This is how a 5-10, 160-pound guard became the first star of March Madness
It’s not exactly clear when Jahlil Jenkins realized he was on track to be the first real star of March Madness.
Maybe it was when the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights blocked a shot and Jenkins decided to drive through three Prairie View A&M Panthers for an and-one with a little more than 10 minutes left.
It might have even been when he tried — and failed — to slide the ball behind his back for a reverse layup, only to have hubris bite him when he couldn’t quite finish the move and wound up traveling.
He finally did become the first star of the NCAA Tournament when pulled up from the top of the key to sink a go-ahead three-pointer with 4:28 left.
Fairleigh Dickinson went up by two, then didn’t trail again on its way to a 82-76 win in the first game of the Tournament.
The Knights trailed pretty much the whole way until Jenkins splashed home this jumper for three of his 20 second-half points. They trailed by 13 with 18:37 before erupting to outscore the Panthers, 48-29, down the stretch to win the first Tourney game in program history because Jenkins decided he was going to take over.
The 5-10, 160-pound guard fueled the run in the final 12:30. From the 12:29 mark until 7:32 remained, Jenkins scored 11 of No. 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson’s 14 points and assisted on the other three. Jenkins turned a 52-47 deficit into a tie game at 59-59. The sophomore didn’t miss in the last 11:55 of the game.
Jenkins finished with 22 points, six assists and four rebounds. He went 9 of 16 from the field and tried some ill-advised threes even though went just 1 of 5 from three-point range.
Players like Jenkins are what the First Four is all about: undersized guards playing with way too much confidence on a national stage and, somehow, making it work. Now he’ll get a shot at the No. 1-seed Gonzaga Bulldogs on Thursday.
This story was originally published March 19, 2019 at 9:11 PM.
