Versatile Basketball Star Aaron Wiggins: From Dance to Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year

Versatile on and off the court

Perhaps because he was born in North Carolina, the capital of basketball, Aaron Wiggins, who comes from Greensboro, the third largest city in the state (after Charlotte and the capital Raleigh), met to him for the first time when he was four. or five years old When I started playing basketball, I really fell in love with the sport After I entered middle school, I decided to stay active in basketball for a long time. Nevertheless, Wiggins did not focus only on ball sports as a child School Musical” and “Oz” It can be said that there is colorful life in classic stage plays such as “The Wizard of Oz” .

In addition, until he reached the seventh grade, Wiggins often took dance classes, such as ballet, jazz, hip-hop and tap.

“I think dancing helps improve my balance and body control,” said Wiggins. “Looking back, I’m thankful that I did those things and tried different things, so it’s fun to look back on that.

Wiggins didn’t have much of a reputation in the basketball circle at first. It wasn’t until his junior year in high school that he began to be recruited by some NCAA Division 1 schools forward Jaylen Hoard (later they came become teammates with the Thunder). Wiggins began to shine in his final season of Arizona high school, and was recognized as a four-star high school student, when scouts from the University of Maryland made a special trip to see Hoard, they also saw Wiggins’ skills at last , they actively kept in touch with him and his family, and successfully persuaded Wiggins to join the team.

Join the team and be a transporter on the bench

As the 41st player in the country and the ninth player in the same position, the newly arrived Wiggins naturally assumed the starting position after Kevin Huerter left the team But, after a few games, he told his ‘ head coach Mark Tursan that he could play on the bench more comfortably. Not only does Maryland have six top high school students this year, but it also has two future NBA players, Jalen Smith and Bruno Fernando, so it’s not only Wiggins’ decision helps himself, but also makes Maryland’s second team stronger. .

After a slump at the beginning of the season, Wiggins turned in a good performance in his freshman season, scoring 8.3 points in just 23.5 minutes his outside shooting percentage was at the level highest in the team with 41.3%, which was a good support for his team attack. However, there is still a certain gap between good college basketball players and natural NBA players Aaron Wiggins knows this, and he is not satisfied with this small success.

“I believe Coach Turgeon didn’t recruit me here just to be a regular basketball player,” Wiggins said.

Turgeon viewed Wiggins as the offensive heart of Maryland’s future and was very forthright with him, saying the team would not be better off if he played as a freshman next season. Wiggins heeded Turgeon’s words and was eliminated by LSU in the NCAA tournament — four days after his freshman season ended, and before April even rolled in, Wiggins was already preparing for its second season, starting at 8 in the morning. round” for more than six hours a day.

However, the results of more than half a year of hard training have backfired. In the first 16 games of his sophomore season, Wiggins shot only 28.8% from outside (23 of 80). to use The decision to consider him as the main offensive force did not seem so wise, but the team later made changes and put him back in the experienced sixth man again Wiggins corrected on the way with his amazing courage.

“You can’t let one thing (shooting performance) affect other parts of your game. I know I’m ready to rebound better, defend better, block pick and rolls and other little things to make sure even if the burn. it’s not going as expected, it’s also impactful in other ways,” Wiggins said.

“It’s disappointing to miss those wide open shots, but at the same time, I’ve done those shots before, and I’ve done a lot more difficult shots, and I just can’t sit back and think about those mistakes, and coaches and teammates who know that support you and tell you to keep shooting, they’re going to put the ball in the same place and you just want to be confident and fire.”

Although the overall efficiency has decreased, the percentage of shooting inside the three-point line has increased from 45.1% to 45.1%, an increase of almost 11 percentage points compared to the t – previous season, and half of the games played throughout the season Starting off the bench, he won the Big-10 Sixth Man of the Year award.