that trust factor and building the camaraderie throughout the entire summer and just knowing that I may not be playing good tonight, but Nick may be hitting every shot,” Nolan said. “We may not even have a good shooting night, but we’ve got to rely on something else — that’s us being together, talking, defense and definitely rebounding. Just having those intangibles in there being instilled from day one definitely sets us apart.”
Towson now plays its biggest game of the season as it travels to Wilmington, N.C., to take on first-place UNC Wilmington on Thursday, Feb. 17. The Seahawks are 18-7 and 12-2 in the CAA. Towson lost to UNC Wilmington, 81-77, in overtime back in January at SECU Arena.
“I think what we’re going to do is basically the same thing, just come out hungrier,” Nolan said. “I feel as though we had them on the ropes at the end and then our defense kind of got apart a little bit. We allowed for them to play one-on-one ball, which is their style, so definitely coming out I think we’re going to be more aggressive, we’re going to be more together, we’re going to bring the fight to them.”
For more from Nolan, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Alex Wright