MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The country’s most versatile player, the man they call ‘Slow Mo,’ will try to lead UCLA past the nation’s top team Thursday. The Bruins are aiming to upset Florida, and Manhattan-born, New Jersey-bred Kyle Anderson Jr. — a 6-foot-9 point guard who has drawn comparisons to Magic Johnson — is their best hope.
The Bruins’ two wins this NCAA Tournament matched their total since 2008, with Anderson the heart and soul of the team, just as he had been at Paterson Catholic and then St. Anthony. UCLA bounced back from a disappointing 2013 after first-year coach Steve Alford did the same thing Kyle Anderson Sr. had done three days before Kyle Jr.’s first birthday: Put the ball in his hands.
“I don’t know of anything that’s been bigger for us,’’ Alford said. “From Day One back in April when we were hired … that’s the first thing we told Kyle. We said, ‘You’re going to be our point guard, and we’re going to present a lot of problems for people that are trying to match up to a 6-9 point guard.’’’
After Ben Howland got fired after last year’s first-round upset loss to Minnesota, Anderson’s father convinced him to return for his sophomore season. And now he’s a potential NBA lottery pick, tabbed as high as No. 5 in NBAdraftnet’s most recent mock.
“They didn’t put the ball in his hands [as a freshman]. This year, they put the ball in his hands,’’ Kyle Sr. said. “He wanted to go last year; I had to make him stay. You can’t leave with the NBA people thinking that’s your game. If they put the ball in your hands and [they think] you’re still a bum, then you have prove yourself.’’
Anderson has proven much, averaging closer to a triple-double (14.7 points, 8.7 boards, 6.5 assists) than any player in the nation. He even fixed a little pause in his shot, his 3-point shooting spiking from .211 last year to .491. He’s the first Division I player with 500 points, 300 boards and 200 assists in a season since at least 1996-97.
“It’s been successful all year,’’ Anderson Jr. “We’re here at the Sweet 16, we’ve been playing very well, we score 80 points a game … so I’m very thankful for them putting the ball in my hands, and I reward them by doing what I can do.’’
Kyle Sr. — who coached at Ferris and Snyder high schools, and assisted at St. Peter’s College — first put the ball in Kyle Jr.’s hands when he was a baby.
“He had a Little Tikes basketball court. He didn’t walk until three days before his first birthday. By the time he started to stand up he’d already started playing ball on the floor, shooting,’’ said Kyle Sr., whose father played tight end for the Giants. “I’ve got video of him at 18 months knocking down shots.’’
Anderson went on to lead Paterson Catholic to a 54-6 record over his first two seasons, including a state playoff win at St. Anthony as a freshman, one of only two home playoff losses Friars coach Bob Hurley remembers in 40 years.
When Paterson Catholic closed, he transferred to St. Anthony and led the Friars to a 65-0 record and a second straight state Tournament of Champions crown. Hurley called him the team’s heart and soul, and likened him to Magic Johnson.
“Nobody who ever played at our school at his size, 6-9, and had a dad that groomed him to be a point guard from when he was little. He was 7, 8, 9 and his dad always had him playing up with the bigger kids,’’ Hurley said. “He’s a unique player.’’
And a winning one, from national titles in grammar school to that 2011 USA Today national crown with St. Anthony, to leading UCLA to their first conference tournament championship in six years.
“I think I was born with that trait. It’s just got to be something you have. Watching other players, watching winners, I think it’s just rubbed off on me,’’ said Anderson, not blessed not with great speed but a 7-3 wingspan and a complete game.
“The thing people don’t understand is he’s just a winner. I don’t care what level it is: How do winners translate to the next level? They win,’’ Kyle Sr said. “It’s not a position; it’s an attitude. No, he can’t out-jump you. No, he can’t outrun you. But at the end of the day, his team has more points than yours.’’