UMBC men’s basketball coach Jim Ferry had a good feeling about Retrievers standout Jah’Likai King after watching film of the guard last offseason.
King had just entered the transfer portal after two years at New Haven, then a Division II program. Ferry was looking for backcourt help after the departure of Marcus Banks Jr., now at UMass. King had averaged 16.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 57 career games at New Haven and entered the portal with two years of eligibility remaining.
Ferry has a background in Division II, having previously played and coached at the level, and as such has a good feel for which players will translate to the next level. He loved what he saw from King, but there was one catch — his size. King was listed at 160 pounds by New Haven.
“When his name went in the portal and I started watching it, I was like, ‘That’s the guy’ — his ability to scoot and fly by,” Ferry said. “I didn’t really worry about his size. I was like, ‘We’ll get him stronger.’ I knew he had the ability to do it. It was just a matter of getting stronger.”
King put on 20 (good) pounds after he got to UMBC in the offseason and quickly adapted to the Division I level. The 6-foot-2 guard is averaging 14.3 points on shooting percentages of .425, .326 and .828 for the Retrievers, starting all 30 games and showing an ability to consistently get into the paint.
One of King’s best performances of the year came at the right time for UMBC, as he scored 24 points on 7 of 14 shooting from the field and 5 of 8 shooting from 3-point range to help lift the Retrievers to a 91-69 victory against UMass Lowell in the America East semifinals on March 10.
Now, UMBC faces Vermont in the conference championship game in Catonsville on March 14 at 11 a.m. The Retrievers have won 11 in a row, with the victories coming by an average of 17 points.
“I didn’t look into the future seeing us making it this far, but it’s actually great,” King said, reflecting back on his arrival to UMBC last summer. “Starting off the court and bringing it onto the court with these guys, even the coaches, I feel like it’s just a family group. I feel like we just built everything from Day 1 and we just grinded it out and believed in ourselves. Now we’re here.”
King is one of three transfers from the Division II level making waves for the Retrievers, the others being DJ Armstrong Jr. (Texas Permian Basin) and Jose Roberto Tanchyn (Florida Beach Atlantic). Armstrong is a southpaw with a sweet stroke, shooting 40.4 percent from 3-point range. Tanchyn (5.6 rebounds per game) gives the Retrievers toughness inside they didn’t have a year ago.
King (first team) and Armstrong (second) both earned All-America East honors after the regular season.
“I know I came from D-II. It’s just coming in, gaining my weight and just being able to fit in with the guys,” King said. “I feel like I just took everything personal because nobody knew if I could play at this level because everybody’s bigger, stronger, but I stuck [to it].”
King’s biggest adjustment was the grind of the America East. League games are played on a Thursday-Saturday rhythm. UMBC has longer road trips than the rest of the programs in the conference because it is easily the southernmost school in the league.
“That’s a lot of wear and tear, and I think he had to understand how to eat properly, how to rest and how to take care of his body,” Ferry said. “But I knew if he would do that, then he would have a chance.”
The Retrievers now have one more hurdle to go dancing: Vermont, which has gone to the NCAA Tournament six times under John Becker. The Catamounts are 22-11 overall and rank second in the league on KenPom, a college hoops analytics site, behind only UMBC.
UMBC had the day off on March 11 but is back to its normal routine, other than hitting the floor for practice in the morning on March 13 to account for the early tip the next day.
No matter the result against Vermont, it’s been a heck of a ride for the Retrievers.
“Every year you come in [during] the summer and you have aspirations to win a championship,” graduate forward Josh Odunowo said. “I think the thing with us is that sometimes with some teams it kind of dwindles out. I feel like this year the belief just stayed there the whole year from the beginning to the end. I feel like from the start of the year until now, we’ve kept faith in ourselves and each other. I feel like we’ve been playing like that. I feel like this group is just a real good group of guys and I’m just grateful to be a part of it.”
Photo Credit: Will Stumme/America East