South Florida transfer junior guard Jayden Reid has wasted no time accelerating Northwestern’s offensive pace from the first moment he stepped on the floor for a Friday evening thrashing of Boston University.
Reid’s lightning-quick pace helped the Wildcats’ (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten) offense get down the court in a matter of seconds, leading to high-percentage shots and an insurmountable lead that resulted in a 76-52 win. The 5-foot-10 point guard finished the first half with 11 points and six assists in just 15 minutes of action.
“Being a transfer, I had to come in and just prove myself and earn (the coaching staff’s) trust coming into the season,” Reid said. “They relayed that trust to me, and now it’s my job to do the right things with it and hopefully it turns into wins.”
In his sophomore season at South Florida, Reid was limited to just 3.6 assists per game while turning it over 2.6 times, on average. In two contests at NU, Reid is averaging 5.5 assists and only one turnover a game. And with Reid’s production, the ’Cats have reaped the benefits.
With increased front-court mobility in transfer junior forward Arrinten Page and highly-touted freshman forward Tre Singleton, Reid and the ’Cats can cover 94 feet in much-improved time. This newfound speed isn’t lost on coach Chris Collins.
“(Reid) was terrific tonight,” Collins said. “His pace just sets the tone and the way he pushes that ball, how could you not want to run with that guy? We’re getting a lot of easy baskets off of our defense, where we really didn’t have the personnel to do it before. I’ve always wanted to play like that, but you also have to have the personnel and the speed.”
While NU has nine players listed as guards, Reid, when he stays out of foul trouble, appears poised to handle the ball on the majority of the ’Cats possessions this year.
So far, Collins has mostly shared ball-handling duties between freshman guard Jake West and junior guard Jordan Clayton when he’s taken Reid out of the game. Against Mercyhurst, Reid got two quick fouls and only played five minutes in the first half.
“The coaches were on me since that game about not gambling and not reaching so I don’t pick up early and dumb fouls,” Reid said. “For me, it’s about picking up full court and being solid, not reaching and keeping guys in front of me. That helped out, and I was able to play longer stretches and have a better game.”
Reid has the ability to be the true floor general that NU needed after graduating former guards Jalen Leach, Brooks Barnhizer and Ty Berry this offseason. While he’s a capable three-level scorer, Reid’s most potent talent lies in pushing the ball in transition and catching defenses off guard.
One beneficiary of Reid’s pacey playmaking has been senior forward Nick Martinelli, and he’s made his appreciation clear.
“It’s pretty hard to catch up with this kid when he has the ball, so I get really tired,” Martinelli said of Reid. “We really hit it off the first time we met, and having that chemistry with your point guard off the court is special. And just seeing the things he could do on the court with the ball in his hands, I was cheesing all summer.”
Against BU, Reid finished the game with 17 points and eight assists as the ’Cats easily took down the Terriers in a 76-52 win. NU will look to its new backcourt leader to keep it in the win column against Cleveland State on Monday.
While the limelight right now is on the ’Cats newest star point guard, Reid isn’t letting it change his priorities or forget why he came to Evanston in the first place.
“It’s one family,” Reid said. “The culture is what really stuck out to me in the transfer process. That’s one of the reasons why I came here. Even past the basketball staff, the nutritionist, the weight room staff, everybody is just good people, it’s just a family.”
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