Scouting William Jessup Warriors
Perennial NAIA stalwart moves into NCAA Division II this season
The Warriors come off an 18-12 season, their final campaign as an NAIA program as Head Coach Mark Darnall completed a successful first season at the helm. This is Darnall’s first head job after stints as an Assistant Coach at Eastern Washington (under new Washington State Head Coach David Riley), Chico State (D-II) and UC-Davis.
High Flying 6’6” wing Anthony Enoh shows off his hops
Jessup loses their top two scorers from last season’s team that was an at-large selection to the NAIA tournament: 6’0” Miles Corey, the program’s all-time leading scorer who transferred to South Alabama (Sun Belt conference) and 6’1” graduated senior Ty Artis. The pair of guards each averaged over 31 mpg, took almost 40% of the Warriors threes and averaged a combined 35 ppg.
Jessup does return 6’1” Ja’Maris Blackmon (13.6 ppg including 38 3’s) who started 29 games last season after transferring in from Seattle Pacific (NCAA Division II). Blackmon also shot 38% from downtown on a team that averaged 26.5 threes attempted per game.
Up front, the Warriors feature 6’5” SR Aydan Janssan (Australia) who averaged 10.6 ppg while averaging 35% from beyond the stripe. Off the bench come 6’6” Nigeria native SO Anthony Enoh (5.2 ppg/4.7 rpg as a freshman) and 6’9” Duke Gipson, entering his sophomore season after prepping at Junipero Serra High School in Los Angeles.
A potential minute-eating transfer joining this season’s roster is 6’6” Josh Lincoln (Australia - 15.5 ppg/6.4 rpg) who played the past two seasons at Portland Community College.
A plethora of freshmen also arrive highlighted by 6’3” TJ Latu (Jefferson H.S./Portland, OR), who was a two-time Oregon All-State selection, 6’3” Murphy Rodgers, part of the New Zealand Tall Blacks U-19 program this past summer, 6’6” FR Noah Roth (Christmas Valley, OR), 6’3” Cayden McDaniel (Silas H.S./Tacoma, WA/1st Team All-State) and 6’5” Spanish forward Curro Segura, who played this past season in Greece for Olympiacos Piraeus U18 team.
Jessup was a perimeter-oriented team offensively last season with no starter over 6’5” so a “five-out” offensive philosophy predominated. The Warriors took 42.5% of their field goal attempts from beyond the arc, shooting 35% as a group from that range and averaged over 80 points per game.
The Tigers staff will be able to have a first look at the Warriors who open their season on October 31st, 2024, hosting Pacific Union College (NAIA/Cal Pac Conference).
We plan to have more on the Warriors after their first game on Hallowe’en night in advance of the November 4th home opener in Stockton that will mark the beginning of the Dave Smart coaching era at the University of the Pacific.